Tag: recipes

Foodie Friday: Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles in a Box Recipe

sponsored-post-wayfair-bbq-bites

As I mentioned, my husband and I held a pop-up art gallery event this summer we’ve dubbed Art + Cocktails Truro. We showcased 96 works of art from about 30 different artists throughout our home on Cape Cod. Last week I posted an array of paintings and next week I will show you a sampling of the photography we exhibited.

Today, however, is Foodie Friday and we’re going to talk about a spicy peanut butter noodle recipe.

Peanut Butter Noodles In Chinese Take Out Containers

Photo by Samara Vise for StyleCarrot

In a moment of insanity I decided I wouldn’t need a caterer for the event.I figured I would spend the two days prior whipping up the food myself. After all, I had catered parties in my 20s. Ha. The guest list got out of hand and soon I had 90 RSVPs. I frantically called around and got two different gourmet take-out places to provide tuna tartare on rice crackers, filet mignon crostini, and two kinds of chicken skewers.

veggie-skewer-hors-doeuvres-platter

Photo by Samara Vise for StyleCarrot

I could take care of the rest. The rest consisting mainly crostini bar fixings, cheese boards, marinated olives, herbed nuts, and such.

How to Create a Crostini Bar

Photo by Samara Vise for StyleCarrot

I needed one substantial dish though. Aiming for an Instagrammable, Pinterest-worthy event (after all I am a blogger), early on I ordered mini Chinese take-out containers made from Kraft paper and bamboo sporks. I settled on filling them with spicy sesame noodles.

Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles In Chinese Take Out Containers

Photo by Samara Vise for StyleCarrot

My son and I broke out the lobster pot. He boiled ten packages of spaghetti in two batches while I concentrated on not blowing up the blender with the peanut butter. I did a mash up of a few different spicy peanut butter noodle recipes I pulled from Pinterest pics, based on what seemed easiest and tastiest. The resulting recipe went something like this:

Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles in Chinese Takeout Boxes

Noodles
1 box of spaghetti

Sauce
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 tablespoon ginger, minced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons Sriracha
2 tablespoons honey

Garnish
Matchstick carrots
Red bell pepper
Cilantro

Boil noodles, rinse, drain. Make sure they’re not all clumpy. Mix the sauce ingredients in a blender. Pour sauce over noodles. Use clean hands to mix together. Set up your boxes, add noodles to each. Top with garnishes. You could also use cucumber, scallion, chopped peanuts, and sesame seeds. Stick a fork in it. Serve on a tray.

Big thanks to photographers Samara Vise for mixing the noodles and Michael J. Lee for garnishing.

Foodie Friday: Cucumber Infused Water

I love the ubiquitous carafe of cucumber water found at spas. Then, why, I think, don’t I ever slice up the veggie to make cucumber infused water for myself? Laziness perhaps. But mostly, making flavored water just doesn’t occur to me. (My 13-year old son, on the other hand, loves to concoct bubbly, fruity drinks, garnish and all.)

Every year we plant tomatoes and cucumbers in our little vegetable garden on the Cape. My 12-year old son revels in the tomatoes, and while we all feel just fine about cucumbers, mostly I plant them because I have success—they grow and the crows don’t steal them. We once re-planted a green bean plant started in a Styrofoam cup in kindergarten. It produced one green bean (yay!), and then the crows swooped in and pulled out the whole plant. Nasty old birds!

Anyway, knowing I’d surely have a surplus of cucumbers, I said sure when a publicist asked if he could send me the new Contigo Autoseal Tritan pitcher with infuser stick and chilling core. I thought, at the least, my son could load fruits into it instead of spilling out of a glass. Plus, I like the shape and the green color goes with everything else I own.

I’ve finally gotten around to testing it out, and it’s actually pretty nifty. The infuser stick slides in and out with ease, and the top clicks on with quite a satisfactory seal. You press a button on the top to allow the water to pour out, it doens’t leak, and the handle has a good, no slip feel. Plus it’s BPA-free and top-rack dishwasher safe. I like it! Maybe next time I’ll try watermelon.

Screen Shot 2014-08-14 at 3.57.36 PM

Cucumber slices.

Screen Shot 2014-08-14 at 3.58.06 PM

Oops, forgot to peel the cucumber. 

Screen Shot 2014-08-14 at 3.58.15 PM

Filled the pitcher’s infuser stick and poured a glass of cucumber water over ice.

Screen Shot 2014-08-14 at 3.58.25 PM

Contigo Autoseal Pitcher With Infuser

Screen Shot 2014-08-14 at 3.59.28 PM

More cucumbers in the garden.

Photos by Marni Elyse Katz for StyleCarrot / Instagram

•            •             •

Shop the Look

[show_shopthepost_widget id=”211219″]

Foodie Friday: Kid-Friendly Taco Salad

Both of my sons are pretty proficient in the kitchen. One loves to concoct things, like a mad scientist. He’s recently been experimenting with fruit infused water. I found a glass on the counter the other day with a vanilla flavored sparkling water he mixed, complete with recipe card tucked underneath. If you catch him on a good day, he might think it’s fun to set the table, with two forks and unneeded spoons, homemade recipe cards, and candles. Fire!

The other one, true to form, is much more practical. He can follow a recipe on the box (he excels at boxed cake mix and Rice-a-Roni), which is useful, because the kid is always hungry. We’ve recently started to teach him some more meal-like recipes too, like homemade chicken soup and tacos. Since he can be easily overwhelmed, we started out by giving him sous chef jobs. So far so good.

This is one of his favorite meals—taco salad. It’s a good dish to do together, because while I fry up the (organic, no antibiotic, grass-fed, etc. etc.) ground beef (he’s so not up to raw meat yet; thinks it’s gross), to which I add taco seasonings, he can get started on the washing and cutting of lettuce, tomatoes, and scallions, and microwave a handful of frozen corn. I cut the avocado, since that’s a bit trickier (not sure there’s any in this photo, we must have been out), sprinkle on the grated cheese, and we’re good to go. Takes a little bit of time due to the frying and chopping, but not too bad, but it’s healthy and filling for a 12-year-old.

Taco Salad Prepared With My 12 Year Old Son

T A C O   S A L A D 

Cooking, photo & styling by Marni Elyse Katz for StyleCarrot.

•           •          •

Shop the Post

[show_shopthepost_widget id=”105668″]