BECs, beaches, and Yum Yum Noodle Bowls

you'll want to drink the sauce

Yum Yum Noodle Bowl (recipe below)

Our Very Long Island Day

We accidentally had an extremely Long Island day because… we live on Long Island. Anyone from Long Island can agree that there is nothing like a deli breakfast sandwich. Admittedly, a huge blunder of being plant based is we don’t get them anymore.

But FEAR NOT, we’ve discovered a similar vegan version from Cindy’s Snacks that reopened in Centerport. Their VBECSPK is very tasty and reminded me of ordering from Greenway deli - 2 eggs scrambled, cheese, bacon, hashbrown, salt, pepper, ketchup on a roll, thankyou. It wasn’t exactly the same but I’d definitely get it again.

a BEC and Bec (becca)

After starting off strong with the BEC and obviously a Southdown cold brew, we headed off to Robert Moses Field 5 (the ocean). Of course, those stops took much longer than anticipated but that’s life when it revolves around food. We planned to leave at 9am but didn’t arrive to the beach until 11:30! But we all know the whole point of going to the beach is to eat sandwiches and snacks.

We actually ate our breakfast sandwich in the car because we couldn’t wait. We know ourselves well and got another sandwich to eat once we got to the beach - very mindful, very smart.

You all know what a beach is so we’ll skip over that and jump to the part where we went to Carvel twice that day after discovering they have Oatly soft serve. The one perk of being an adult is no one can tell you how many times you can go to Carvel within a 3 hour time frame. Take that middle schoolers! Most locations only have the strawberry soft serve (they said vanilla isn’t as popular????? JAIL TIME) but the strawberry was very good.

tastes as good as it looks

To wrap up our Long Island day, we watched the sunset at CPT beach. By “watched” I mean we mistimed it per usual and got to our sunset watching spot seconds after the sun dipped behind the horizon. Whatever, just look up a picture on your phone!

Cucumber Boy Knows What’s Up

Cucumber boy Logan has been taking over the internet, and rightfully so. If you’ve been living under a rock, aka spending a healthy amount of time offline, let me fill you in. Logan has been making cucumber salads by mandolin slicing an entire cucumber in a container, adding a few other ingredients, shaking it all up then eating the whole thing in one sitting with chopsticks. You wouldn’t think it’s revolutionary but somehow it is and the internet agrees. The cucumber combinations he comes up with are delicious and something about shaking it up and eating with chopsticks is very satisfying.

Not only is Logan proving that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF YOU BELIEVE IN CUCUMBERS, but he is also the inspiration for our recipe this week. Introducing YUM YUM noodle salad.

But I Got The Sauce

arrest me for making a noodle this delicious

Yum yum sauce is that deliciously creamy and addicting hibachi sauce that you can’t quite pinpoint what’s making it so good but that doesn’t stop you from pouring it all over your entire meal. It’s surprisingly easy to make and goes perfectly with thick udon noodles and fresh, crisp vegetables. As much as I might be wishing for fall, it’s still hot af outside and this is the perfect cool, refreshing meal that is still satisfying and includes noodles.

Add whatever vegetables you like (carrots and bell peppers would be tasty) and feel free to substitute your favorite protein for the edamame (it’s just so easy and delicious). Make it ahead of time and you’ll want to give your past self a forehead kiss when you see it in the fridge - just save the avocado for when you’re ready to eat. The serving size is pretty hefty, so this would easily be a complete dinner and you could squeeze out 3-4 servings for a lighter lunch (never heard of it).

pre flip and mix

Recipe for Yum Yum Noodle Bowls

serves 2

For the yum yum sauce:

• 1/2 cup (vegan) mayo 

• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari

• 1 tablespoon sriracha 

• 1 teaspoon maple syrup

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 

• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

For the bowls:

• 8 ounces udon noodles (we used the Lotus Foods rice noodles)

• 1/2 English cucumber, sliced thinly

• 2/3 cup shelled edamame

• 1/2 cup kimchi, chopped

• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

• 1/4 cup scallions, chopped

• 1/2 avocado, diced

• Sesame seeds

• Limes

Method:

1. Cook the noodles: Cook the udon noodles according to the package instructions. Rinse with cold water, option to drizzle with sesame oil.

2. Make the yum yum sauce: In a small bowl, add vegan mayo, rice vinegar, tomato paste, soy sauce or tamari, sriracha, maple syrup, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and onion powder. Whisk to combine.

3. Assemble the bowls: In 2 tupperware containers, divide the sauce and add to the bottom. Then layer half of the noodles, cucumber, edamame, kimchi, cilantro, scallions, avocado (only if you’re eating right away), and sesame seeds.

4. Chill or eat asap: These are great for meal prep, so you can store them in the fridge for 2-3 days until you’re ready to eat. You can either aggressively shake your tupperware or dump everything into a bowl or plate. Serve with lime wedge if you want!

Recipe Notes:

• You can use ketchup instead of tomato paste in the sauce, just taste before you add maple syrup because it may be sweet enough without.

• Use your favorite noodle! Pad thai noodles, soba noodles, and vermicelli would all work.

• Use any protein of your choosing instead of edamame (or in addition to) - our crispy baked tofu would be delicious, just saying.