Thursday, March 27, 2008

Spicy Peanut Noodles

Yep, you read it right, I said peanut. As many of you know, nuts are a no-no at our house. We do keep peanut butter here, and Mairin is allowed to eat PB sandwiches under very close supervision. Also, you may know from my earlier posts, we are having an "out of the pantry" kind of week, due to my hesitation to spend more money at the grocery following our Easter weekend.

So, the pantry is getting very bare, and we are running out of options. When I was reading Jenny's blog the other night, she had me craving something Thai. What could I make with no coconut milk, no tofu, and very few vegetable options in the house? Peanut sauce. We had spaghetti and jarred sauce last night, and had some pasta left over. I also had a few scallions left and some sugar snap peas, so I whipped up the sauce, then threw in the noodles and veg to heat them through.

Of course, their was a bit of logistical planning involved in this meal with regards to keeping it away from Stella. Pasta is her absolute favorite, and if she saw it she'd for sure want to eat it. So, we started by giving the girls some plain pasta drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and a dash of black pepper. While they were eating I made the peanut sauce. By the time our meal was cooked the girls had finished eating and were ready to leave the table. So, we put on a movie (yes, I know all about using the tv as a babysitter.....shame, shame), put the girls in the living room and ate our dinner at the bar. After dinner we washed up real good, and washed all of the peanut-y dishes in scalding hot water. Then we cleaned the sink, changed dish cloths and washed up the rest of the dishes.

Oh man, this sauce was good. We only had a small amount of pasta left, so I was afraid we wouldn't have enough, but it was perfect. The sauce was very rich and very filling.

Spicy Peanut Noodles
1/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Tbs Tamari Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Toasted Sesame Oil
1 Tbs Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 Tbs Brown Rice Syrup
1/2 Tbs Chili Paste

Combine all ingredients over medium heat. Stir until peanut butter has melted and sauce is heated through. Add noodles and veggies of your choosing to heat. Serve hot, garnished with green ends of scallions.

7 comments:

J said...

Ha! I actually looked to make sure I was on the right blog when I saw peanut sauce! You must have felt like you were doing something so "dangerous!" Allergies are hard, but it seems that you really have it down. I am glad you got your Thai food!

carrie said...

Jenny - It actually felt less dangerous cooking with peanuts in my home (where I know I have control over how carefully things are cleaned up) than it does taking her out to eat. I always get so nervous with her at restaurants, especially one's that serve bread before the meal, etc. We usually skip any and all baked goods when we are out.

Susan Chipley said...

Yum! I love peanut noodles, and those look so good. Ha! If I never used the tv for a babysitter, I probably wouldn't have a cooking blog because cooking wouldn't happen so often. Plus, who knows what would happen with personal hygiene! LOL

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Chessa said...

Yum! That looks and sounds fabulous. I'm going to have to try that peanut sauce recipe, I am such a sucker for any type of peanut sauce!

Is Stella allergic to all nuts or just peanuts? I've made peanut sauce with almond butter before and it was great. I wonder what it would be like with sunflower seed butter...

carrie said...

Keeta, she's only allergic to peanuts, but we've been advised by the allergist to avoid all nuts due to the high likelihood of cross-contamination, and also to the fact that tree nuts are highly allergenic and she could develop an allergy to them.

Unfortunately we haven't been able to develop a taste for Sunbutter here, but I'm sure it'd make a suitable substitute if you like it.

Chessa said...

Yeah, I'm not such a huge fan of the sun nut butter either, although I've heard that the stuff from Trader Joe's is pretty good (haven't tried it myself).