Taco Chicken Casserole

This is a new recipe and I’m still working out the kinks, but I made it this week as part of my meal prep and attempt at yet another diet. It’s keto, Whole 30, and paleo. It’s not bad, but better if you top it with a little hot sauce and cilantro. Its a good casserole that can be portioned out into four and eaten as an easy lunch or dinner.

• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used three this time)
• Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
• Cashew Queso
• Badia Chili-Lime seasoning
• Roasted hatch chiles (I roast a bunch and then freeze them in parchment paper to have on hand)
• Jalapeños
• Cilantro (optional)
• Hot sauce (optional)
• onion powder
• salt and pepper

Step 1: Boil the chicken breasts until cooked and tender
Step 2: Make the roasted red pepper sauce and cashew queso
Step 3: Shred the chicken using a hand mixer, this is literally one of the best life hacks I’ve encountered
Step 4: add the Badia seasoning, onion powder, roasted chiles, salt and pepper, and roasted red pepper sauce (about 1 cup) and mix.
Step 5: add the cashew queso and mix in (about 1 cup)
Step 6: put in an 8×8 casserole dish, top with a few tbsp of the queso cashew and spread it across the top. Add chopped jalapeños to the top.
Step 7: Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes.

Serve this with some more cashew cream, hot sauce, chopped cilantro, and roasted red pepper sauce. It’s quick, easy, and compliant.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

This is a great go-to sauce that is Whole 30, Keto, and healthy. I use it as a dipping sauce and as a mixer for other meals, like a chicken taco bowl. It sort of acts like sofrito, but without the tomatoes or onions.

• 4 whole red bell peppers
• 1/2 tbsp EVOO
• 3-4 roasted garlic cloves (I make my own and keep them on hand in the freezer)
• onion powder
• smoked paprika
• salt and pepper

Step 1: Roast the peppers on a sheet pan under a low broiler, turning them as the blacken on the sides.

Step 2: Place the peppers in a plastic bag and fold the top over (don’t seal) and let them steam for about 30 minutes. This allows the skin to peel off easier and them to cool so you don’t burn your fingers peeling them.
Step 3: Peel and deseed the peppers and add to a blender with the garlic, EVOO and spices.
Step 4: Blend until creamy and smooth.

So easy, I know! If you want more heat to it, add some jalapeños or hot peppers or hot pepper sauce, you can also add onion to it and puree it with the peppers, but I’m off onions at the moment. I’m using this as a topper to some buffalo chicken patties I made for lunch this week and next week I’m going to mix in with a taco chicken casserole I’m experimenting with now.

Cashew Queso

This became a staple for me when I was dabbling in the Whole 30. It’s vegan and dairy free, and no, it will not replace real cheese, because nothing can, but it is a reasonable facsimile thereof and I don’t mind it.

• 3 cups raw cashews (they need to be raw, when they are roasted the oils are already “out” and they don’t blend as well)
• 3/4 – 1 cup of hot water
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 4 cloves roasted garlic (about once a month I buy five bulbs of garlic, roast them, portion them, and freeze them)
• onion powder
• smoked paprika
• salt and pepper
• couple shakes of hot sauce

You need a really good blender to make this because if you can’t get the cashews creamy then it will be chunky and weird. I tried it in my Cuisinart food processor and it didn’t work as well as in my blender.

Step 1: boil about 4 cups of water and pour over the cashews, I let mine soak for about an hour. Drain the cashews.

Step 2: add the garlic, cashews and seasoning to the blender. Pour the hot water on top and blend until silky smooth.

You can honestly add anything you want to this. I’ve added a can of Rotel before, drained it and mixed it in with a spoon after it was done. I’ve also added chunks of onion and peppers after it was finished.
I mix this with a taco chicken dip I make, I’ll link it later and it is good as a topper for taco bowls or just to dip some carrots in.

Feta and Spinach Turkey Meatballs

As always, my relationship with food, dieting, and cooking is in flux. Recently, my father underwent quadruple bypass surgery, he survived, but is now on a heart healthy diet. I spent three weeks at home with my parents, prior to and after the surgery cooking and cleaning and generally just hovering… they referred to me as a “helicopter daughter” at the hospital. If you want to read my whole take on the experience, you can find it here.

As someone who loves to cook and also loves their father and wants to keep him around for as long as possible, I’ve basically spent the past three weeks working on recipes that meet all the requirements of his new diet. In his case we have to consider fat content, salt intake, and sugar. This was one of the meals I made for them when I was with them post-op and am now replicating at home because it was just that good! I know it may be hard to imagine, turkey meatballs, being good. When I told my da I was making them he actually (playfully) gagged out loud to me. But trust me, they are… and they are super easy to make, so it’s also a great weeknight meal for people who don’t want to devote a lot of time to meal prep and cooking (like me mum).

Step one: make a basic marinara sauce. I took my inspiration from Southern Italian cuisine. Simple, very few ingredients, and San Marzano tomatoes. Do the tomatoes make a difference? Yes. Yes they do. You can buy canned San Marzano tomatoes in almost any grocery store. If you can find a brand that has the DOC (or EU DOG) label certifying them from the region, buy them, even if they are a few cents more. There really is something in that volcanic soil that makes them special. I buy whole tomatoes, but you can also buy them crushed. Don’t buy puree or paste, you want your sauce to have substance.

• 28.5 oz can of San Marzano Whole tomatoes
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, finely diced
• 1 tbsp of EVOO
• Salt to taste (I limited this because of my dad’s salt limitations)
• Fresh or dried oregano
• Fresh or dried parsely

Heat a deep, non-stick pan (that has a lid) on medium heat. Add EVOO and garlic. Sauté the garlic until fragrant, DO NOT BURN it, this will make it bitter, you just want it slightly more “tan” than when it entered the pan, you should be able to smell it when it’s ready. Add the tomatoes. Once I dump in the pan I use kitchen shears to cut each tomato into pieces. This gives the sauce a more robust texture. Add the oregano and parsley. I love fresh herbs from my garden and use them in excess. If using dried herbs, which is what I had at my parents house, I just covered the top of the sauce in oregano and parsley and then mixed it in. Add salt, mix it all and let it simmer. I usually let this sauce reduce by about 1/3. Then I taste, add more herbs and salt as needed, and let it continue to simmer until I have the meatballs ready to go in the pan.

Step two: make the meatballs. I do this as the sauce is cooking.

• 1 lbs 93/7 ground turkey
• fresh basil
• finely diced onion
• 1-2 handfuls of fresh spinach, I chiffonade and then cut again cross-wise
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• 1 large egg
• dash of hot pepper flakes (optional)

Mix all of the ingredients together and roll into golfball sized meatballs. Add meatballs to the reduced sauce. DO NOT stir them after you have placed them or they will fall apart and you will have a feta and spinach meat sauce instead of meatballs. After each meatball is placed, I put the lid on the pot and them cook for about ten minutes. After ten minutes, I turn each meatball and cook for another ten minutes. Again, you should be able to smell it working and know when it is ready!

Step three: I serve my dish over wide zucchini and yellow squash noodles. Again, my da groaned, but in the end I won him over. You can also serve it over pasta if you like. To make the noodles I used 3 yellow squash and 3 zucchini, I was serving four people. To make the noodles I cut the ends of the veggies peeled them. Using a vegetable peeler I worked from end to end to create long, wide noodles. When you get to the seeds, stop. I put these in a bowl with a paper towel and let them sit.

Step four: prep the noodles and serve. When the meatballs are done, I take the veggie noodles and in batches toss them in about a tsp of heated EVOO. This is no more than a minute, you want them warm, but not mushy. Once done I add the noodles to the plate and top with sauce and meatballs. I finish it off with a little grated parmesan cheese and some freshly chopped basil.

Tuna Patties and Sweet Mango Avocado Salsa

I love crab cakes, but my husband does not. I also love tuna salad, which fortunately, he will eat. So I thought, why not combine the two ideas? This dish can be Whole 30 as well as low carb. If you want to make it keto, just eliminate the mango from the salsa!

Make the salsa in advance and chill to let the flavors really mix together.

Ingredients - Mango Avocado Salsa

• 1 ripe avocado cubed
• 2 cups frozen mango cubed
• 1/4ish cup red onion
• 2 jalapeño peppers
• dash of salt
• 1/4 cup roughed chopped cilantro
• lime juice (to taste, I used about 2-3 limes each time)

Directions
Cube the avocado and mango into similar sized pieces. I bought frozen mango because I have yet to figure out how to successfully and easily peel and cube a fresh mango without a lot of cussing and annoyance. Dice the red onion and jalapeño and rough chop the cilantro. I love spicy and I love cilantro so I add more than what the normal person might. Sprinkle a little salt over the mix and add the lime juice. I used a lot of lime, because I loved the tangy punch it gave the salsa and how it complimented the mango and the cilantro. Remember, this is all to your taste so I suggest adding and tasting, then adding some more and tasting some more until you get a bite that makes you go "WOW!".  Let this chill in the fridge while you make and sauté the tuna patties.

Ingredients – tuna patty

• 4 cans solid white albacore tuna
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 2 eggs
• salt
• pepper
• 2 jalapeño peppers
• 2-3 green onions
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/4ish cup of mayo
• splash of lime juice
• cumin
• sweet paprika
• 2-3 tbsp fresh parsley
• garlic powder
• dash of cayenne

Directions
Slightly beat the egg(s) and then add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix. You have a few options here. You can do a rough mix of the tuna, leaving it a bit chunky in places to mimic a crab cake, or you can really work the tuna into a fine, almost paste, which is how I prefer my tuna salad. Regardless of which option you choose, make sure that you get the almond flour, egg, and other ingredients evenly distributed in the mix. Once the mix is made, heat avocado oil over medium heat. When glistening form patties out of the mix and add to the pan. These patties are fragile and lack any real structural integrity. My advice to you is to make them about 1/2 an inch thick, and no wider than the spatula you are going to use to flip them. Otherwise they will break around the edges where they are not supported by the spatula. 

Make sure the patties are no larger than the spatula you are using.

I cook them for about 5 minutes on each side, constantly reshaping and pressing them while they cook. When done I carefully remove them from pan, plate, and top with the chilled salsa. I’ve served them with a side salad and with a creamy avocado slaw to round out the dinner menu. The patties save well in the fridge once cooked and make a good leftover lunch. You can also make the patty filling in advance (like a tuna salad) and let it sit in the fridge until you are ready to make it!

Whole 30 – Week 1

Week 1 of the Whole 30 is under way. I’ll be honest, this is a lot of work. I spent Saturday morning and early afternoon driving back from the beach after spending NYE with a few friends from what I just learned is called a “pod” in times of pandemic. Then we went to the grocery and I spent Saturday and Sunday meal prepping and cooking so we were ready to rock and roll on Monday, January 4th. I woke up on Monday morning and got on the scale to weigh in, something I am “not allowed” to do over the next 30 days. I also took measurements of my body and snapped a truly horrifying picture of myself as my before. I then proceeded to sit in the shower and cry again because as I stated before, I have really let myself my go and I am so mad at myself and also so despondent over it. After my pity party in the shower I got dressed and got going because crying in the shower doesn’t really accomplish anything. My day started with coffee and Silk almond milk creamer. I miss half and half already. It’s not that the dairy alternative creamers taste bad, they just don’t have the same consistency and therefore do not make your coffee creamy and delicious. I’ve tried pretty much tried every brand there is and none get the job done for me. If you have one you really like, suggest it in the comments because I would love to try it! My friend that is doing this with me bought this milk frother and mixes coconut milk and cinnamon into her coffee and then froths it and says it’s delicious. I haven’t tried it and have just resigned myself to bitching about my coffee for the next 30 days.
On Sunday I made a breakfast casserole based on this 40 Aprons recipe which I amended pretty heavily, because that’s just how I roll and because I couldn’t find compliant sausage or hash browns at the store. This recipe was delicious and I found myself eating it for breakfast and lunch and never even having a bowl of the chili I made for our lunches. My husband, who does not eat eggs ate the chili all week and I basically subsided on the casserole. I loved it so much I plan on making it weekly to carry me through the remainder of this endeavor.

Potato and Egg Anytime Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 lbs Ground chicken
• fennel seed
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper
• onion powder
• red pepper flakes
• 6-8 russet potatoes grated
• 1 bunch green onions
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 jalapeños
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
• Avocado oil or EVOO

Directions

• Heat the avocado oil in a pan over medium to medium high heat. When glistening add the jalapeño and bell peppers. Sprinkle with salt and sauté for a few minutes until they start to soften.
• Add the ground chicken (you can also use turkey, ground beef, ground pork, etc.) to the pan. Sprinkle with fennel seeds, garlic and onion powders, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. I don’t ever measure seasonings and just add them until I get a flavor profile I like. Cook the “sausage” mixture fully. When cooked through add the arrowroot powder and about 1/4 of the can of the coconut milk, mix to combine and turn off the heat.
• Put the shredded potatoes into the baking dish and mix in some pepper, salt, and garlic powder, then press into the bottom of the baking dish.
• Scoop the “sausage” onto the shredded potatoes and spread evenly.
• Add the rest of the coconut milk to the 6 eggs and beat them. Add some salt, pepper, and garlic powder to the mixture and pour over the sausage and spread evenly.
• Bake at 350° for about 45 minutes, if the top is firm it’s done. If it’s still a bit soft cook it for a bit more. I think mine was in for a total of 55 minutes.

Next week I plan on making this casserole again and adding other vegetables like mushrooms and zucchini. I think what I like so much about this casserole is how filling and tasty it is, but also how versatile it is. I am viewing the casserole as a foundation for a multitude of casseroles I see in my future. I am even planning in my mind a low-carb version that uses spaghetti squash instead of hash browns. The rest of our week is below, when possible I included links to the outside websites we used. The majority of week 1 though came from a Whole 30 cookbook, the Nom Nom Paleo cookbook, and two Against All Grain cookbooks and to avoid copyright issues I cannot post those recipes in here for you!

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Breakfast Casserole	Whole 30 Beef and Sweet Potato Chili	Whole 30 Chicken Wings, celery and carrots, fries, and homemade ranch (recipe coming soon)
Tuesday	Breakfast Casserole	Whole 30 Beef and Sweet Potato Chili	Whole 30 bison burgers with shaved Brussels sprouts and not crispy sweet potatoes fries
Wednesday	Breakfast Casserole	Whole 30 Beef and Sweet Potato Chili	Thai Ginger meatballs and spicy zoodles
Thursday	Breakfast Casserole	Whole 30 Beef and Sweet Potato Chili	Spicy tuna patties and mango avocado salsa
Friday	Breakfast Casserole	Whole 30 Beef and Sweet Potato Chili	Creamy Slow Cooker Chicken and platanos maduros
Saturday	Breakfast Casserole	Creamy slow cooker chicken and cheese fries	Strip steak with tarragon butter and salt and vinegar smashed potatoes

Week 1 Meal Plan

On Wednesday, I made my Thai ginger meatballs and spicy noodles. I replaced the typical konjac/shiritaki noodles (not supposed to have them on Whole 30) with zoodles. Since zoodles tend to get super mushy when cooked, I added them to the veggies and sauce at the last minute, tossed them for less than two minutes and served them. Basically they were in there just enough to get a wee bit warm and coated in the sauce and then removed before they could fall apart and turn to mush. I also replaced the honey with Medjool dates. I boiled about five dates in a bit of water and then used my ninja to turn them into date paste that I added to the dish to give it that sweet heat I like so much.
On Friday, J and I made the creamy slow cooker chicken linked above. This was a pretty epic fail for us. Neither of us got the creamy part right, the chicken didn’t hold up and ended up being shredded in a pretty thin and bland sauce. I have no idea what I did wrong, but it’s not a recipe I’m going to try again. I did serve the leftover chicken as part of lunch on Saturday with homemade cashew queso (recipe coming soon) and oven fries.
With almost one week in the books I can tell you I don’t really feel that different, I’m not experiencing any additional hunger or sugar cravings. I guess I do miss alcohol, I sure would have rather written this with a glass of wine or a Tito’s and seltzer, but it’s not bad and I’ll survive. I will say one change I’ve noticed is that fruit is extremely satisfying as a snack and tastes super sweet to me, which I am enjoying. They say the second week is the hardest, so I guess we’ll see!

Fresh fruit and cashew butter has become my favourite snack

New Year, Same Me

Just as a quick disclaimer... this is being published a bit late, about a month late actually, in fact the next four or five posts are going to come in quick succession but will chronicle the past month of my adventures as we try to complete a Whole 30. 

Happy New Year! I know the mantra right now is goodbye and good riddance to 2020, I mean I even have a yard flag out that says “2020 Stink, Stank, Stunk” (an homage to the Grinch of course) but I’m not sure how I feel about wishing away an entire year. Time is precious and short and I hope that when you reflect back on 2020 you remember the good and happy times you had as well. At least that is what I am trying to do. I did get to spend more time with my family than usual because I could quarantine and work remotely from the coast. On the flip, I had to cancel trips to Thailand, Yellowknife, and Denver. I miss my gym and am now struggling to get back into running because I let myself go for so long without it. I miss concerts and stupid stuff like going to the mall, which I typically hate in the best of times. But, I was at home when my cat got sick and died and was able to spend the last few weeks of his life by his side. And, I was at home to bond with the new kitten that we adopted shortly after Stu died, because stray kittens don’t follow your schedule or care if you are not ready for another cat. I guess what I am getting at is that for me there is a lot to be thankful for and a lot to gripe about. I am hopeful 2021 will be better in terms of travel and the pandemic and of course… healthy eating and weight loss…
One thing I can say for sure about 2020 is it was a year of weight gain for me. I am actually pretty disgusted with myself to be honest. When the world ended for us on Friday, March 13th I remember thinking that this quarantine and work from home order would last maybe three weeks, a month at most. I went to the store with tales of food shortages and toilet paper hoarding in my head and I bought stuff I had not purchased in years. I bought boxed mac and cheese, pasta, Lipton rice in a bag, canned vegetables…crap, I basically just went to the store and bought crap. And you know what happened next? That’s right, we ate that crap. And that trend continued for almost a year, because this pandemic and quarantine continued for (and still continues) for almost a year. Looking back it sort of blows my mind how one bad decision just spiraled out of control. I know I can’t be the only one who experienced this and found themselves sucked down into the vortex of closed gyms and no motivation or desire to spend time in the kitchen after spending 8-10 hours a day staring at a computer screen. Or maybe I am…who knows… regardless right before Christmas break I got on the scale and then sat in the shower and cried. I vowed then that I was going to claw my way out of the hole I had dug, enough was enough.
I mentioned how I needed to lose weight to a coworker and friend and she said that she was going to do a Whole 30 starting January 4. I told her I was in and the planning began. If you don’t know what the Whole 30 is, you can research it here. This is actually the 4th or 5th Whole 30 we’ve done, but only one of those was actually successful if my memory serves me right. To be honest, I have very mixed feelings about the program, like I do with any diet. I find it extremely restrictive, almost unnecessarily so, and commercialized with so many products (just like with keto) claiming to be Whole 30, and just like with keto, I don’t buy these products either.
What I do like about the Whole 30 is how intentional you have to be when completing one. Ironic because it is the restrictive nature of the program that creates the intentionality. This is not something you can do without planning, at least it’s not something I can do without planning. Since so many ingredients are off limits, I had to begin by restocking my pantry with Whole 30 approved ingredients. No soy meant replacing my Bragg’s with Coconut aminos, no alcohol meant finding suitable replacements for most of my vinegars (I love Coconut Secret coconut vinegar), no sugar meant amending recipes that require a sweet kick and learning to use fruits such as Medjool dates and grated pear in place of honey and Swerve, no dairy meant finding a creamy and delicious alternative to half and half for my coffee (something I still haven’t been able to do).

Week 1 meal plan in Google

While on Christmas break J and I began preparing for the month. She created a folder for us in Google. It housed a month long table, split into weeks like a calendar that housed our daily meals and a tracker for each of the 30 days where we would record what we ate and our exercise. I added folders for each of the five weeks and began adding recipes for dinner to the calendar and into each folder. Each folder also had a shopping list for the week and a Sunday meal-prep list. We both spent January 2nd and 3rd shopping and cooking in preparation for Day 1 and Week 1 to begin on January 4th. In upcoming posts I will explore new recipes, make vegan queso out of cashews, and adapt a few of my favourite recipes to be Whole 30 friendly so stick around!

Google Folder J created for us

Thai Ginger Chicken Meatballs

Ingredient list:

• 1 lbs Ground chicken (you can also use ground beef, pork, or turkey)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2-3 tbsps of fresh ground ginger
• 2 tbsps almond flour
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1-2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sriracha
• Red pepper flakes
• Dash of fish sauce

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until well combined. If you are using ground chicken the mix will be very wet and sticky. It doesn’t make great looking meatballs, but I’m ok with that as I’m going with taste over perfect shape. Once mixed, I roll the mixture into small meatballs, about the size of a golf ball. I have cooked these several different ways. Sometimes I put them on parchment paper and bake them at 350 degrees. Sometimes I put them in a cast iron skillet with more sesame oil, brown on all sides and finish in the oven. Today I cooked them in my cast iron. I find when you do that you get a better sear on the meat and a bit of a crispier bite.

I serve these on top of my Spicy Thai Noodles, sort of like a Thai spaghetti and meatballs.

Spicy Thai Noodles

So, apparently I have followers now. One of my very good friends told me when we were camping “I followed you, like I actually subscribed to your blog so I know when you post new recipes, and I’m waiting”… Oops… this is why I will never make a career of this and need to stick with what I know. That being said, I have a bunch of recipes that have been requested, so I’m going to try to use the Sunday before the first day of school to get stuff done! We already got fully involved in house cleaning and I am feeling accomplished, so I thought, why not keep that feeling going??

This is one of my favourite recipes, I make a version of it about once a week. The protein that accompanies it changes, but the noodles stay the same. If you like sweet, spicy Thai goodness, this is for you!

For me there are two main things that are the secrets to the success of this dish, the first is slicing every veggie super thin, otherwise you wind up with big chunks of everything and it takes away from it, the other is my trusty wok. I got this wok from my Aunt Cindy after the electric one I had caught on fire, and I can’t explain exactly why it makes a difference, but it does and is one of my absolute most coveted cooking tools. When I make this dish at the beach in a stainless steel pan or in my cast iron skillet at home the results are not the same! This is the wok I use that I found on Amazon. If you cook a lot of Asian cuisine I highly suggest investing in a wok of some sort!

This recipe has a few parts. The first is the prep work, which is what takes the most amount of time.

I start by making my spicy mayo. I have a plastic picnic bottle I store this in so I can drizzle it over the final dish. To make this, I combine about 1/4 cup of mayonnaise (I used Duke’s because I’ve succumbed to the Southern treat), sriracha to taste (how spicy do you like it?), and a little coconut vinegar (I live by coconut secret, but you can also use rice vinegar if you don’t have access to this). Mix it all together and let it sit.

Step 2 is slicing all of the veggies that go in the dish. I use the following vegetables: 1/2 bell pepper (any color, I prefer red for the color pop), 2 jalapeños, 1/2 an onion, a handful of matchstick carrots, and a few garlic cloves from a fresh bulb. I have also made this with thinly sliced mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, and broccoli, it’s really up to what you like. The key to the veggies is to slice them as thinly as possible, which is why I buy matchstick carrots. I have a mandolin, but usually just use a knife. I cut all the veggies at once and put them in a big bowl until it’s time to cook them.

Step 2a if you are using regular noodles, like fettuccini or spaghetti, cook the noodles in salted water with a splash of sesame oil. These can be drained and allowed to sit while you finish prep. If you are using Konjac noodles, rinse and let them sit in the colander while you prep. If you are using zoodles, make ahead and wrap in paper towels as you prep. I’ve not used anything else, so if you are, I’ll leave it up to you to figure out.

Once everything is prepped heat up the wok and add the toasted sesame oil to the pan. I don’t measure this, but I add enough to coat the bottom. Get the oil nice and hot (I cook on a medium to medium high burner), if you sprinkle water in it, it should pop. Add the thinly sliced garlic, lemon grass paste, and ginger paste to the pan and toss in oil, after about 30 seconds (just want it to get fragrant) throw in the rest of veggies and toss it all around to coat in oil and mix in the seasoning. Let them cook, tossing them constantly for about 3-5 minutes. I don’t like my veggies over cooked and be careful not to burn the garlic or it will taste bitter. While they are cooking I add the following ingredients to the veggies. I do not measure any of this, but just keep adding dashes until the flavor makes me smile and the veggies are coated in the sauce. Soy Sauce or coconut aminos, coconut secret garlic sauce, 2 quick dashes of fish sauce, sriracha, and honey. If you are using zoodles or Konjac noodles, add them to the wok at the very end and toss to coat them in the sauce and warm up a bit. Do not over cook them, the zoodles will be mushy and the konjac noodles just get weird. If you are using regular pasta, dump the entire contents of the wok into a bowl and save.

If you are using real pasta or noodles, heat the wok back up and add more toasted sesame oil to the pan. Throw in the noodles and toss to coat with oil. Add soy sauce, garlic sauce, sriracha, and some honey to the noodles and toss to coat. Continue to toss the noodles until they are warm.

The final step is putting it all together. Place the noodles and veggies on a plate or in a bowl. I add ginger Thai meatballs to mine usually. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and drizzle the spicy mayo over top. Add some toasted sesame seeds and some black sesame seeds for an extra little touch.