Meatless Mondays – Spicy Thai Noodles

Today marks my family’s third week in our Meatless Mondays movement and so far, we’ve only had one tiny pitfall.

Last Monday, we were out running errands and stopped for lunch at Five Guys Burgers…because I just love a good burger. As I was taking a messy bite out of my huge burger, I was reminded by my lunch date that “meatless mondays” probably pertains to the entire Monday. It honestly dawned on me until that moment that the goal of Meatless Mondays is to go vegetarian for an entire day. Not just during dinner like I was doing. Oops.

Now that I’m educated on going meatless the entire day, we are back on track. I thought it was going to be really hard to beat the Gnocchi Skillet we had during week 1 because it was so good. However, the Spicy Thai Noodles we had for week 2 last week were phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal.

I used this One Pot Spicy Thai Noodles recipe I found on pinterest via Domestic Superhero’s website. This dish is so easy to make and you know how much I love a one pot recipe! It is packed with flavor and so filling that we had more than enough leftover to make 3 more servings out of it. I followed the recipe but also added shredded carrots (because I had them on hand) and added an extra shot of hot sauce and man was it spicy! But the good kind of spicy, not my-mouth-is-on-fire with every bite kind of spicy. So just be sure to adjust accordingly based on your spice preference.

I didn’t know how filling these Spicy Thai Noodles would be, so I served ours with a whole roasted cauliflower (recipe coming soon) and I think it was a bit too much food. I think next time I make this (and there will be many more “next” times for this dish), I would serve it with just a light mixed green salad to offset the heat a little bit.

[blockquote size=”full|half|third|fourth|two-thirds|three-fourths” align=”left|center|right”]Meatless Monday Recipe Review….[/blockquote]

Recipe Review ~

I give this dish a 10 out of 10! It’s delicious, filling, and easy to make. There is quite a bit of prep/chopping involved, but once you have it all prepped the actual cooking time is very quick.

Nutrition Review ~

This is a pasta dish, so it’s a bit heavy on carbohydrates. However, it’s packed with vegetables (zucchini, carrots, mushrooms and green onions) and I like that you can really add whatever vegetables you have on hand or that you really like to the dish. There’s a little bit of protein from the mushrooms, peanuts and eggs, but it’s not very much. I think next time I might add some seared tofu just for a bit more protein. Since tofu takes on whatever flavors you cook it with, I think it would taste really good in this dish.

Budget Review ~

Very friendly to our budget! This dish costs approximately $10 for 4-5 servings! Which means only about $2.50 per serving. I rounded up some costs, but in general this is how I tallied up the cost to me personally:

$1 pasta (1 pack)

$3 mushrooms (10 oz bag)

$1 worth of eggs (2 used)

$1 worth of carrots (2 used)

$1.50 worth of zucchini (2 used)

$1 Cilantro

$1 worth of green onions (4 used)

Already had on hand: Soy Sauce, brown sugar, peanuts, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, ginger, garlic

This is a dish that we will definitely be having again!