Sesame’d Noodle and Veggie Stir Fry

This is a fairly quick and easy stir fry to prepare, filled with all kinds of colorful veggies, the crunch of nuts and a hint of rich sesame oil.

Ingredients:

4 oz of soba noodles or whole wheat spaghetti
1 cup diced onion (about 1 medium)
1 cup diced celery (a couple stalks)
2 cups chopped mushrooms
1 cup chopped bell peppers yellow, orange or red (about 1 whole pepper)
1 cup cubed egg plant (1 small or ½ of a large)
1 cup snap peas or pea pods
ICB spray or olive oil using olive oil sprayer (if both n/a use a teaspoon of olive oil)
½ teaspoon crushed garlic or a few cloves diced
½ cup chopped fresh basil
¼ cup chopped nuts (peanuts or cashews)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
soy sauce and crushed red pepper flakes (optional for serving)

Directions:

Wash, cut and measure all of the vegetables and chop up the nuts (or you can put the 1/4 cup in a baggie, seal it and crush them). Begin cooking noodles according to their package directions.
As the noodles are cooking, put all the veggies in a separate large skillet, wok or flat saucepan sprayed with ICB or olive oil sprayer (or drizzled with 1 teaspoon olive oil), put on medium to high heat and sauté, stirring constantly. Add the crushed garlic after about 5 minutes as the veggies begin to soften and occasionally spray with more ICB or the olive oil sprayer to keep them from sticking to the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes or until they are slightly tender and remove from heat. Once the noodles are done, pour them into a strainer to dry and then add them into the pan with the veggies. Return to medium heat, add the tablespoon of sesame oil, chopped nuts and the basil and stir well to coat/mix and until warm, about 3-5 minutes.

Serve with soy sauce and crushed red pepper if you like.

Variations and notes:

If you don’t like one or more of the above vegetables you can substitute a cup of another chopped vegetable of your choice (broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts etc) – just make sure you have 6 cups of raw veggies total.

Two ounces of dry long pasta bunched up in your hand, such as spaghetti, thin spaghetti, linguine or vermicelli, is about the same size as the diameter of a quarter. Two ounces of dry pasta yields about 1 cup of cooked pasta. You will need twice that amount this recipe.

Makes 6 cups, six servings

Serving size 1 cup: Calories 229 Protein 6 g Carb 26 g Fiber 5 g Sugars 6 g Fat 8 g Saturated fat <1 g Sodium 66 mg (not including soy sauce!)