Peanut Noodles and Parmesan Pasta

Now that the semester is winding down more, back to some recipes. First up today is an easy and filling peanut butter, noodle, chicken and vegetable dish. To start off, cook 3-4 chicken breasts in a pot of boiling water until cooked, about 11 minutes. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it into bite-sized pieces. Meanwhile, start on the sauce. To make, combine 1/2C creamy peanut butter, 2T low-sodium soy sauce, 2t minced garlic, chili powder to taste, and ginger to taste and whisk until combined. Then, cook pasta until not quite done, then add whatever vegetables you want to the boiling water for a few minutes until both are cooked. Save 1C of the cooking water to add to the sauce and drain the remainder. Add cooking liquid to the peanut sauce, them toss in with pasta, vegetables and chicken. Great warm or cold, and I like adding quite a bit of chili powder to give it a solid kick.

Next is a dish made with smoked sausage, which keeps for quite a while, so is good to have on hand. Cook your choice of pasta in salted water in a large pot, then drain and set aside in a temporary dish. Then, put either sliced smoked sausage or some other sausage in the same pan you cooked the pasta in as well as olive oil and 4 cloves of minced garlic and cook until warm or cooked, depending on the type of sausage used. Then, add 5 or so handfuls of baby spinach and cook until wilted (it goes down a lot). Then, add the pasta back into the pot as well as 1/2C Parmesan and stir until combined and gooey. I had and enjoyed this fresh or reheated, but if reheating, it helped a lot to very vigorously shake the container I stored it in to break up and clumps and distribute the sauce before dispensing.