Happy Wednesday! This Asian-style peanut butter sauce is very versatile and can be used in all sorts of things. I mostly like it with roasted veggies, noodles and tofu, but it would be a great marinade for chicken or for a satay dipping sauce for a party with chicken skewers. I really just like it I think because it is heavy on my favorite peanut butter flavor. I will also warn you that this is not the lightest sauce in the world, but it is full of healthy fats and sure tastes good!
This time around I wanted to use spaghetti squash for the base and also made some soba noodles for Chris.
For the spaghetti squash, since it was pretty big, I cut it into 4 chunks, drizzled it with olive oil, salt and pepper, covered it with foil and roasted it at 400 F for approx. 40-45 minutes. This squash is super easy to make and many of you throughout the blog world already have made it. I love how when you scoop it out it’s stringy like spaghetti! Such an inventive name for it, no?
For the rest of the dish I sauteed some summer squash that I got at the farmer’s market called pattypan. Have you seen these before? They look like little stars or spaceships to me. Very strange looking creatures they are.
And looking closer I spotted a bug! I actually like seeing a few bugs on my produce which indicates no chemicals were used 🙂
In addition to the squash, I threw in 2 chopped blocks of TJ’s Teriyaki tofu into the pan as well. Once those get nice and seared and golden, I add the sauce to the pot!
Asian-Style Peanut Butter Sauce
- 1 tsp dark sesame oil
- 1.5 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger (about a 1” cube) or you could use powdered ginger
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup natural-style peanut butter
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 3 tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp chili garlic sauce (such as Lee Kum Kee)
Simply mix all together in a small sauce pan or you could microwave it until softened. Then pour it over the sautéed veggies and tofu and serve atop the spaghetti squash or soba noodles. Yum!
It’s a great flavor combination and I could pretty much eat peanut butter any time of day.
Messy but good!
Another one of my peanut butter sauce inspired favorites is a similar version of this but with a curry peanut sauce.
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I know many of you were interested in the metabolic efficiency topic, and I hope to get that up by next week. It’s really interesting and I do think there is something to this. I am now moving into the competition phase with more grains and sports nutrition products when needed, but the focus is still on fruits, veggies, healthy omega-3 fats, low-fat dairy and lean protein. I do believe that I was one of those that justified a pretty high level of carbohydrates most of the time, but that really isn’t necessary and periodization is key. We’ll see how this goes as I increase intensity, while supposedly metabolizing more fat for energy.
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Don’t forget to vote for LIVESTRONG in the Almond Breeze Taste and Make a Difference Challenge! I think we are in last place 🙁 so hopefully we can remedy that by August 22nd when it ends. All it takes is ONE click in the widget on the right to help if you haven’t done so already. And if you have . . . THANK YOU!
***Let me know if you click or have clicked already and I will be choosing 2 readers next Friday to win a free coupon for the refrigerated version of Almond Breeze. Love this stuff!
***For an additional entry leave another comment letting me know you tweeted too!
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Have a great week, almost Friday!! In other good news . . . . After 4 years together, this September 26th, Chris and I have finally decided it is time to start planning for our WEDDING!!! We still have to save up and it will be pretty low-key, but we are thinking April or September 2012 🙂 You guys will have to help me decide on a place once we narrow them down or if we can even find a place that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg.
I believe we are going to be heading to Mt. Charleston on Friday for some good ol’ camping, along with the silence and serenity of nature and some cycling. Should be fun, but I’ll have to deal with no Twitter and blogs 🙁 I swear I’m addicted!
Is there one food you could eat anytime of day? (Mine is peanut butter if you couldn’t guess!)
oh my – this sauce looks fantastic!! I will have to give it a try 🙂 Thanks!
Comment by Lisa (Bake Bike Blog) — August 18, 2010 @ 9:40 pm
this sauce sounds delicious! I can imagine the combination of PB, ginger and soy sauce.. magical, isn’t it?
have a fun weekend! 😉
Comment by coco — August 19, 2010 @ 3:48 am
I love spaghetti squash, too…so fun to eat and nutritious. I like peanut-flavored Asian dishes a lot right now, especially when they’re spicy (which is kinda weird for me!).
Can’t wait for your post on metabolism!
Comment by Emily — August 19, 2010 @ 6:33 am
Congrats on the wedding news! Good luck with the planning.
I don’t have peanut butter (or any nuts) in the house anymore because our niece has a severe allergy and we try to stay nut and peanut free. Miss it so much! I could eat it or chocolate at any time of day.
Comment by Joanne @ Mostly Fit Mom — August 19, 2010 @ 10:25 am
mmm, that looks good. Super creative. I once bought Judy (do you know Judy Reinhardt? She’s my bestest!) a spicy Asian PB and I think she used it on a chicken dish for her mom.
Comment by Melinda — August 19, 2010 @ 10:35 am
yay!!! congrats on the wedding news! i would gladly help via blogging :). Hopefully I will be planning again soon too! 😉
Thanks for your comment! I replied on my site for others to see too.
I take my final exams tomorrow to graduate! I just need to get through the internship next year… one hurdle at a time.
i’m with you on peanut butter any time of day! I have never heard or seen of pattypan squash! so interesting.
Comment by bhealthier — August 19, 2010 @ 11:19 am
Mmm you’re making me crave spaghetti squash!
As lame as it might sound, I think I’ll say apples as the food I could eat anytime. During my freshman year in college (with an all-you-can-eat dining hall) I would eat 2-3 apples per day!
Comment by BroccoliHut — August 19, 2010 @ 11:35 am
I love spaghetti squash – hubs? Not so much! A few months ago, he asked what was for dinner and I said “quinoa meatballs and spaghetti squash.” He laughed!
When I brought him his plate, he took one look at it, went to the computer and tweeted: “I asked my wife what was for dinner. She said quinoa meatballs and spagetti squash. I thought she was kidding. She wasn’t!”
Comment by Biz — August 19, 2010 @ 12:16 pm
Biz, hahahahaha you crack me up!! so true, Chris is sort of approachable with things like that but I made something the other day with garbanzo beans and sardines and he said he would like it more as a side (he really didn’t like it though) lol
Comment by Kristen :) — August 19, 2010 @ 1:06 pm
A couple weeks ago Tracie and I went to a Farmer’s market and I picked up some pattypan. I wasn’t real sure what to do with them, so I chopped them up and roasted them. They were yummy! I really like them.
Comment by Allen — August 19, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
wow this looks amazing what a great idea to serve it over spaghetti squash very cool
Comment by rebecca — August 19, 2010 @ 1:18 pm
I am totally drooling. Yikes!
Comment by relisheditorWSJ — August 19, 2010 @ 1:44 pm
Only one Q: what are you planning for your cake? 🙂 Congrats!
Comment by S @ extremebalance.net/blog — August 19, 2010 @ 10:16 pm
Congratulations on the wedding news! How exciting to have that planning ahead of you…I loved planning my wedding 🙂
What a yummy dish…I love spaghetti squash. Its so versatile. I am looking forward to all of the winter squash coming back 🙂
Comment by Shannon — August 20, 2010 @ 5:28 am
Wedding planning – yay! That is so exciting! I had a blast planning my wedding!! I almost wanted to become a wedding planner, lol! Kinda glad I didn’t 🙂 Being a dietitian is just too much fun!
The sauce looks amazing…I bet it would go great on tofu. I’m on a huge tofu kick lately 🙂
Have a great weekend, Kristen! Congrats again!
Comment by Nicole, RD — August 20, 2010 @ 8:59 am
Yum! I just made peanut butter crusted tofu earlier this week and it was too die for! To bad I just threw random things together so I probably can’t remake it exactly. I’ll definately be experimenting to get the recipe down on paper next time.
I clicked and voted too!
Comment by Heather @ Get Healthy With Heather — August 21, 2010 @ 8:22 am
I’m crazy about peanut sauce and always looking for new ways to make it. This sounds great. We have spaghetti squash in our garden, but I’m beginning to worry that they won’t be too successful this year. We’ll see…
Comment by Lori — August 21, 2010 @ 4:18 pm