Meatless Mondays: Inspiralized Vegetable Lo-Mein

For me, Chinese cuisine is right up there with Italian and Mexican! I don’t even...

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For me, Chinese cuisine is right up there with Italian and Mexican! I don’t even want to know how they make those amazing sauces they slather on their noodles and meats. I’ve never had the opportunity to visit China, but I’d love to go – not only for the food (they eat everything!), but for the architecture, the history, and the culture. In the meantime, I’ll have to settle for Travel & Leisure magazine and the Inspiralized kitchen. My favorite Chinese dish has to be lo-mein. Besides pizza, this is the only food that tastes better cold. After a brutal week, there’s nothing much more enjoyable than plopping down on the couch, ordering lo-mein and leaving leftovers in the fridge for lunch the next day. I promise my life is more exciting than that depiction, but – yum! Unfortunately, I tend to limit my noodle intake for the sake of my waistline. It’s easy to polish off a large container! Thankfully, I’ve got a solution: Inspiralize! Yes, that’s right – although I haven’t featured one on here yet, the spiralizer is perfect for making noodle dishes. Just make sure you always peel your vegetables before spiralizing them to create that soft and slimy noodle texture. With this recipe, I’ve used yellow squash instead of zucchini, I like the texture and color better – it reminds me more of the real deal. The calorie and carb savings here say it all: 1 cup of lo-mein noodles can cost you about 310 calories, whereas 1 cup of spiralized vegetable pasta costs you a measly 40-45 calories. To capitalize on this, I spiralized 3 yellow squashes instead of 2 – I wanted to really enjoy this! And hey, you can always buy takeout containers and eat these noodles with chopsticks. You won’t notice the difference…. except afterwards, when your tummy still feels flat!

 

Meatless Mondays: Inspiralized Vegetable Lo-Mein

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 ” peeled pressed and minced ginger
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • ½ cup snow peas
  • 1 red bell pepper Blade A, noodles trimmed
  • 1 large carrot Blade D, noodles trimmed
  • 4 medium zucchinis Blade D, noodles trimmed
  • 3 cups baby spinach
  • 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
  • to garnish: sesame seeds

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, honey, and red pepper flakes.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large wok or skillet over medium high heat. Once oil is shimmering, add the garlic, snow peas, bell pepper, carrot noodles, and zucchini noodles. Cook for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes.
  • Once you add the spinach, create the arrowroot slurry: stir together the arrowroot powder with 2 tablespoon of water.
  • Once the spinach is about wilted, add the soy sauce mixture and the arrowroot slurry and toss well to combine until sauce is thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Divide the lo mein into bowls and garnish with sesame seeds.

Instructions with Pictures Place a medium saucepan on high heat, filled with enough water to cover the broccoli and carrots. Once boiling, add in the broccoli and carrots and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until broccoli and carrots begins to soften but cannot be easily forked. Pour vegetables into a colander, pat dry and set aside. Next, combine all ingredients for the sauce and whisk together until cornstarch dissolves. Set aside. Put a large skillet over medium heat and pour in canola oil. Once oil heats, add in red bell peppers. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften. Add in the garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, water chestnuts, snap peas, carrots, edamame, broccoli and season with salt and pepper.

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Cook for about 3 minutes and then add in squash noodles, bok choy and the sauce prepared earlier. Cook until squash noodles are covered with sauce and soften, about 3 minutes.

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Once finished, plate onto dishes and garnish with sesame seeds. If you’re chopstick savvy, enjoy with chopsticks and really get the whole experience. But, if you’re like me and… well, NOT so dexterous – dig in with a fork!

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with love, Ali

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comments

  • Wow Ali. All those vegies. I don't like po neon because of the noodles but I'm going to try this. Looks yummy
    • I meant lo mein
  • Hi Ali ~ just a commment about your Cornstarch note. I just searched "Arrowroot vs Cornstarch" and a chart came up comparing nutritional facts. Wow what a difference. Arrowroot -- Less calories, less carbs, some protein, more potassium and magnesium, vit A and C, touch of fat and more sodium. Arrowroot makes a wonderful sauce -- one not to avoid due to empty calories. Your Lo Mein looks so delicious. I will be making it for dinner soon.
  • What kind of squash is yellow squash?
  • There's something wacky going on here. In the description at the top, you talk about using yellow squash, and that's the recipe I remember, that I was trying to find. But in the ingredient list, there is zucchini instead. Also, in the ingredient list there is spinach, but in the instructions with pictures, there's no spinach, instead there's broccoli and water chestnuts. Argh! Now I wish I had written down the version with yellow squash and water chestnuts.