Sesame Noodles and Cucumber Salad

As I was updating my recipe book, I came across an old favorite recipe of mine. I don't know where I found it but it was from a food magazine about 4 years ago. I absolutely love sesame noodles but find that they always put too many green onions in them at restaurants. Solution? Make my own. This recipe is both healthy (well as healthy as a dish with peanut butter can get) and comforting. Feel free to add chicken or any other protein, I didn't tonight only because I ran out and didn't have time to go the store. I paired it with a cucumber salad. It was refreshing, kind of like drinking milk after having a mouthful of peanut butter. I was going to follow a recipe but all of the ones I saw included sugar, sesame oil, etc. I ended up just throwing together some stuff and I liked the end product. Regarding the noodles, you can make them ahead of time and reheat them for tasty and quick leftovers. Below are the recipes, enjoy!

Sesame Noodles

Ingredients:

-8 ounces of whole wheat linguine

-1 cup matchstick-cut carrots

-2/3 cup vegetable broth

-1/2 cup reduced-fat peanut butter

-2 tablespoons rice vinegar

-2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

-1 tablespoon ground fresh ginger

-2 teaspoons Sriracha (asian hot sauce, can be found in any supermarket)

-2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1. Cook pasta in large pot. Add carrots in at last 3 minutes. Drain well.

2. Combine broth, peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and sriracha in food processor until smooth. (I have done it with a food processor and without. Both work well. If not using a food processor, make sure you really mix together the ingredients)

3. Pour sauce over pasta and mix together. Sprinkle sesame seeds over pasta.

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 english cucumbers, peeled/seeded/diced

-1/4 cup of yellow onion, diced

-1/4 cup of rice vinegar (or to your liking, I just eyeballed it)

-1 tablespoon of fresh dill, chopped

Mix it all together and let sit in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.