Thousands of students across the country are studying for careers in many different professions, but almost all involve spending time at a PC. To quench the hunger that often develops after spending hours in front of a computer screen, many students find the library vending machines to be a convenient option. Although these high-calorie, low-nutrient foods satisfy your immediate hunger, they do little to increase energy levels and brainpower the rest of your body is craving.

To address this snacking situation, Chef-Instructors from The Art Institutes were put to the PC-friendly test and asked to develop low-mess, high-energy foods for snacking at computers. “Students of Multi-Media & Web Design, Media Arts & Animation and Graphic Design spend many long and hungry hours at the computer. We asked some of our chefs to help develop foods that would not only be easy to eat and have a low-mess factor, but also supply enough energy to avoid the sluggishness that comes from too much junk food,” says Jeffrey Durosko, spokesperson for The Art Institutes.

Chef Instructor Christine Geyer of The Art Institute of Los Angeles Culinary Arts Program offers recipes that satisfy sweet tooths, but also creations that “don’t leave residue on fingers, such as salt, seasonings on trail mixes or pretzel mixes,” says Geyer. Raspberry Cooler, Citrus Delight and Top Banana are yogurt-based snacks in a glass. Made with fresh fruit, juice and flavored yogurts, these high-energy drinks are perfect for computers “as long as you put it in a cup with a lid and use a straw,” Geyer cautions.

Chef Instructor Chris DeJohn of The Art Institute of Colorado’s Culinary Arts Program says, “Dim sum works well, as does simple cheese and fruit skewers. Just cube your favorite cheeses (hard cheeses work best) with favorite fruits that don’t drip like strawberries, grapes or pineapple,” explains DeJohn. Other PC-friendly food DeJohn likes are wrap sandwiches or spicy tuna and egg omelet sushi for those interested in a more ambitious snack for nibbling at the computer.

For Chef-Instructor Peter Babcock of The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, the best computer snacks are the simplest. “I like fresh apples, grapes or bananas for high energy with low mess. Dried fruits like cherries, cranberries or apricots are also great because they’re tasty and leave no sticky residue on your hands,” he says. For himself, Babcock purchases specialty hard candies he keeps in his pockets, passing them around to other faculty and students. Other PC-acceptable snacks he likes are carrots and cucumber slices, even childhood favorites such as celery with peanut butter.

In addition to fruits and vegetable snacks, Chef Babcock likes to prepare a flavorful chicken broth with fresh vegetables on a Sunday, cutting up extra vegetables for snacks during the week and using the chicken for chicken salad sandwiches to eat during lunch breaks - although not at the computer. “Chicken broth from a thermos is a nutritious, low-mess snack, as well as a great comfort food,” says Chef Babcock.

High Energy Foods

Raspberry Cooler
Recipe from Chef Instructor Christine Geyer of The Art Institute of Los Angeles

• 1 cup raspberry yogurt
• ½ cup canned pineapple juice
• ¼ cup canned cream of coconut
• 3 ice cubes

In a blender, puree yogurt, juice and cream of coconut with ice cubes.

Citrus Delight
Recipe from Chef Instructor Christine Geyer of The Art Institute of Los Angeles

• 1 cup lemon yogurt
• ¼ cup frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1 fresh peach, sliced, or 1 large canned peach
• 3 ice cubes

Spicy Tuna and Egg Omelet Sushi Rolls with Tabiko
Recipe from Chef Instructor Chris DeJohn of The Art Institute of Colorado

• 6 ea. sheets of Nori seaweed
• 1 lb. Koko rose rice or other traditional sticky rice
• ½ lb. Tuna - Sushi grade albacore or yellow fin (Ask for this at the fish counter)
• 2 eggs - beaten
• 2 oz wasabi (Japanese green horseradish)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 6 oz. Tabiko caviar
• 4 oz. soy sauce
• 2 oz. hot chili sauce
• 1 ea. avocado
• 1 ea. English cucumber
• 4 oz. rice vinegar
• 2 oz. sugar
• 1 qt. and 2 cups water
• 2 oz. pickled ginger
• 1 pinch of kosher salt

Tools:

1 7-inch non-stick omelet pan

1 Sushi mat (Can be obtained from a specialty cook’s store)

1 French knife or Chinese cleaver

1 2 qt. sauce pot w/ cover or an electric rice cooker

The first step: Rinse the rice under cold, running water until the water draining becomes clear. Mix the 1 quart and 2 cups of water with the sugar and rice vinegar. Bring to a boil in the saucepot. Add the rice, stir and cover. Cook on low heat for 20-30 minutes or until water is absorbed. Cool and reserve for later.

The second step: Chop the tuna finely and add the hot chili paste and a pinch of kosher salt. Reserve until later.

The third step: Heat the omelet pan and add the beaten eggs. Cook the omelet over low heat so the egg remains yellow and does not brown. Cool and reserve for later.

The fourth step: Mix the wasabi with the 2 tablespoons of water and make a paste. Cover and reserve for later.

The fifth step: Peel and seed the cucumber and cut into long strips about 1/4″ wide and 10″ long. Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed. With a large spoon, scoop out the flesh in one piece and slice into strips. Reserve for later.

Assembling the sushi rolls: Place the seaweed square 10″ x 10″ (should come this size) on the sushi mat with the shiny side down. Mound 4 oz. of cooked rice down the center of the seaweed in a horizontal line across the entire square. Gently spread the rice forward and backward to cover the entire sheet of seaweed as evenly as possible. Place some strips of sliced cucumber on top of the rice in a horizontal line across the entire square. Place some avocado on top of the rice, next to the cucumbers in a horizontal line across the entire square. (Leave about 1/2″ of space between the cucumbers and avocado. In the space between the avocado and cucumber, spoon some of the tuna mix in a horizontal line across the entire sheet of seaweed.

Slice the omelet into strips and place next to the tuna mix in a similar fashion.

Top with a line of Tabiko caviar the same way. Take the end closest to you and fold over the center mixture. Compress down into a round cylinder. Tighten and roll, being careful not to roll the mat into the sushi! Cover and reserve in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Repeat these steps until all of your ingredients are gone. Should make about six sushi rolls.

Do not stack or wrap rolls together as they will stick to each other. To slice, trim the ends and discard. Wet the blade of the knife and cut the rolls into 1″ to 1-1/2″ pieces. Serve with wasabi mixture, pickled ginger, and soy sauce, the traditional condiments for sushi.

Courtesy of ARA Content

The Art Institutes is a system of 20 schools is located nationwide, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary professionals. The Art Institutes family of schools has provided career-oriented education programs for over 35 years with more than 100,000 graduates. Courtesy of ARA Content, e-mail: info@aracontent.com

 

This article gives a history of noodles as well as a Japanese Soba noodle recipe and other noodle recipes.

Different cultures have their own way of taking some water and mixing it with an all-purpose flour, a rice flour, a wheat flour and adding either barley, buckwheat,soybeans,seaweed or tapioca. After combining whatever ingredients are used with the type of a chosen flour, they work the dough on a floured surface, roll the dough out and let it dry. Until, it is ready to be hand cut or hand pulled into whatever shape of a noodle that is desired. The finished noodle product is dropped into a hot chicken,a hot beef or a hot vegetable both from three to five minutes depending upon the noodle’s thickness. After the noodles are finished cooking, they are left in the broth for a few more minutes. The results are something of a phenomenon.

In five thousand B.C., the first forms of noodles were discovered in the Middle East. In three hundred A.D., the Chinese were using buckwheat as the main ingredient for their noodles and sharing the art of making them with the Japanese. In the seventeen hundreds, noodles were introduced in Naples, Italy. As a rival to rice, noodles have been a staple food in millions of households with the exeception of the cuisines of England and France. Noodles are inexpensive to make and enjoyed as a complete meal with vegetables, meat seafood or poultry added and as an ingredient in soup to begin a simple meal or a feast.

The noodle feast begins with a Chicken Noodle Soup With Dried Bamboo Shoots
1-cup dried bamboo shoots(found in Asian markets)
1/2-lb rice stick noodles
2-1/2-quarts chicken stock or two cans chicken broth
1/1/2-quarts water or 1-1/2-cans water
2-chicken legs with thighs, or boneless chicken breasts
1/2-cup sliced canned bamboo shoots
1-Tlb plus one teaspoon fish sauce
1-Tlb mixed fresh coriander and scallion greens
Directions:Cover the dried bamboo shoots with water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil for thirty minutes. Drain the bamboo shoots and boil them again in one quart of water for two hours. Drain and shred the bamboo shoots coarsely. Set aside.Note: For cooking the rice noodles, drop one half of the package in boiling water and cook for five minutes. Drain and rinse them in cold water to keep them from sticking. In a large pot:add the chicken stock, the water and the chicken legs,or chicken breasts. Bring to a boil and cook for thirty minutes. After the chicken is finshed cooking remove it from the broth and set aside. Add the precooked bamboo shoots, the canned bamboo shoots,the fish sauce and the salt. Simmer for thirty minutes. To serve: shred the chicken and arrange some of it with the cooked noodles and the bamboo shoots into a soup bowl. Pour the hot chicken broth over the ingredients and top with the minced parsley and scallions.

Nancy an American woman with a Vietnamese daughter-in-law was given a recipe for a spicy vinegar and lime sauce. The recipe below is from Sat Thi’s mother.

Spicy Vinegar And Lime Sauce
3-cups hot water
1-1/2-cups sugar
1-cup fish sauce
1-cup vinegar
1-lime
Chili peppers to taste
Directions: Mix the ingredients in parts. The first two, then the last four and combine them together. Pour over any type of cooked orentail noodles.

Mary an American woman has always made her own egg noodles and dropped them into a meat broth such as; a pot roast, or beef roast or chicken broth that she served for her family’s supper.

Homemade Egg Noodles
(Serves 6)
3-large eggs
1-cup flour
1/2-tsp. salt
3-tsp. baking powder
1/2-cup flour(to use for rolling out the noodle dough)
Directions: Beat the eggs until they are foamy. Measure the dry ingredients into the beaten eggs and mix them together until they are of dough consistency. Measure the one-half cup flour and sprinkle it on a surface used to work the dough. Knead the dough for a few minutes and then roll it out in a thin sheet. Put the thin dough sheet on a piece of wax paper letting it dry. Cut the noodle dough into thin or medium sized strips. Drop the cut noodles into a hot chicken or beef broth cooking them for five minutes. Let them sit in the broth for at least four more minutes before serving them.

Soba noodles are a flavorsome wheat noodle product that can be boiled and then made into a cold noodle salad. The vinaigrette dressing is made with a combination of rice wine vinegar and lime juice for a lower calorie dressing.

Soba Noodle Salad
2-packages soba noodles
1-package commerical packaged shredded carrots
4-green onions, sliced
2-Tlbs.coriander (Chinese parsley)chopped
4-Tlb rice wine vinegar
2-Tlb.lime juice
3 or 4 drops hot sauce
Directions: Boil the noodles according to package directions and then let them cool.Mix the shredded carrots, the chopped green onions and the coriander into the cooled noodles. In a separate bowl, whisk the rice wine vinegar,the lime juice, and the hot sauce. Mix the dressing with the cooled noodles and serve.

Rounding out the noodle feast is a dessert called an apple raisin noodle pudding.

Apple Raisin Walnut Noodle Pudding
(Serves 4-6)
8-oz. broad egg noodles, broken into pieces
1/2-cup walnuts, chopped
1-cup raisins,
1/2-tsp. cinnamon
1/4-tsp. nutmeg
3 eggs, separated
1/4-cup butter
3-Tlbs. sugar
1/2-tsp. salt
Directions: Cook the noodles as directed then drain and rinse them in cold water. Combine the nuts, apples, raisins and spices together. Beat the egg yolks with the butter, sugar and the salt until well blended. Fold in the egg yolks into the cooked noodles and then the apple spice mixture. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the noodle mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for forty-five minutes.