pad thai that will make you slap your momma

it's so rainy out, but i'm not complaining.

the air is starting to smell just a little bit different

and there's a slight breeze moving in.

i'm definitely not complaining.

even though it's barely the middle of august i feel i can almost taste fall.

steel cut oats have made a reappearance

and coffee instead of diet coke is waking me up in the morning.

oatmeal never looks pretty

i hate to rush summer out the back door,

but it's been too damn hot, my a/c bill is through the roof, and i'm complaining.

with the evenings cooling down to the upper 70's i feel like i can cook again.

"cook"

you know...set the coffee timer.

set the rice cooker timer for the oats.

as well as "make" dinner.

i "made" dinner last night.

dinner was more than a sammich and chips for once during the week.

it was glorious, and i sat in a food coma.

but i ain't complaining.

i, am, however, slightly stretching the definition of cooking.

measuring spoons and cookware were slightly involved, so i'm going with it.

if you're like me, i'm obsessed with pad thai.  i mean, hello yummy rice noodles!

carby deliciousness. 

if you're also like me, you hate paying $8 for an entree for something that seems so stupid easy to make.

if you're like me, you've scoured the internet for an authentic pad thai recipe and discovered that there are no less than 50 ingredientses involved

ingredientses.  look it up.

all of which i do not keep on hand. including fish sauce.  (i know my favorite thai restaurants probably use this stuff generously, but gross.)

so imagine my excitement when i randomly downloaded the happy herbivore cookbook. - it's $5 for the kindle through amazon - and found a veg friendly pad thai recipe.

the sauce has 5 ingredients. 

6 if you count water.

all of which i had on hand, except for 1 - which was specialty, but not THAT specialty of item.  you know, like fish sauce.

i felt somewhat guilty sharing this recipe and didn't know how copyrights influenced recipes, but after a few minutes of research, i learned that there is no copyright protection surrounding recipes since they are "ideas" meant to be shared.

so i encourage you to download the happy herbivore or buy the cookbook since i am very excited to try the other seemingly simple recipes.  and trust me, you don't have to be vegan or vegetarian to enjoy them.

but after posting to facebook my pad thai discovery i had a few interested in how to recreate this dish.

so here it goes.

it's so easy.

you're going to want to make this once a week.

boil some rice noodles.  got it?  good. just follow the directions on the package.

the rice noodles were in the specialty "health food" section at my kroger.  i found it weird that i could not find them in the ethnic food aisle - perhaps i overlooked them. 

make sauce.

2 T warm water
2 T soy sauce
1 T PB (i use the natural kind, so it's a bit more runny - JIFF you may need to heat up a bit in the microwave)
1 T sweet red chili Asian sauce.  (the one specialty item i had to buy.  it was like $3 at kroger in the ethnic food aisle, and i promise you'll use this again to make this or use it as a glaze or dip)
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t hot sauce or to taste (didn't use, i don't like hot sauce)

seriously - just whisk this all together.

drain your noodles, and i ended up running some cold water over my noodles to keep them from sticking - they were still warm enough to eat.  but seriously.  pad thai is like pizza.  hot, cold, room temp - always good.

i was craving a bit of tofu, so i drained a block and griddle fried some up (olive oil + salt)

leftover chicken or pork would work, stir fry some fresh or frozen veggies, top with crushed peanuts, bean sprouts, or i like a little crushed red pepper.

i know, i don't like hot sauce but love red pepper flakes.

i made this just for me.  i ate probably half of the noodles - a large serving.  i would say the package of noodles i picked up makes 2 entree sized plates, or 4 smaller portion plates.

i used the whole amount of sauce the above makes.  so if you're going to be eating all of the noodles, i would double the sauce recipe.  and if you're adding mix ins like veggies, tofu, or meat i would probably triple or quadruple the sauce recipe.

it's so good.  it seriously tasted like take out without the take out price.

i understand though if you don't make this this weekend, because it's kentucky state fair time. 

and

if you're like me

you have a hankerin'  for grilled corn smothered in butter and cajun seasoning.

and something fried.

have a good weekend!