Bánh Mì Soup | Vegetarian, Vegan-friendly

This post is sponsored by Sweet Earth Foods, however all content, editorial comments and enthusiasm remain my own. Thank you for considering products that support The Fit Fork.

Soup or a sandwich, it’s so hard to decide! Bánh Mì, a traditional Vietnamese sandwich, is one of my favorite lunches – all those sweet crunchy vegetables and distinctive herbs packed into a baguette, so scrumptious. But, as cold-natured as I can be, a piping-hot soup seems a more practical cold-weather meal. So, to enjoy the best of both, I created a Bánh Mì Soup – it’s just as vibrant and lively as it’s namesake sammie, but ready to chase away the chill! Banh Mi Noodle Bowl Soup

Today’s Bánh Mì Soup is bread-free thanks to a swap of the crusty baguette for crowd-pleasing rice noodles. Just a trivia FYI, the bread is a holdover from when French had colonial control of Vietnam in the late 1880s. Notably, Bánh Mì Soup is suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets thanks to Mindful Chik’n. Read on to learn more about this new plant-based protein from Sweet Earth Foods and get the Banh Mi Soup recipe. Continue reading

Fast and Fit Steak Pho with Zucchini Noodles

The best thing about slurping up a big bowl full of my Fast and Fit Steak Pho with Zucchini Noodlesis the overload of delicious meat and veggie goodness sans the traditional noodles (we be low carb-ing it over here). The second-best thing is cracking Pho jokes, puns and innuendos with the family while eating this fast and fit meal.   Kids: “Mom, dinner tonight is pho-nomenal, it’s un-pho-gettable! You should take a picture of it, it would be good pho-tography.” Me: “Only the best pho you guys, that’s pho-sure.”

Beef and Zucchini Noodle Pho

But, no joke, this quick soup is not only “good pho you” it’s weeknight dinner winner when you just don’t have hour after hour to simmer down oxtails, beef knuckles and leg bones and exotic charred spices into the traditional Vietnamese broth. So, I might have broken a few ancient tenets of pho-making here and there – but, then again, I used zoodles (gasp) instead of the thin white rice noodle that my neighbor’s grandmother would more approve of. I’m a rebel who, with my zucchini, is squashing all rules!

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