Asian Peanut Sauce Pasta Bowls {30 Minute Meals}

Asian peanut sauce pasta bowls are a customizable, quick and easy weeknight dinner or lunch box meal. This go-to recipe may become one of your favorites!

This Asian peanut sauce pasta bowls recipe post was originally published in the Greenwood Daily Journal, on Saturday, September 3, 2011.

I am always amazed after the start of every school year that I was stressed out by it’s impending start date.  I scramble around to make sure we have this or that and always seem just a bit frazzled that first week.  You would think that I had been off for 2 years not 2 months and these back to school routines would be more ingrained in my head.

Now, after 2 weeks in school, I am getting all of us up and at ’em as if I am on auto-pilot.  It doesn’t seem to take that long to fall back into that familiar routine.  So far, our mornings have been seamless, so I really cannot complain.  I am sure this won’t last, especially when it is cold outside and all we want to do is roll over and cover our heads with the pillow when the alarm sounds.

One topic that seems to be a constant source of problems in our house is what to pack for lunch.  Typically, I bring leftovers or a salad that I have made earlier in the week.  I am pretty easy to please in this department, so I can bring just about anything.

My oldest is in a ‘it’s not cool to bring your lunch’ phase, yet he constantly complains that he is not happy with the school lunch offerings. When I tell him that my resolution to that problem is that he bring his lunch, he usually stops complaining. My youngest, however, is another story entirely.  This year, he requested a thermal container so he could bring ‘hot food’ for lunch.  He also made me a list of acceptable lunchbox fare that is quite eclectic, just like he is.

Some of the items on his list:

Jello with fresh fruit,

turkey wraps,

chicken salad,

black bean salad,

fresh veggies and ranch hummus dip,

3 bean beef chili, and a few others that were just plain odd for a young kid to request.

When he handed me his list a few weeks ago, I just gaped at him.  Who does he think he is, an adult?  I don’t even eat this well!  Negotiations were successful, so I was able to pare down his selections into a more ‘child appropriate’ list.  It was a little funny, though.  I guess this is what happens when you have a child with a diverse palate, so I shouldn’t complain.

The Asian peanut sauce pasta was his lunch this week, and I think it was deemed a success! There were no leftovers, and the parent of one of his classmates emailed me to ask for the recipe.  I never could have predicted that this would be one of my kid’s favorite lunches of ALL time!

At lunch, I like to hit all of the food groups in a single dish, making this recipe a grand slam home run.

To my Asian peanut sauce pasta, I added a hefty portion of diced apples, shredded carrots, and sliced yellow peppers.

This recipe is so easy to make, your kids can make it with you, and I find that when my kids help me make a meal, they are more apt to eat it.  I want them to eat what I have made, not trade it.  Use what you have or what your kids like.

 

Here’s the Asian peanut sauce pasta recipe. Enjoy!

This is perfect for school lunches. Topped with diced carrots, apples, cilantro, chopped peanuts, and a bit of lime juice, this is a very filling and satisfying meal!