Lighten Up: Pre-Turkey Day Saucy Shrimp Stir Fry

With Thanksgiving just around the corner you are probably seeing a ton of Thanksgiving-related recipes in & around the blogosphere - but not here...well at least...not today :)  On this fine Tuesday I thought I'd give you a quick, healthy & delicious little dish you can make yourself for lunch or dinner in the time we have left leading up to turkey day - or perhaps one of the days after t-day when you need a change from the leftover turkey, green bean casserole, potatoes & stuffing.

This recipe is something I came up with one evening when I was craving Thai food and/or stir fry, but not wanting to spend $20 on myself to order it & have it delivered!  Also, this is a much healthier version of a peanut-flavored stir fry since it uses ingredients such as whole wheat noodles, low sodium soy sauce & all natural peanut butter.  The addition of the bell peppers give more than a healthy dose of vitamin C (one serving gets you to 750 percent of the daily recommendation for the vitamin) and the shrimp are a fantastic, lower calorie source of protein.

I made up this recipe using what I had on hand in my cupboards but - for your convenience - I have listed optional ingredients below next to the ones I used, in case you don't quite have in your cupboards what I did at the time.  The flavors will be almost identical & this dish is sure to please no matter what you substitute!

See below for photos & recipe, and keep checking back for some fantastic Thanksgiving recipes I will post after turkey day - as I will be doing it all real time on Thursday & taking photos along the way!

Enjoy :)

Saucy little dish

Gorgeous

My go-to

Veggie prep

Steam that shrimp

Multi-tasking

Thin spaghetti rocks

In goes the peanut butter

Now the noodles

Soy | Shrimp | Peppers | Noodles | Onion | Peanut | Chili
#Boom

Saucy Shrimp Stir Fry

Ingredients
(makes 2 servings)

- about 20 small frozen shrimp (I always keep a bag of the frozen, cooked, tail-off "salad style" shrimp in my freezer.  20 shrimp is 1 serving size, which = 80 calories)
- about 2 oz whole wheat thin spaghetti (thin spaghetti is nice because it's more versatile in dishes - I use it for Italian cooking & Asian cooking; however, you could also use regular spaghetti, or any other plain or wheat noodle you have in the house)
- 1 tblsp olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper (for the red & orange pepper, feel free to sub yellow or green peppers here, as well - they're all great sources of vitamins)
- 1 orange bell pepper (if you have other veggies frozen or laying around, add them to the mix!)
- half of 1 white onion (I only needed half, but depending on how much you like onion you could use less or more; yellow or red onion could work also)
- 3 tblsp low sodium soy sauce (if you only have regular you can use that, but the nutritional value of the meal will decrease slightly)
- 1 tblsp all natural chunky peanut butter (you could use really any variety of peanut butters, but I prefer all natural; if you go with chunky-style it adds actual crushed peanuts into the dish)
- 1 tsp chili sauce (I use Heavenly Chef Hunan Red Chile Sauce)
- sriracha sauce (option garnish)


Directions

After washing & drying peppers, remove stems, seeds & slice into small strips.  Cut onion into pieces, about 1-2".  Set veggies aside.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Once cooked, drain & set aside.

For shrimp, count out 20 individual shrimp (the amount of the serving size) and place them in a bowl of warm water for 2-3 minutes to thaw them a bit.  Drain water & transfer shrimp to a small pan over medium heat.  Add 2 tblsp of water and let shrimp steam (stirring often) for 8-10 mins (there should be almost no water left at the end of steaming, but if it's all gone before 8-10 mins has gone by then feel free to add a little more).  Remove shrimp from heat.

In a larger pan, heat 1 tblsp olive oil over medium heat and add onion and peppers.  Stir to coat evenly with the oil and continue to sauté for 10 mins while constantly stirring.

Turn heat down to low.  Add shrimp to the veggies, then add the 3 tblsp soy sauce & 1 tblsp peanut butter to the pan and stir to combine (as you stir, the peanut butter should begin to melt, but stir quite a bit to make sure it all melts & evenly coats the veggies & shrimp).  If using chili sauce, add the 1 tsp to the mixture.

Finally, add the spaghetti noodles to the pan and toss/stir for a few minutes until combined and coated with the sauce. Transfer mixture to a bowl and top with sriracha sauce, if desired, and serve immediately!