Thai-Inspired Peanut Butter Noodles

I was pondering my previously professed love for peanut butter (say that five times fast) and though it would make a nice Thai-inspired twist on Lo Mein. None of my measurements are precise; I just eyeballed amounts, tasted, and in some cases, added more. I’m giving you what are, I think, the final amounts. But you would probably want to adjust the seasonings and sauces to suit your own taste. Don’t sweat about being precise.  And if you want to reduce the fat content of the recipe, you could skip the sesame oil and just use cooking spray for sautéing, and use PB2 instead of the actual peanut butter.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat spaghetti, enough for 2 or 3 people
1 cup frozen broccoli
½ cup frozen corn

1 Tbs sesame oil
½ to 1 tsp grated fresh ginger (I keep nubs of it in the freezer and just grate it frozen)
Dash garlic powder
Dash onion powder
Dash ground cumin
1 cup cabbage, chopped
1 cup cooked pork (I used leftover roast pork tenderloin)
½ cup water
½ cup peanut butter (I used Naturally More)
3 Tbs hoisin sauce
1 Tbs roasted chili paste
1 Tbs soy sauce

Cook enough whole wheat spaghetti for two really hungry people. I served this as a one-dish meal so I cooked plenty of pasta. When the pasta is close to done, add frozen broccoli and corn to the water to defrost.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a tablespoon of sesame oil in a skillet. Grate maybe half a teaspoon of fresh ginger into the heated oil and add the ground cumin, garlic powder and onion powder. Then add the chopped cabbage to the skillet, stirring it to coat. When it is wilted and becoming translucent, add the pork. Stir occasionally. Once the pork is heated through, add the water, peanut butter, hoisin sauce, chili paste and soy sauce. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the peanut butter is melted and the ingredients have distributed evenly.

Drain the pasta and vegetables and stir into the peanut butter mixture.

I loved this. I would probably like it a tad spicier; next time I’ll probably use some regular chili paste, as opposed to the roasted chili paste. Or that garlic chili sauce. So don’t be afraid this will have too much heat. The flavors come together so nicely, and with all the fiber and protein it’s really filling.

Baked Crab Rangoon

I’ve tried these before (see this post) but thought I’d take another stab at them. This time with pictures!

I went recipe-free but did add the mayonnaise that so many recipes seemed to include.  I used:

8 oz Neufchatel cheese
¼ cup light mayo
6 oz imitation crab
Dash onion powder
Dash garlic powder
16 won ton wrappers

Pretty nasty-looking jar of mayo, huh? Just keepin’ it real, people.

I chopped up the crab but am thinking it doesn’t look right, maybe I will try canned crab next time.

I used a hand potato-masher-smasher to mix this since I didn’t plan far enough ahead of time to soften the cheese. It worked out pretty well I think.

Then I placed the won ton wrappers gently into a muffin-tin sprayed with non-stick stuff. I love that tin, it was a present from one of the sisters last year. Thanks Nancy!

Then I baked them for 20 or 30 minutes at 350. I usually check them occasionally and pull them out of the oven when the won ton wrappers turn a little beyond golden brown. I lost track of the time they were baking because I was making steamed pork dumplings at the same time. Tune back in tomorrow for the dumpling recipe and those pictures!

I think they’re pretty cute. I left them open because there was so much filling; I still had some left over; I will probably use it for salad. I think I like them better left open like this, but next time I make a batch I will close them up and take some more pictures for you. I still need to tweak them; they are yummy but don’t taste quite like the crab rangoon from a Chinese restaurant. Maybe it will help if I remember the green onions next time.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a kitchen to clean. Raw pork freaks me out.