Our first Barefoot Bloggers recipe for April is Ina's Chinese Chicken Salad, picked by McKenzie of Kenzie’s Kitchen. To make this vegetarian I swapped out the chicken for some Chinese "glass noodles" also known as cellophane noodles or bean threads. I also played with the veggies in this recipe a little bit, swapping asparagus for green pepper (because the asparagus at the grocery just was not looking good) and adding some mushrooms I had hanging out in the fridge. The dressing for this salad is a yummy combination of peanut butter, apple cider vinegar, honey, soy sauce, toasted sesame seed oil, garlic, ginger, and a couple other ingredients. This recipe is so easy to adapt to taste, and Ina's base ingredients give a great flavor, as usual with Barefoot Contessa recipe!
Here are the glass noodles, you soak them in hot water for 20 minutes, no actual cooking required. They expand a ton and have a neat slightly chewy texture. These are the same noodles you find Korean Jap Chae and also in spring rolls, one of my very favorite treats :)
I slightly sauteed my peppers and mushrooms before tossing with the noodles and dressing.
And there you have it, a nice and noodley simple lunch salad.