Asian Salad

You know those bookclub girls I talked about on Monday!? They have talked me into something crazy this Saturday morning... ever heard of the 5K Go Commando race? When they first brought it up all I could think was "who would want to run a 5k without pants on!?" Come to find out it had nothing to do with that - it's like army commando, not no pants commando. It's an adventure race that really has nothing to do with time - thank God. I am the worlds worst runner.

And yet - I'm training for a 5K in July. Probably a 10k somewhere after that... and hopefully assuming all goes well I will run a half marathon next April. This assumes a lot of things, so don't hold me to it! New running shoes, a garmin forerunner 610 and water bottles galore at my house! The good news is, my husband has been insanely supportive and has been going on runs with me.

I got back from one of these runs, and I needed something healthy, but something DIFFERENT! I've been bored with the same old same old lately. Then I remembered this spring roll Mike and I shared, and him asking me to make the peanut butter dipping sauce we had with it... ta da... asain salad for dinner.

Ingredients in the sauce:
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
6 tablespoons creamy peanut butter - weird measurement I know - 1/4 cup peanut butter, plus two tablespoons
1/4 cup of hoisin sauce
1/2 cup of hot water, use less if you want a thicker sauce
1/4 cup of lime juice
2 teaspoons hot sauce
2 teaspoons of ground ginger

Place all ingredients into a bowl and puree until smooth using an immersion blender. If you don't have an immersion blender you can use a normal blender. Once well combine, set aside.

Ingredients in the salad:
9 ounces - about 3/4 of a box of whole wheat spaghetti (you can use soba noodles to be more authentic)
2 small zucchini sliced thinly
1 cup of matchstick carrots
1 large red pepper sliced thinly
3 scallions, sliced
1 cup of snow peas
1 poblano pepper sliced thinly
1 cup of edamame, shelled
1/2 cup cilantro, minced
Crushed red pepper flakes - to taste. I used probably 1/2 tablespoon - I like spicy foods

Bring a large pot of  salted water to a boil. Pour in the spaghetti. Chop all the vegetables, and add them all to a large skillet. 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1/3 cup of the starchy pasta water and the crushed red pepper flakes. Heat the skillet to medium and cook the veggies until they are just slightly soft. This should take about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Drain the pasta when it's done.

Plate the pasta - veggies on top - sauce and cilantro to taste.

Recipe adapted from Women's Health Magazine

{Apologies for the iphone photos - I wasn't home!}

Enjoy!