If you're anything like me, you have a style and preference of the kinds of foods you generally cook. I tend to make American/Southern-style food with a little Italian thrown in, but I don't really venture outside of that realm much. For example, I love Chinese food, but I never cook it. Why is that?
A few months ago when I was menu planning, I stumbled upon a recipe in one of my Taste of Home magazines. (I strongly recommend looking into Taste of Home. The magazines are fantastic!) This recipe was called Thai Chicken Peanut Noodles, and it sounded easy enough to make. I asked Derek if he'd like to try it, and I threw it on the calendar.
A few weeks later when we began cooking, Derek was in charge of making the sauce while I cut vegetables. He had just finished the sauce and placed it on the counter when I turned and somehow hit it which sent the bowl flying across the room like a spinning saucer. We were both so shocked that we just stood and watched it fling sauce across the entire kitchen before it landed in the middle of the kitchen rug. We were frozen. There was sauce on the counters, across the cabinets, all over the floor, on top of the refrigerator, on the walls, and all over our clothes. Everywhere. We were speechless, and then we laughed. We probably laughed harder than ever before as we began trying to clean up the mess and continued laughing till it hurt.
After getting the kitchen cleaned up and cautiously making the sauce for a second time, we were able to continue with dinner. Everything else went rather smoothly, and when we finished, it was delicious! I was a little weary of the peanut sauce (I'd never tried a peanut sauce before), but it all ties together really well. We've made it several times since that first messy experiment, and it's been tasty every time since.
The last time I made this recipe, I didn't have a red pepper or green onions, so I tweaked it a little bit to fit what I had at home. Feel free to do this with what you have around the house too! I added 1/2 cup chopped onions, 2 chopped banana peppers, and 2 small chopped green peppers to the vegetable/ground chicken mixture. Also, if you don't have or can't find ground chicken, you can grind your own with chicken breasts and a meat grinder. We've tried this recipe both ways, and it tastes the same either way.
Find the original recipe below:
Thai Chicken Peanut Noodles
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
4 teaspoons Sriracha Asian hot chili sauce
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (add more or less for your heat preference)
12 ounces uncooked multigrain spaghetti
1 pound lean ground chicken
1-1/2 cups julienned carrots
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup finely chopped unsalted peanuts
4 green onions, chopped
1. In a small bowl, whisk the first six ingredients until blended. Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook chicken, carrots, pepper and garlic over medium heat 5-6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, breaking up chicken into crumbles; drain.
3. Stir in peanut butter mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 3-5 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened. Serve with spaghetti. Top with peanuts and green onions. Yield: 6 servings.
Give it a try for dinner tonight!
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| This is what a happy husband looks like after eating this meal. :) |
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