I’ve made three recipes in the last three week, so I’m pretty much a professional chef these days.
In my Challenge Group, everyone posts their daily accountability as far as nutrition and workouts go, and with that comes a lot of awesome meal prep and recipe ideas. My bestie is in the group (she might as well be Martha fucking Stewart), and she shared this recipe last week and said “Erin, even you could do this one”. Haha. She also said “it’s better than Basil takeout”. So obviously, I paid attention. Basil is one of my favorite restaurants in Charleston, and there is a VERY direct relationship between Basil Pad Thai and my 62 lb weight gain in my twin pregnancy. That shit is SO good, and it’s all I wanted every.single.night. One single Basil portion could feed a small family, and I would take the entire thing to the face. So, back to the point. I looked up the recipe, and realized that I COULD DO IT (with Miles’ help, of course). We made this last night and it was incredible.
Better than Basil Pad Thai
(obviously, i renamed it, but it’s from BB blog)
Total Time: 30 min.
Prep Time: 18 min.
Cooking Time: 12 min.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
½ cup low-sodium organic chicken broth
1 Tbsp. all-natural peanut butter
1 Tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. raw honey
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 thin slice fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped
1 tsp. coconut oil
12 oz. raw chicken breast, boneless, skinless, cut into 2-inch pieces
½ medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh spinach (or chopped baby bok choy)
1 cup fresh shelled edamame
2 cups cooked soba noodles (about 4 oz. dry noodles) *I used brown rice noodles because I’m gluten free*
1 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)
2 Tbsp. raw peanuts
Preparation:
1. Combine broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, garlic, and ginger in a medium bowl; whisk to blend. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in large skillet (or wok) over medium-high heat.
3. Add chicken and onion; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 6 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
4. Add spinach; cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.
5. Add edamame, noodles, broth mixture, red pepper (if desired), and peanuts; cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until heated through.
Just a few notes on this. I wish I had already had the edamame cooked. You can buy it in a steam bag and just microwave, and now I am going to feed the rest of the edamame to my kids this week. The chicken/onions AND the noodles AND the edamame going all at once usually leads to me really screwing something up. I had Miles as backup, so was totally fine, but if it was just me, I would have probably done the pasta and steamed the edamame while I was feeding the kids dinner, and then done the rest at the same time. I don’t like to touch raw meat (which is where Miles comes in handy), so I would like to find a way to crockpot the chicken ahead of time and make it shreddy so no one has to cut raw chicken. I think we will try that next time.
Anyway, try this recipe. It’s totally plan approved and really is just like eating Basil, without feeling so full you can’t breathe afterwards!
