There’s a pad thai at one of my favorite vegan restaurants that’s conveniently located very close to home – Candle Cafe West. While I don’t love their version of pad thai, I thought I might be able to put my spin on it and make it into a healthy dinner/packable work lunch. I did some googling to see how other people had made  pad thai and then decided to just wing it.

What you’ll need: 

• 1 zucchini, thinly chopped or shredded with veggie peeler
• 2 carrots, thinly chopped or shredded with veggie peeler
• 4 shiitake mushrooms, chopped and sautéed in 1/2 TBS sesame oil
• 1/2 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 cup edamame
• 1/2 package pressed tofu
• 1/2 head of radicchio, chopped
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp flax seeds

What you’ll need for dressing:

• 1 roasted garlic clove (or raw if you don’t have roasted around)
• 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 2 TBS soy sauce
• juice from 1 lime
• 1 TBS agave nectar
• 3 TBS warm water

Get your tofu rinsed and pressed first while you work on everything else. Saute your mushrooms in sesame oil until they release their juices – set aside. Chop all of your veggies and try not to lose a finger. I decided to take a veggie peeler to the zucchini and carrots to make the “noodles” but did risk losing if not a finger, at least a nail in the batch. Thankfully, I survived.

Toss all the veggies together in a giant bowl and make your dressing in a separate container. I chose to keep the dressing separate until each serving was ready to eat.

I went nuts for this dressing and can’t wait to find more things to make that I can put it on again. We had the salad for a light dinner and then turned it into a great wrap for lunch the next day by adding avocado and rolling everything up! Definitely versatile and worth making again!