Shanghai Shrimp

This summer has been, needless to say, hectic so far.  But in the most fun sorts of ways!  My birthday was a blast!  We had a great yoga class with my favorite yoga teacher out on the lakeshore path.  There are lots of photos up on strangeplaceforyoga, so head over there and check them out.  We followed it up with an awesome (and plentiful) sushi dinner with friends (and my baby brother!) which made me smile.

I have also been traveling for work, and even though it may feel like I'm always on a plane, when I travel I get to do my favorite part of my job and I've enjoyed all of the interesting things I've been learning.

A couple weeks ago, we were able to spend a day up out on a friend's boat on Lake Geneva which was an absolute blast!  We've also been taking advantage of the many summer festivals in Chicago.  Last weekend we went to Country Fest, where we were able to lay out in my new birthday hammock all day and enjoy the great weather and music.  Last weekend I also had my first trip to Ravinia, where we had a great night with Darius Rucker, Rodney Atkins, and Jana Kramer.  I had the best night singing, dancing and picnicing!



The summer is only ramping up from here!  Soon I'll be headed on my last work trip of the summer (I hope) followed by a visit to my parent's house in NH.  I'm ready to get out on the lake and waterski, as well as spend lots of overdue time with family.  Once I get back, it will less than 2 weeks until our big trip! We're headed all over the Pacific Northwest and then flying down for a few days in San Diego to cap off the end to of the Monkey Scientist's last summer break.  I couldn't be more excited.  If you have any advice please share!



Hopefully between all of the travel and fun I'll have time to share another recipe with you soon.  In the meantime, this recipe was PERFECT for my crazy hectic lifestyle lately.  Aside from the produce, we had everything we needed in the house, which is always a plus for me.  Although the prep takes a little while, once the vegetables are chopped and the liquids are measured out, it doesn't take very long to come together.  Plus, the boys were happy because it made a LOT of food!  It was perfectly finished with a little watermelon for dessert, and I still had time to make Chipotle Brownies (man, does that post need to be updated) for the Mexican-themed party we're going to tonight!



Shanghai Shrimp
from Family Circle

Ingredients
1 7 ounce package rice stick noodles
3 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
3 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (divided)
3 tbsp rice vinegar (divided)
1/4 plus 1/8 tsp salt
3/4 lb mini sweet peppers,tops trimmed, quartered
8 oz sugar snap peas
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 lb raw cleaned shrimp (thawed if frozen)
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 - 2 tsp Asian chili-garlic sauce (sambal oelek)

Instructions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the rice noodles and cook for 3 minutes, then drain.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large wok over medium high heat. Add the cooked rice noodles, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, and 1 tbsp of rice vinegar. Cook, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes or until the noodles just start to brown from the heat and the sauce is evenly distributed.  Remove the noodles from the wok onto a large platter.
3. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil to the wok and heat over medium high heat.  Add the sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, and onion to the wok and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until the onions just start to soften.  Add the shrimp and 1/8 tsp salt. Cook, stirring, for an additional 4 minutes or so, until the shrimp are opaque.  Whisk together 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, the sweet chili sauce, lemon juice, and chili-garlic sauce, then add to the wok and cook for an additional 1 minute.
4. Pour the vegetable and shrimp mixture over the noodles, with all of the sauce in the pan, and serve.