Category Archives: Easy Weeknight Meals

Monday Night Football Buffalo “Chicken” Pizza

Easy Weeknight Meals, Main Courses, , , , , , , , ,

Monday Night Football screams for junky food. This pizza is just junky enough. All of the flavors of buffalo chicken wings, but but meat-free and with a lot less fat and cholesterol. Plus there is plenty of blue and green on it. Go Seahawks!

If you want to prep this in advance so you don’t miss any of the game, prep it up until the final 5 minutes in the oven, then put it in the oven during a commercial or halftime.

Serve this with a salad or a veggie tray with a healthy dip like hummus, baba ganoush, or tatziki.  

For a full pizza 101, visit this post.

buffalo chicken pizza
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Okonomiyaki (Japanese Cabbage Pancake)

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Okonomiyaki is a popular Japanese street food consisting of cabbage, egg, and other various items like meat, fish, even yakisoba noodles.  The word “okonomiyaki” means “grilled as you like it”, indicating that you can put virtually anything in these pancakes, sometimes referred to as Japanese pizza.  This recipes is a simple, vegetarian version of the dish (if you leave out the bonito flakes).

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Pad See Ew

Easy Weeknight Meals, Low Calorie, Main Courses, , , , , , , , ,

I have been trying to make a great Pad See Ew at home for years without success.  I began trying again recently, and I’ve finally come up with something that I’m excited about.  

If you aren’t familiar with Pad See Ew, it’s a popular Thai noodle dish with broccoli and two types of soy sauce.  In addition to traditional “light” or “thin” soy sauce, this dish uses “thick” or “sweet” soy sauce for additional depth and complexity.  You can find this kind of soy sauce at Asian markets or here.  

Traditional Pad See Ew uses fresh, wide rice noodles.  I have never had success working with fresh rice noodles.  First of all, getting them requires a trip to the asian market.  I love going to the Asian market, but it’s kind of far from where I live, so I don’t there very often.  Secondly, when I work with them, they tend to break up into a million little pieces.  For me, the dried noodles just yield a better result.  

You can easily make this vegan by omitting the eggs and replacing the oyster sauce with a vegan version that is made with mushrooms or a little mushroom bouillon.  

You really need a wok to prepare this dish properly.  It’s good to be able to push the cooked egg to the side of the wok to prevent it from becoming rubbery.  Additionally, you should cook this dish on high heat so that you can get a bit of char on the noodles.

 padseeew

Print Recipe

Pad See Ew

A delicious Thai noodle dish with plenty of broccoli.
Servings: 2

Ingredients

  • 8 oz wide rice noodles
  • 2 TBSP sweet soy sauce
  • 2 TBSP oyster sauce
  • 1 TBSP soy sauce
  • 1 TBSP rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp sirracha or chili garlic sauce or to taste
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 8 oz broccolini florets and stems about 2 cups*
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 6-8 large prawns optional
  • 2 TBSP peanut oil

Instructions

  • Fill a large pot of water with hot tap water and add rice noodles. Allow noodles to soak for ~30 minutes to soften them.
  • Combine sweet soy, oyster sauce, regular soy sauce, rice vinegar, sirracha, sugar and garlic in a small bowl and stir to combine.
  • Heat wok on high heat and add 1 TBSP peanut oil.
  • Add prawns (if using) and stir fry for ~3 minutes until they are nearly cooked through.
  • Move prawns to the sides of the wok and add egg and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
  • Push egg to the sides of the wok with the prawns and add softened rice noodles and sauce.
  • Stir-fry noodles until most of the liquid from the sauce is gone.
  • Add broccolini and cook until tender crisp (about 2 more minutes). During this time let noodles sit and develop a bit of char on them.
  • Once broccolini is done, serve immediately.

Notes

* I like to use broccolini, but you can use regular broccoli instead. Better yet, use Chinese broccoli if you can get your hands on some.
Adapted from Rachel Cooks Thai