Day 1 of 28-Day Challenge and Rip's Vegan Pad Thai

Day 1

Breakfast:

coffee and 1 Tbsp soy creamer

smoothie with 1 large frozen  banana, 1 cup frozen mango chunks, 1/2 cup frozen spinach, 1 Tbsp ground flax seed, 4 ice cubes, water

Lunch:

Went to Organic Energy Restaurant http://www.organicenergy.com/

French Lentil Soup with Tomato and Fennel

Mega Life Salad with alfalfa sprouts, tofu, carrots, beets, parsley, nuts, seeds and mixed greens with Miso Orange Dressing (no oil in this dressing)

Dinner:

1 apple while preparing dinner (wow does that help to tame the hunger monster!)

Rip's Pad Thai (recipe below)

Raw vegan banana ice "cream" with grape nuts

I'm just going to be honest here. As I was making this, I was wondering how this was going to turn out, and not in a good way. But, OMGosh, this was fabulous! Even my 10-year-old and 2-year-old devoured it. Two things I learned: 1) Tofu is amazing. Particularly broiled tofu. Yes, another thing that is going to be a staple in my kitchen. And 2) Trust Rip. The recipes from The Engine 2 Diet are consistently great.

Rip's Vegan Pad Thai

Serves 3-4

3-6 Tbsp vegetable stock or water

1 garlic clove, minced

3 scallions (green onions), cut into 1 inch lengths

12 ounces flat rice noodles, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes, then drained (I used the ultra thin rice stick noodles because that is what I had in my pantry and the box only contained 8 ounces of noodles--the recipe worked perfectly anyway.  Just know that if you use different rice noodles, the soaking time is different.)

1 pound broiled tofu cubes (recipe below-you will need 1 pound of extra-firm tofu and Bragg's Liquid Aminos)

2 cups broccoli florets

1 cup bean sprouts

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp dark brown sugar

4 Tbsp low-sodium tamari

2 Tbsp lemon juice

4 Tbsp home-toasted peanuts, chopped (I used raw slivered almonds, cause that's what I had!)

8 sprigs cilantro (I used a whole-heck-of-alot more, 'cause that's how I roll)

For Broiled Tofu Cubes:

Preheat oven to broil.  Drain the tofu and cut into 1-inch cubes. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray foil with nonstick spray.  Spray the cubes with Braggs Liquid Aminos (I put the tofu in a bowl with a little Braggs and gently stirred the tofu to coat it).  Place each cube on the sprayed surface and broil, turning once, for 20 minutes total or until browned on both sides. ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!

For Pad Thai:

Prep and measure all ingredients before starting the cooking process. The cooking will go really fast and you won't be able to chop and measure in between steps.

Heat 3 Tbsp vegetable stock in a wok or large nonstick skillet until it starts to bubble.  Cook the garlic in the vegetable stock for 1 minute, until the garlic begins to brown lightly.  One at a time, add the scallions, noodles, broiled tofu, broccoli and sprouts, stirring for 45 seconds after each addition. (I needed to add 3 more Tbsp of vegetable broth during this phase because my mixture was too dry.) Add the chili power, sugar, tamari and lemon juice.  Stir to combine and remove from heat. Garnish with peanuts (or slivered almonds) and cilantro.