I eat so much pasta, guys. Take a peak in my pantry and you’ll see canned tomatoes, Fruit Loops and stacks upon stacks of pasta. I eat so much that I (GASP) am getting tired of the same pasta with some version of tomato sauce and parmesan shaved on top. So I took the noodles and went a completely different direction with them. And boom, Crab and Vegetable Lo Mein was born.

Another reason I decided to make a Chinese takeout version is because I really, really love Chinese food. However, I have recently been getting killer migraines out of nowhere after eating hibachi or Chinese takeout. A huge bummer.

My boyfriend and I went out to a hibachi a while ago and of course one of the best parts of hibachi is having the leftovers for lunch the next day. Lol WRONG.

The next day at work, my vision started to blur, so I thought I had just been staring at my monitor for too long. So I took a walk outside and those little dots were still there when I came back in.

“There’s no way I’m about to get a migraine,” I thought. I never get migraines.

Well lo and behold, I got a migraine. I definitely freaked a bit at work because I didn’t really know what to do. So I took an Excedrin (I keep them on me for my boyfriend because he gets them all the time) and dipped out from work and went home. My upstairs neighbor must have been having a bowling party or something that day because she/he was making SO MUCH NOISE. After finally being able to sleep most of it off, guess what I did?? I was having a craving for salty foods, so my ass goes and orders CHINESE delivery.

Surprisingly, I didn’t get a migraine the next day, but I got one the following morning because I had hibachi leftovers for lunch the day before. Needless to say, I unfortunately haven’t set foot in another Chinese restaurant since the *incident* we’ll call it. After a bit of research, (I love research) I found out that some people tend to get headaches and migraines after they consume MSG. GREAT.

When I told my little sister, she said, “So you mean no more Chinese for you forever?!?!” The word “forever” hit me pretty hard and didn’t settle too well, so I created my own dish that allows me to be in full control of how much MSG I add. Yes I’m aware this recipe does call for a few ingredients that contain MSG, but like I said, full control, right?

You can pretty much use any kind of vegetable you have in your fridge for this. You know-mushrooms, squash, zucchini. Just be sure that you cook whatever you use for a few minutes before you add your eggs in. The first time I made this, I didn’t add broccoli. Still great. I have made it without red pepper. Still great. You can really add anything you want to this lo mein and it would probably…still be great! You could even add tofu in place of the crab for a vegetarian dish.

When and if you add broccoli, though, be sure to add just a spoonful or so of water along with it. This allows the broccoli to steam a bit, instead of just browning and possibly burning in the pan. And burnt broccoli is NOT a pleasant taste or smell.

And for the sauce, it’s just like the lo mein mixture, in that you can change whatever you don’t like about it. Don’t like spice?? 86 the sriacha, girlfriend. Really LOVE that sweet and salty combo?? Add more soy sauce and honey. Don’t get me wrong, I am a fresh garlic fanatic, but I really am not a fan of chowing down on some raw chunks of the stuff. If you do like a strong garlic flavor, add it into the lo mein sauce instead of cooking it with the veggies.

That’s cool thing about cooking, guys. It is so versatile and personal. With that being said, I’ll try not to get offended if you don’t like this recipe 🙂