Quick and Easy Soba Noodle Stir Fry

I heard it for the first time yesterday, friends. Those dreaded words that every mom will hear more often than they can ever imagine as her children grow. Lucky for me I didn’t even have to wait for those dreaded teenage years to hear it. Yes, ever the overachiever and oh-so-very mature, my seven year old daughter decided to open up a giant can of “I HATE YOU MOMMY” on my heart yesterday.

Friends, we are in for it with this one.

As you may know, my two older children are boys. So I’m used to the smelly, dirty, farty, non-stop motion and chaos that they bring. I can handle balls being bounced for hours on end in the house and since I have the sense of a humor of a child, I secretly think their bathroom jokes are pretty rad. So I get them. Sure their rooms look like bombs exploded in them and I find underwear in the most inexplicable places. Yes, I can’t even walk in their shared bathroom without wanting to gag, but at least I can predict that. I understand boy momming. As long as you have low standards of cleanliness and can let crude humor and obnoxious smells pass you by, you’re pretty much golden.

But my daughter, well raising her scares the living daylights out of me. My boys, early on they were tough (read about them here and here), but I feel like they’re leveling out now. There’s an ebb and flow to all of our lives, and I feel like we’re approaching a good flow with them right now. And my girl, she started out so easy. Her entire infancy and toddler-hood (is that even a thing) was a flow. She was the smiley-ist, happiest, most joyful baby you have ever seen. She hardly cried, she smiled at everything, and she generally seemed to be lit from within by love.

But even then I knew, absolutely knew, that we weren’t getting off scott free with this one. First of all, none of us get out of this parenting thing unscathed. Every kid has their moment and every parent has their trial with every child. It’s like an unspoken rule of life. But also, and maybe more troubling than that, she’s my child. MY child. She looks like me. She acts like me. And, while I didn’t know this was possible, she is a more amplified version of myself, as if God looked at me and said, “yeah, well, I’m going to see your 100% and raise you 10%.” 

And that, my friends, should terrify us all. 

There is something about raising a child that is so like you, almost a mirror image, that is unnerving. It’s like looking at a fresh start, a chance of redemption for your mistakes, the chances you didn’t take, and the opportunities you let pass you by. I know now why my husband struggles so much with my oldest son, because they’re the same. You want so much for your mirror image to do better that it can cloud your parenting and put unintentional extra weight on the child you’re trying to help.

And man, my struggle is alive and well with this girl.

Now at seven going on seventeen she’s all sass and attitude and false bravado maturity. She’s a consummate actress, in front of her friends portraying herself as way more mature than her little heart needs to be. Insisting on calling me “mom” instead of “mommy” in public (oh how this breaks my heart) and mastering the eye roll long before her time has come. This girl is a challenge, friends. She’s a hands on hips, lips pursed little whirlwind, all pre-teen attitude in a little girl body, and I just don’t know what to do with this.

My husband, he doesn’t have the struggle with her that I do. There are times that I just have to tap out to him because her little attitude is pushing me to make questionable parenting calls that I do not want to make. They have this awesome daddy/daughter jam going on that is precious and perfect and he can talk her down off a sassy ledge better than anyone, which I am forever grateful for. This is great, but he’s also completely blind to the trouble that everyone else (like even the mailman everyone else) can see coming from a mile away.

My father-in-law is specifically keeping himself healthy so he’s around to watch the father/daughter strife when she gets old enough to date. Family members shake their heads and laugh quietly as they listen to her sass him, knowing full well that this will only get worse in time. And it isn’t going to be pretty.

Girls may start off easy, but there is no doubt in my mind with this one that we are in for a wild ride.

Which brings me back to yesterday and those three dreaded words that I am sure will be repeated many, many times before she reaches 18. This girl, she’s a talker, and she got in trouble at school for just that. Yes, is she ever my child. Too excited by the idea of making friendships to pay attention in class. Too wound up by the thrill of connecting with peers to listen to directions. Oh, this is so me and I so understand her plight.

But I still gotta parent. I still have to do the tough thing and give her a consequence of 20 minutes of reading time quietly in her room and no friends after school, right? Totally do-able, and if I must congratulate myself, totally rational parenting. Unless, of course, you’re seven and playing with your friend is the most important thing in the world. At which point you will lose your mind for about an hour, crying, screaming, begging for release from this prison of a consequence.

It was a very long afternoon and by 5:00 momma needed a drink.

But here’s the thing, even at her worst somewhere in there she’s still that awesome little baby soul that was so easy from the start. Children grow by trying on different personas and stretching their wings and pretending and acting and figuring out what works. They grow by changing yet somehow, the core of who they are stays true and intact, waiting to come back out into the open once the smoke of growing up has cleared. The trick and challenge of parenting is always being able to tap back into that core, no matter the circumstance, to draw them back to the child that God made them to be. 

And the second part of that trick is to not becoming a raging alcoholic to stem the pain of hearing how much they hate you.

You’ll be glad to know that we made up yesterday. True to her beautiful little core, she came around and back to sunshine. She suffered through her consequence and we had a nice talk about being a leader for good in the classroom. We hugged. And I only cried a little bit when, later that night, she called me “mom” in front of her friend at baseball.

Mommas of girls, take heart. We’re in this together. Prayers and copious glasses of wine from me to you.

And in honor of being a girl mommy, I’m sharing this decidedly feminine dish with y’all today. This is what my husband lovingly calls “lady food.” Probably because there’s no meat. And it’s light and airy. But, let’s face it, if he won’t eat it there’s more for me so I’m not complaining.

There’s something about Soba noodles that make me happy. They’re slightly chewy, healthy and have a nice body to them that regular pasta or rice noodles don’t have. They make it a heartier dish, and paired with pre-diced veggies and a quick and easy sauce, this dish takes all of 10 minutes to prepare. It’s perfect in leftovers, too. So make it one day and eat it for 3. Don’t share with your husband. Don’t share with your kiddos. This one’s for you.

Peace, love and parenting,

Meg 

Veggie and Soba Noodle Stir Fry

October 18, 2019

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 4 ounces Soba Noodles (most packages will have 4 or 5 separated bundles of noodles, use one)
• 2 large carrots grated (or 1 cup pre-packaged grated carrots)
• 4 ounces pre-sliced baby bella mushrooms (half a package)
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• For the sauce:
• 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce (sold in the Asian aisle of most chain grocery stores)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Sesame Seeds to top (optional)

Directions

• Step 1 Cook Soba noodles to package directions, reserving one mug-full of pasta water before draining.
• Step 2 Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine all sauce ingredients and stir. Set aside.
• Step 3 In a large skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat.
• Step 4 Once hot, add carrots and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until slightly softened.
• Step 5 Add mushrooms and cook until browned. Add Salt and Pepper.
• Step 6 Add in spinach, and cook stirring for 1 or 2 minutes until partially wilted.
• Step 7 Add a splash of the pasta water to wilt completely and then stir in the sauce, making sure to coat the vegetables thoroughly.
• Step 8 Add the noodles to the pan and stir to coat, adding more pasta water if necessary to distribute the sauce.
• Step 9 Serve topped with sesame seeds and refrigerate the leftovers.
• Step 10 ENJOY!

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