A Textile Company Is Making Low-Calorie Noodles From Trees

It would appear that a 99-year-old cloth-making company in Japan is looking to enter the food business in an unusual way. Instead of only churning out towels and bedding, it’ll start using fiber from trees to cook up a gluten-free, slurp-able snack.

Source: A Textile Company Is Making Low-Calorie Noodles From Trees

So they’re making shirataki noodles with some added rayon…

Shirataki noodles are already popular in Japan and Korea (the US has the NoOodle brand). They stink like high heaven, and really need to be rinsed thoroughly to get rid of the worst of the stank/bitterness.  Another reason they haven’t caught on well in the US is that they have a somewhat slimy/tough texture. Asian cultures are more open to those slimy, cartilaginous textures (think jellyfish) while most Americans find it off putting.

If the addition of rayon can fix the smell, taste and odor issues, it might take off here. Otherwise, it’s just a modification of an already popular noodle in Asia.

Turn Leftover Lasagna Noodles Into Delicious Pasta Crackers

While lasagna (the dish) will save dinner, lasagna (the noodle) will prove equally heroic for throwing together small bites and snacks with little effort and time. So when cravings strike next, think outside the layers and try these five, noodle-filled bites.

Source: 5 Surprising Ways to Snack on Lasagna Noodles

I like to cook lasagna a day or so before I plan on eating it.  The leftover noodles never go to waste as I always reserve a part of the sauce and some cheese for making lasagna noodle roll-ups after the lasagna has been constructed and put in the oven. Very messy and very, very tasty!

Soak Pasta Instead of Boiling It for Easier Baked Pasta Dishes

Here’s something I’ve always wondered: when baking pasta, as in, say, lasagna or baked ziti, why do you always cook the pasta first? Aren’t you inviting trouble by cooking it once, then proceeding to put it in a casserole and cooking it again? Well, there’s the obvious first part of the answer to this question: pasta needs to absorb water as it cooks—a lot of water, around 80 percent of its own weight when perfectly al dente. So, add raw pasta directly to a baked pasta dish, and it will soften all right—it’ll also suck up all of the moisture from the sauce, leaving it dry or broken.

Source: The Food Lab: For Easier Baked Ziti, Soak, Don’t Boil Your Pasta

I thought the pasta drew moisture from the sauce.  It does… resulting in dry sauce. I’ve always wondered about those pastas marketed as not needing to be boiled first—how are they different from regular pasta or is this just some marketing ploy? Anyway, traditionally recipes recommend boiling the pasta first.

Two Ways to Turn Vegetables Into Noodles Without a Spiralizer

I often get asked if spiralizers—tools that transform vegetables into noodle shapes—are worth buying. While they’re a great way to make a low-carb, high-vegetable pasta alternative, you don’t need a spiralizer. Here are two vegetable noodle techniques that don’t need any special equipment.

…The good news is that it’s possible to enjoy tasty vegetable noodles without a spiralizer, julienne peeler, or any other special equipment. These two knife techniques do take more knife skills and effort than a spiralizer would, but they also allow you to test out the idea of eating vegetable noodles without having to invest money and space on another machine first.

Source: Two Ways to Turn Vegetables Into Noodles Without a Spiralizer

Turning veggies into noodles would be gluten free…

Can Noodles Ever Be Healthy? Here’s The Lowdown On 10 Types

Traditional pasta has gotten a bad rap (high in carbs, full of white flour). But there are lots of other noodles on the market that can actually be — dare we say it — good for you.

“They may look and taste similar, but noodles can be made from many different raw ingredients — from wheat to buckwheat to seaweed — and their nutritional benefits vary,” nutritionist Jessica Marcus, MS, RD, tells Yahoo Health. But no matter which you choose, watch your portion sizes. “Between half a cup to a cup of cooked noodles should satisfy you without overloading your blood sugar,” Marcus says.

Here’s the 411 on which of these squirmy, squiggly edibles you should put on the dinner table, and which ones you should leave behind.

Source: Can Noodles Ever Be Healthy? Here’s The Lowdown On 10 Types

Brief rundown of each type, but rare informational.  I don’t make much pasta to know how available some of the types are, but that’s likely to be different between various chains and such.

The aspect of calories and carbs can be dealt with via portioning.  There’s lots of articles online suggesting that most cook too much pasta when portioning for meals like spaghetti.