My Drunk Noodles (Veggie-Vegan Friendly Recipe)

Also known as: Pad Kee Mao, Pad Ki Mao, Pad Ke Mao, Pad Kimao

I love this dish and still will likely name my first born Pad Kee Mao.



To get your noodles drunk like this, you'll need 20-30min and:



1/2 package of wide rice stick noodles (vermicelle 400g bag)
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce
3 hot chili peppers chopped (Thai chiles if you can find them; and yes this part of the ingredient always makes me think of Blood Sugar Sex Magik)
1 teaspoon regular soy sauce
1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
1 tablespoon cooking oil (I use canola)
1 red bell pepper sliced & diced
1/4 cup of green beans or broccoli
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves (Thai basil leaves if you can find them)

*If you're not a fan of your tongue being on fire, omit or reduce the 3 chili peppers.

Directions:

Break up the rice noodles. You can leave them long but I prefer smaller bites.

Follow the instructions on your rice noodles package to cook them. Generally for the 10mm large rice noodles, you toss them in boiling water for 3 minutes (yes, just three minutes), then rinse them under cold water to stop the cooking.

If you over cook them, they get very mushy.

Drain.

In a skillet/wok (non-stick preferably) heat your cooking oil. Cook the garlic and chile sauce for 3-4minutes.

Add the rice noodles to the oil, garlic, and chile sauce you have cooking and stir fry for 3 minutes.

Add the veggies (bell pepper and broccoli) and cook until tender.

Pour the sweet soy sauce and stir. The noodles should only be a light brown color. If they're too dark, it means it's too much sweet soy sauce and your mouth will complain about the overwhelming flavor. You can add the sweet soy sauce just a few drops at a time.

Add basil and the regular soy sauce and cook for just a few more minutes.

Turn off heat and allow it to sit for a few minutes.

And then serve...

*** My recipe serves two.

Notes:
* You can put whatever veggies you like into this dish. I'll substitute with yellow/orange bell peppers and another green veggie like green-beans for instance.

*This dish tastes great with fried bean curd (which you can buy at a store), so if you have time to deep fry some bean curd, definitely add it to this dish. Only add it toward the end so that it can get flavored with the soy sauce and basil.

Chocolate Monkey Blueberry Smoothie (Vegan Friendly Recipe)

1 cup chocolate almond milk
1 banana
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

Directions:


Add all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth.

I sometimes add 1/2 cup of fresh baby spinach to this and use sunflower seeds instead of flaxseed for a flavor change.

You can pretty much use any kind of fruit you want. Frozen mango and pineapple are amongst my favorite smoothie makers.

***To make this into a frozen smoothie, add 6 to 8 ice-cubes after blending the ingredients together and blend until cubes are crushed.

Easy Chickpea Medley (Veg Recipe)

For the Veggie Lover in you...


To create this fresh party in your mouth you'll need about 15-20min and:

• 1 can (15ounce) of chick peas (soak in water for a few minutes and rinse)
• 1 bunch of parsley finely chopped
• 1 garlic crushed/finely chopped
• 1 small red onion finely chopped
• 2 small tomatoes diced
• 1 lime
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (can be substituted for whatever other vinegar you like)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Drain chickpeas and in a medium sized bowl combine with all the veggies (onion, tomato, garlic, parsley). Mix balsamic and olive oil together and add to bowl. Add the juice from the lime and stir. Sprinkle salt to taste.

You can play with this easy dish and switch up the veggies (i.e. cucumber and tomato with oregano and just olive oil will make it Greek-ish) while still getting your awesome dose of protein a la chickpea love.

If you want to use dry chickpeas, you can! But be sure to soak them overnight. Your teeth will thank you.