Answer: You raid the pantry and get creative.
I surveyed our small pantry. I felt like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator, when he lands on Earth and starts scanning his surroundings with his robot eyes and identifies potential clothing, vehicles, and weapons. My amateur chef eyes locked in on the following: peanut butter, spaghetti noodles, and hot sauce. I knew there were eggs in the fridge. I knew we were in business.
Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles with Basil
For the Peanut Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter (I used Smucker's Natural Creamy)
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp Sriracha hot sauce
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 Tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tsp Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
- 1 tsp mirin sauce
- 1 tsp water
Whisk together the above ingredients until combined. Set aside.
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 4 eggs, scrambled
- 3 cups cooked whole grain thin spaghetti (I used Barilla Plus)
- 6 - 8 fresh basil leaves, sliced, plus more for garnish
- Heat the sesame oil in a high-sided saute pan on medium heat.
- Add the eggs and cook until they're almost done, but still a little runny.
- Add the cooked spaghetti and combine.
- Pour the peanut sauce over the spaghetti/egg mixture and stir to combine allowing the sauce and noodles to slowly heat up.
- Add the sliced basil and toss once more.
- Divide the noodles onto two plates and garnish with fresh basil leaves.
- Enjoy and rejoice in the fact that you didn't have to spend any money to make this delicious meal.
What are your go-to emergency pantry meals? What can you always count on having on hand?
Okay - that looks amazing! I love the Arnold comparison!! My go to food is eggs - hubby loves them and I always keep them on hand. Other than that - I have canned veggies and brown rice on-hand. Add some spices and you can eat. Not necessarily fabulous, but good hurricane food!
ReplyDeleteThat looks and sounds delish! And easy to make, too! Hhmmmm, maybe that'll be dinner tonight.... of course I'll have to make some meat cuz Heaven forbid my lovely husband has a meal without it! ;-) I wonder how the noodle dish would taste with gluten free pasta?
ReplyDeleteI would do a ground white meat, like ground chicken or turkey. I'm not familiar with gluten free pasta - the sauce on this was thick and rich - would GF pasta hold up to it?
ReplyDeleteGF might but I think I would have to be really careful about cooking it VERY al dente (if that makes sense), because it tends to soak things up and then become like a starchy consistency.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was thinking some type of white meat but I don't want to mix the meat in with the noodles (don't want to ruin it!). I am fine without meat but my hubbie is a steak and potato kind of guy! Very heard to make meals that I like, are healthy, AND satisfy his appetite. I love ground turkey though!
Ok, so here's the verdict: I cooked this for my family and our friends... that is 4 adults and three young children.I also cooked boneless pork chops and boneless spareribs to go with it (marinated and cooked in Bragg's Aminos, VT maple syup, fresh garlic). It was a hit! The noodles rocked!
ReplyDeleteThese are the changes I made for various reasons (didn't have the ingredient, didn't want to make it too hot for the kids, etc.):
- Doubled the pasta
- Made 3-4x the peanut sauce
- Did not have mirin sauce, so used honey instead
- used Bragg's organic apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar
- used a different brand of hot sauce and went very light with it: a Tbsp, so it wasn't too hot for the kids. But I put out the hot sauce for the adults to add to their dish if they wanted
- used fresh crushed garlic instead of powder cuz I usually have that on hand
- I ran out of creamy natural peanut butter part way through, so I used some
crunchy almond/peanut butter that I had - yum!
I think that's about it! If I do it over again, I think I will use crunchy peanut butter (which I don't usually buy for the pantry) cuz it would add some nice texture!
Anyway, THANK YOU ELIZABETH, for the the great idea... Now if I can only get my portions under control!!!! Oh, and I didn't have any GF pasta (ran out). Next time I'll try that for sure as it is better for my system!!
Love you!
You're welcome! I'm glad it worked out! You're quite creative in the kitchen as well - I like reading about the combinations you come up with on Facebook!
ReplyDelete