Sesame-Peanut Noodles

My husband and I had a low-key Friday night at home and I wanted a quick and fun, but still relatively healthy dinner to go along with our movie, so I could still indulge at our weekly meal out on Saturday. I'm also on a mission to clean out the pantry, fridge, and freezer a bit so when I saw that we had a few mini spring rolls left in the freezer, I instantly thought of a veggie-packed noodle bowl as the perfect main dish to accompany them. This great simple dinnerfeels a bit like take-out, but without all the fat, salt, and MSG and you can throw in pretty much whatever veggies you like and have in the fridge. On a technical note, you'll likely want to thin the dressing out a bit to coat all the noodles with some water; adding the noodles and veggies to the dressing when the noodles and peas are freshly drained and still a bit warm will also help to distribute the dressing. So whip up a quick bowl of noodles, pop in a movie, and enjoy!

Sesame-Peanut Noodles
adapted slightly from Whole Foods
serves 4

1 (8-ounce) package 100% whole grain soba noodles or whole wheat spaghetti
2 cups sugar snap or snow peas, strings removed
2 tablespoons roasted smooth peanut butter or almond butter
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon reduced sodium tamari
1 tablespoon sesame tahini
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 cup sliced green onions
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1. Cook soba noodles or spaghetti according to package directions. Add peas with 1 minute cooking time remaining. Drain noodles and peas thoroughly.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together peanut butter, vinegar, tamari, tahini and crushed red pepper. Add a splash of warm water if needed to thin the sauce so it will coat the vegetables and noodles. Add noodles, snow peas, carrots, bell pepper, green onions and sesame seeds. Toss to coat noodles and vegetables thoroughly with sauce. Serve room temperature or chilled.