Take-out Fake-out

Dane was out of town recently, and as the saying goes, "When the cat is away, the mouse will play" . . or eat pasta all week, either one. Since I only had to cook for myself and was feeling a little lazy, I ate pasta for 3 nights in a row and cleaned out all those partial boxes or bags of pasta in my cabinets. 

I also got to try a new recipe while Dane was gone. (Just FYI, he’d eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches for all of eternity if he were left alone.) I made Pioneer Woman's sesame noodles and couldn't slurp them down fast enough (literally, as I was Skyping with Dane, I was scarfing them down as fast as I could--partially so I could talk and partially because they are so darn good). This is a great quick fix for my Chinese take-out cravings, keeps well for leftovers, and can be served hot or cold. 

Bottom line: sesame noodles will be added to my rotating weekly meals menu. 

Here's Pioneer Woman's original recipe. To make it more of a well-rounded meal (sadly, I can't eat just pasta 24/7), I added one sautéed chopped bell pepper (I picked a green one) and two chopped chicken breasts (I just salt, pepper, and bake my chicken breasts when I just need them to mix into a recipe).

Chop a little . . . 

Mix a little . . .

And that's it! 

A note on proportions: I used the original measurements for the sesame sauce, but for the pasta, I eyeballed two servings of whole wheat spaghetti. This allowed for plenty of sauce to coat the chicken. 

Excuse me as I play around with my paper camera app . . .

Enjoy!

-Madison