Lo Mein Noodles with Lots of Vegetables

We love our noodle fix at our house! Noodles make a weeknight dinner appearance atleast once every other week for us. 

I load them up with lots of vegetables for a heart healthy dinner and they cook so fast - what's not there to love about this weeknight dinner!

This is another one of my busy working mom's 20minutes or less dinners. The trick, as always, is a well stocked fridge and pantry. Can't emphasize this enough. Spend that hour on Saturday to make it a priority to visit farmer's markets (if in your area) or any fresh local grocer/CSA and your tummy will thank you for it for the whole week to come!

My two favorite noodles to cook with are Soba and Lo Mein. I love them both. Soba tends get slightly stickier if you overcook them even for a minute -- Lo Mein have the advantage of being more unforgiving when it comes to texture. I buy them at Whole Foods but they are available at any asian grocery stores.

I have this trick to keep vegetables in a noodle dish crunchy. You just stir fry them one at a time and remove from heat. Then add everything together at the end - easy!

I hope you will try this another 20minute weeknight dinner.. you can add meats or tofu if you want or vary the vegetables - variations are endless!

Recipe:
Serves 3
Ingredients:
1 packet Lo Mein noodles - usually has 3 bundles
few Tbsp vegetable oil (don't use olive oil for stir-frying)
quarter of a large onion - sliced length wise into thin slices
1 red pepper - sliced length wise into thin slices
2 carrots - chopped
1C broccoli florets
7-8 mushrooms - sliced thinly
1tsp grated ginger
handful of chopped green onions
handful of chopped cilantro
3-4Tbsp soy sauce, low sodium
2Tbsp rice wine vinegar
dash of hot sauce (per taste)
salt & pepper

Recipe:
Heat water in a large pot.  While water is heating, prepare all the veggies. Prep ahead is really beneficial for stir fry dishes which cook in a jiffy!

When water is hot, add Lo Mein and cook per package directions (usually 4-6 minutes), Then drain noodles and rinse with cold water thoroughly to stop cooking. Set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or a large surface area pan on medium high heat. When hot, stir fry onions, peppers, broccoli and carrots quickly one at a time - each taking a minute or two and then remove each vegetable with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Then add ginger and mushrooms to the pan. Cook stirring for 3-4 minutes until mushrooms are slightly softened. Add soy sauce, vinegar and mix well.

Turn the heat off. Add noodles, add all the veggies back, add salt & pepper to taste (go easy on salt as soy sauce often makes dish salty). 

Garnish with hot sauce, green onions and cilantro and mix well.

Serve hot with a hot cup of your favorite green tea to sip along!