Thai Noodles and Veggies in Peanut Sauce - For Any Diet

I have a delicious dinner recipe to share with you today. I made thai noodles in peanut sauce the other night for dinner and we loved it. Whenever I make a special meal like this I think to myself "why don't I make this more often?!" Does that happen to you? The thing is, it's easy! I just need to make sure to pick up a few extra ingredients that I don't always have on hand like lime, fresh ginger, and the rice noodles for J. I've made this sauce many times before for chicken satay (J's fave) and I love it with veggies, but I'd never combined it into a full meal before.

The great thing about this dish is that it can be made to accommodate any diet. 

Simply toss together some noodles, protein, and veggies of your choice with the peanut sauce. Sprinkle with fresh mint, basil, and/or cilantro. The fresh herbs sprinkled on top at the end make the dish even more flavourful!

Noodles: I made it with zucchini noodles for myself, and with broad rice noodles for J. You could also use raw kelp noodles, soba noodles, or linguine.

Protein: I added chicken to J's, fish (that he caught) to mine, and you could add tofu or tempeh if you want a vegan/vegetarian option, or omit the protein completely.

Veggies: I sauteed up broccoli, carrots, snow peas, celery, red pepper, and green onion - but you can definitely make this a raw meal by using raw veggies. I used to only do that. Let them sit in the sauce for a while to soften slightly and soak up the flavour.

Sauce: This is a peanut sauce but since many people don't eat peanuts, you can easily make it with almond butter and it'll be just as great. I enjoy it that way too.

Peanut Sauce

Play around with my basic recipe and adapt it to your liking. Use less coconut milk if you like it thicker and compensate with less tamari. I like it gingery but you can use less, and spice it up as much as you want with the red pepper flakes. I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy food so I only add enough to make it a tad spicy and J adds extra to his.

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup cup full fat coconut milk
4 tablespoons lime juice
1 large clove garlic
1-2" chunk ginger, chopped
4-5 tablespoons tamari
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy, OR whisk all ingredients together in a bowl (grate garlic and ginger on a microplane first if you go the bowl route.

Look at this cute furry friend that's been coming to our place lately on a regular basis?

Do you know what it is?...

It's a martin! - trying to see how it can get the suet that we put out for the birds. 

And then the martin chilled out here for a long while, sitting and eating suet. 

Check out the big pike fish J caught! First cast with his fishing rod in the lake. Yup, that's what's in my bowl above.

Shared at Slightly Indulgent Tuesday