Chinese: Szechuan Peanut Noodles

Breakfast: 12 oz. fresh squeezed o.j.

Lunch: mango-banana smoothie, simply delish!

We hired a new kitchen girl last week and after nearly 2 years & many kitchen girls later, I believe I have found THE ONE!! Because of my disability, I need help big time in the kitchen. I am v pleased that I finally have a young, intelligent, & competent woman to help me run the kitchen- YAY! Bienvenidos Mari :)

So, onto dinner. On the menu tonight was the usual big salad followed by Szechuan Peanut Noodles with a veggie stir-fry and a baby bella mushroom stir-fry. I like to stir-fry mushrooms separately to really bring our their flavor. It was soooo yummy!

For the veggies, I used carrots, broccoli, yellow bell pepper, snow peas, orange bell pepper, zucchini, and pre-cooked fresh-shelled peas stir-fried in organic coconut oil. I use coconut oil for my Asian stir-fries.

For the shrooms, I used purple onion, chopped ginger, yellow bell pepper, and baby bellas stir-fried in a combo of ghee & toasted sesame oil. I added a few splashes of black rice vinegar and teriyaki soy sauce towards the end of cooking.

For the noodles, I used brown rice fettucine style noodles by Tinkyada. Here goes my first product plug: Tinkyada produces the BEST brown rice noodles in all different shapes & sizes. I also love their spinach spaghetti. Great gluten-free pasta!

For the Szechuan peanut sauce, blend the following:

1 c. apple juice

3/4 c. smooth natural peanut butter

1/2 can of coconut milk

1 t. toasted sesame oil

1 T. black rice vinegar

1 T. Teriyaki sauce

1/2 cup of prepared Szechuan sauce

juice of one lime

1 t. ginger powder

1/2 t. Chinese 5 spice

1/4 t. sea salt

Here's how it came out. It doesn't need to cook, simply warm up on low for 10-15 min and it's ready to serve:

I use the following formula for most dinner meals: stir-fried or steamed veggies + homemade sauce (ie peanut sauce, marinara, dal, etc) + a cooked grain (ie brown rice, noodles, tortillas, etc). It's the way I include lots of veggies at each meal in a variety of ethnic flavors.

Here is the final product:

Szechuan Peanut Noodles w/ veggies & shrooms