Pad Thai Soup for One

So here’s the deal with my feet.  Not only can I not wear flip flops anymore, I don’t think I can go barefoot for any length of time without some sort of arch support.  I cooked a lot on Sunday, and after standing in the kitchen, by night time I had to ice my right foot.

I did my Classic Stretch for 30 minutes yesterday instead of my walk.  I wore my Born supportive shoes and by mid-morning my foot was feeling so much better.  Getting old is a bitch.  JK – I am not old, just slightly over 30 (by 15 years!).

Breakfast was more of Tony’s frittata, a honey Chobani and an apple.  I always save the fruit at the end for dessert.

I didn’t feel like doing anything too strenuous on my foot, so I did 9 miles on the bike while watching The Chew.  That show is slowly growing on me – they do have some interesting recipes.

What I couldn’t wait for was lunch.  I had lemon grass in my pantry, starting thinking about Thai recipes, then found Kevin’s Pad Thai Soup.   I adapted it because A.  Tony won’t touch spicy shit.  B.  Tony doesn’t believe soup is an actual meal. and C. I had another soup recipe for the week and I can only eat so much soup.

Nevermind that our temps got to 94 degrees yesterday.  I really couldn’t wait to eat this.

Pad Thai Soup for One (adapted from Closet Cooking)

• makes one bowl – 451 calories, 5.4 fat, 60 carbs, 37 protein and wait for it, wait for it wait for it 3401 mg of sodium  (holy shizznit!)

Let’s just say I drank a lot of water after learning the sodium content.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups chicken broth
• 4 ounces raw shrimp
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 Serrano pepper, sliced
• 1 small carrot, julienned
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• 2.5 ounces thin noodles
• garnish with peanuts and cilantro and sriracha

Heat the chicken broth and carrots over medium high heat until it starts to boil.  Add the noodles – mine only take 3 minutes to cook.   During the last 1 minute of the noodles cooking, throw in the shrimp.  Cook for 1 minute, remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients – garnish with peanuts, cilantro and sriracha.

Now, test your peppers, this was REALLY spicy, but flavorful spicy – I think Kevin used red Thai chili peppers, so maybe that’s not as spicy?  All I know is this was delish.  And for the record, I used to shun fish sauce because I was like “I f-ing hate fish, why the hell would I add fish sauce to a dish.”  Um, because its amazeballs.  It’s got a salty savory flavor to it and it helped round out this soup with the acidity from the lime juice.

Sorry for the shrimp heads on the side – that was from the hooters shrimp I made on football Sunday.

These are the noodles I used – each bundle is 2.5 ounces – I love how quickly they cook.  I bought them at a Japanese grocery store, but I haven’t checked the Asian aisle at my store – maybe they are there too?

Just so good.  The shrimp were still tender because I slightly undercooked them knowing that I’d be reheating this at work.  Yum!  I see this high on the soup rotation this fall and winter.

Our grocery store had marinated steak for $3.99 a pound.  It’s usually super flavorful, it’s thin so it cooks up really quickly.  This time?  A bit salty.  Tony and I were going back and forth – he kept saying it was my cheese sauce that was salty (there was no added salt) and I kept telling him it was the meat.  In the end, I won.

My thought was to make a cheese steak sandwich with them, and a quick tastespotting search took me to Tracey’s Culinary Adventures.  Turns out she made an Ellie Krieger cheese sauce – this is so easy, I hate to even call it a “recipe.”

Cheese Sauce for Philly Cheesesteak

• 4 servings – 2 tablespoons each – 75 calories, 4.7 fat, 3.2 carbs, 4.8 protein

In a pan add 1/2 cup cold skim milk.  Add 1 tablespoon of flour.  Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat until it starts to thicken.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese until it melts.  How simple is that?

I grilled up the meat on the gas grill.  I sautéed green and red peppers for me.  Then to assemble – Turano bread roll, 3 ounces of steak, red and green peppers and 2 tablespoons of the cheese sauce.  Mine was without.  I guess in Philly if you order a cheesesteak you either say wit or without – without is no onions!

Kyle insisted on getting into my photo shoot.  She’s not camera shy at all.

Other than the saltiness of the marinated meat, these were really good.  Just enough cheese sauce to get some in every bite.

It’s hot here people.  Like yesterday got to 94 degrees and when I started Insanity last night it was still 89 degrees out and we had yet to turn on our central air.  I actually loved it though – it was like doing bikram Insanity – I was a sweaty mess after 40 minutes of Cardio Balance.

So here’s something you don’t know about me – I f_cking hate all my sports bras.  Like every one.  I can’t put them on or off without some sort of help or without breaking my shoulders in the process.  So last night I decided to put my bra over my tank top – classy, I know, but I was able to get it off no problem.

Okay I switched over to Calorie Count because I like the recipe builder there better.  I entered all my food and all I can see is that I had 1623 calories and my “grade” for the day was a B+.  Any ideas on how to see more of my stats, like fiber and carbs?

Stats for the Day

• 1623 calories
• 30 minutes Classical Stretch before work
• 40 minute 9 mile bike ride at lunch
• 40 minute Cardio Balance bikram Insanity after dinner

Guess who got their ass out of bed this morning to walk for 40 minutes?  Yep, this gal!  Make it a great day!