NoodleHead

Many a night, Goose and I need to eat something after the wee ones are in bed.  Popcorn gets old and isn't actually filling in the long run.  Chips and dip will fill you both up and out.  Nachos and homemade salsa are fantastic, but after a while I fear I may begin looking like a nacho.  One day, after just such a dilemma, again, I stumbled upon a few recipes for Asian Sesame Peanut Noodles, or some variant thereof, and created this little number.

You will need a few simple pantry ingredients.  Before starting the sauce, get a big ol' pot of water boiling.  But don't watch the pot, it will never boil that way.  Make the sauce instead.

Break out your favourite sunflower bowl and plop in some crunchy peanut butter.  How much you add is dependent upon how much you like peanut butter, whether or not the full moon is in its third house, and whether or not you need to use up that particular jar.

Throw in a few other tasty ingredients:  rice wine vinegar, low sodium soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Give it a good wisk about.  You can also cheat a little and add an Asian Sesame salad dressing to the mix.  At this point, it may be a little thick.  This mixture is.  Add a splash of water and stir thoroughly.  You want it runny enough to coat the noodles easily.  This is more of a spread on your morning toast consistency and won't do at all.

Now, for these little gems.  Whole water chestnuts.  Often sold in the Asian foods aisle.  Drain them off.

Divide them into the serving bowls like so.  They will warm up enough once the hot noodles are tossed on top.

Now, young samurai, for the noodles.  For years, I passed these little babies by while cruising through the grocery store.  Well, no more!  Each package of 3 minute chow mein noodles contains about 8 of these little sheafs.  Or at least, that's what I call them.  They remind me of hay sheafs.  You know the plate-like sections of hay that are packed together and tied into a bale?  No?  Are my roots showing again?  Sheesh

Anyways, 4 of these sections make a full meal for Goose and I.  That's two full meals per 99 cent package.  Not bad at all.

Boil them as per the package directions.  Mine all say 3 minutes.  No more, no less.  Not following directions would generally mean the noodle Nazis come for you.  And no one wants that, now do they?

On a semi-serious note, it is important to cook these long enough, but not too long.  Leave the crunch to the nuts and the water chestnuts.

Add them to the bowls and give them a good toss.  This will evenly coat them with the delicious sesame, peanuty sauce.

I like sesame seeds added on top.

Goose prefers a little heat, usually in the form of hot chili flakes.

If you'd like to up the protein quotient, feel free to toss into some shrimp.  I add mine into the boiling noodle water for the last 30 seconds or so, just long enough to heat them through.  If you want to get all fancy pants and use raw shrimp, I'd suggest boil them in the water after you remove the noodles, to ensure they are properly cooked and the noodles don't get overdone.

And there, voila!  A tasty, healthy supper in 15 minutes or less.  Now excuse me, I think I hear Ms. Ray calling...

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NoodleHead

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