Spicy Peanut Noodles

How is your New Year going? I know it’s only a week in, but that’s 1/52nd of the year! Now doesn’t that sound like a lot of time? Aside from my VERY important resolutions, I’m working on a few smaller goals. One of those is to try and do more things that scare me. I’ve found, in the past, doing these scary things have yielded amazing results.





A number of years ago I joined my first gym. For the first year I spent a good amount of time on the elliptical machine. Walking in place, uphill, downhill. Very fulfilling. Got some killer calves from that year, rock hard. After a while I got a little bored and decided to try out the weight room floor. All those shiny machines were calling to me. After a personal trainer showed me the ropes I dove in, hit those machines, usually on Fridays. This lead to some nice arms and a few too many offers of friendship from the muscle-bound men.

Look at all that color!  Delicious!

The final hurdle I jumped was going to the group fitness classes. I decided that I liked this the best. Not only would I have awesome arms and calves, but I would be able to work my whole body! Pilates, body sculpting, yoga it was all so much fun! But what really caught my eye? One night I spied a kickboxing class while pedaling away on my elliptical. Punching and kicking, all the members in unison like one of those Bally’s commercials. I could do that, right? You bet! Although it took an introductory class and a pair of new shoes to get me into the rhythm with the rest of them. But now I can round house kick like Chuck Norris.  Totally worth it!

The scary thing for this week? I stopped at that imposing looking Asian market on my walk home from work. Walking inside and being greeted with strange candies and bad lighting. I walked up and down the aisles, looking over the bottles and jars with words written in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. I decided to bring home some of these sauces, even though I wasn’t quite sure what they all were. Dinner would be spicy tonight, because the bottle we’re using tonight says chili!

Spicy Peanut Noodles

Adapted from Cooking Light Cookbook

How much heat do you like? Add more or less chile paste to suit your tastes. You can also make this meal with other combinations of proteins. Chicken, shrimp, whatever your heart desires!

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

¼ cup water

2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 ½ tbsp rice vinegar (in the Asian section of your supermarket)

1 tsp chile paste with garlic

½ tsp sugar

¼ tsp salt
½ lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 ounces linguine
1 red bell pepper
1 chopped, seeded cucumber
¼ cup green onions, cut on a diagonal
3 tbsp roasted peanuts
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Mix together first 7 ingredients, through salt. Set aside.

Sprinkle shrimp with a little salt and sauté in a non-stick pan coated with cooking spray. Cook 3 minutes each side.

Cook linguine according to package instructions, drain. Combine all of the above ingredients and use tongs to toss everything together. Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro before serving.

4 servings – 420 calories, Fat – 13.2 g, Protein – 17 g, Carb – 45 g, Fiber 3.5 g