This is easily one of our favorite dinners in my home. It is my husband’s favorite dish I cook, and he only gets it when he’s REALLY good ;). This dish is perfect because it is so versatile with what vegetables you can add in, as well as the protein you could use which could be shrimp, chicken, tofu, or beef- or you could simply load it with fresh vegetables for a vegan/vegetarian take. I prefer to make my pad thai with chicken or shrimp, and I like to add in some tofu for extra protein because the kids don’t even notice it. Traditionally in Thailand, pad thai is made with shrimp. The typical ingredients you should use include the tamarind paste and fish sauce (which you can find in the international food aisle in most grocery stores such as Whole Foods), shallots, fresh bean sprouts, scallions or garlic chives, lime, and rice noodles. The rest of the ingredients are pretty delicious, but you could play around and use substitutions to best suit your preferences. I started loading up my pad thai with a variety of fresh vegetables because, as I mentioned, this dish is a favorite in my home so I can easily get everyone to consume some extra vegetables. Pad thai’s zesty sweet-sour flavor pairs perfectly with the fresh crunch of vegetables; I toss in red and green cabbage, shredded carrots, red bell pepper, and as always some scallions! 😛

I prepare my sauce in advance by combining fish sauce, tamarind paste, fresh squeezed lime juice, brown sugar, crushed red pepper, and cayenne pepper. Beware, the crushed red pepper and cayenne make this dish very spicy, so I tend to limit this or omit it if I know the little ones will be eating it. I make the sauce in advance because getting your pad thai right is highly dependent on cooking the rice noodles just right-not too smushy and not undercooked. So once you are tossing all of these ingredients (it is a long list after all!) you really should have the sauce prepared and ready to pour.  The sauce recipe produces a large quantity, enough for 2-3 batches of pad thai. It stores well in the fridge.

The rice noodles do not need to be blanched or boiled,  instead just soak in hot water for 8-10 minutes. To ensure your noodles are perfect, do not over soak. They should be just pliable, and not too soft. They should be al dente but flexible. Remember, they will cook more once in the pan. Once in the pan, constantly move your noodles around and quickly add all the ingredients so that the noodles do not stick to the pan or clump, or get too soft. In order to do this successfully, you should have all ingredients prepared and ready to go. From the moment you sauté the scallions and garlic, the entire dish cooks within 5-10 minutes.

When cooking the pad thai, want to keep the noodles loose and nice. To ensure this, you want to make sure you have a nice wide pan for cooking. If you use a wok or something with a small base diameter, the ingredients will pile on top of each other and noodles will likely get sticky and clumpy ( I speak from experience). I use a 14inch diameter pan that I cook paella in and my results have improved dramatically than when I used to cook in my regular 10-12 inch omelet pans! Again, once the noodles are added to the pan, you need to keep them moving around so have all of your additional vegetables and tofu chopped and ready to go!

There is so much flavor in this dish from wonderful natural whole food infusers such as ginger, garlic, shallots, and the tamarind and lime in the sauce. The dish is also loaded with protein: eggs, tofu, and chicken or shrimp. Combined with the plentiful crunchy vegetables, this is a great healthy and filling meal! I only use 2 tablespoons of olive oil to sauté the meat then vegetables and noodles in, so fat is very minimal in the dish.

I start by sautéing the garlic, ginger, and shallots in olive oil. I then sizzle the meat in the infused oil for about 1-2 minutes on each side. Then, I add the eggs and scramble them, toss in the noodles and the sauce, toss in the tofu, and finally the fresh vegetables and bean sprouts. It all cooks and comes together pretty quickly, so remember the key is to have everything washed and chopped before you begin sautéing!

I hope you and your family enjoy!

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We have been eating a lot of sweets lately- cakes, cupcakes, and cookies- with my daughter’s birthday party and our Eid holiday just a few days after.  So I needed to come up with a healthier way for us to enjoy my baked goods. My husband just loved the caramel pumpkin cake, but that butter and sugar- yikes! So I decided to make several adjustments to a regular pumpkin or carrot cake to create a perfectly tasty and dare I say, (kind of) healthy, pumpkin- carrot muffin!

I swapped out half the flour for whole wheat flour. I significantly cut down the sugar to 1/2 a cup and added honey and maple syrup instead. Then I added some oats. While I found pumpkin to be a great substitute for oil, I wanted to make sure this would be a nice moist muffin, so I added in some olive oil. Yes, olive oil! It has very wonderful health benefits, and would offer great moisturizing benefits to these lil treats as well. You cannot smell or taste the olive oil at all so do not worry!

Baking is always a great way to keep the kids busy. You could let your kids pour, sift, and stir to allow them to feel some real ownership to the baked goods. I was in a hurry this time so I just gave my daughter her own mixing bowl and would pass her a spoon of flour, water, and oil as I went along and let her go to town. She loved it!

To be honest I was preparing to make a maple butter glaze for these guys because I was sure they would come out a little dry or too healthy tasting. But there is absolutely no need here. I suppose I could try it another time to make these more like dessert, but we gobbled up all the muffins before I even had a chance to store them! They were that good! The high fiber and vitamin A you get is not a bad deal either. So here it is!

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You know when you feel that itch in your throat? Or your nose starts to twitch and you just feel the cold coming on? Don’t let your weak, exhausted body fall victim to those yucky viruses! Whenever I feel run down and am about to get a cold, I consume as much vitamin C and natural nutrition as possible! Making smoothies in my blender with whole produce is one of the best ways to do this!

For this smoothie, I combine everything! Start with a big chunk of pineapple (with the core- it has all the enzymes that are good for you), 2 oranges, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 pink grapefruit, 3 spoonfuls of raw honey (try to find local honey), some fresh ginger and turmeric root, 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries, an apple, 1 tablespoon of vitamin C rich camu camu powder, and 1/4 cup of yogurt. The yogurt is for the protein and helps keep me full. You can keep this dairy free and omit the yogurt. I add only 1/4 cup of water and the rest is the natural fruit juices and whole fiber. The blender I use is a Vitamix, which from all the appliances I have tried is really the only one that is powerful enough to break up these tough whole food combos into smooth, liquified drinks.

Next time you are feeling run down and need a boost, try this! I just drink this all day, which is a great way to detoxify, stay full off of healthy good fiber, and lose some weight if that is what you need to do (as I do!)
Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, dietitian, or physician. Smoothies should not serve as meal replacement!