Recipe 1: Sesame Chicken Noodles

Recipe Number: 1

Cookbook: Cravings by Chrissy Teigen

Cuisine: Asian-ish

Pros: Super easy! Tasted delicious, and not too many ingredients I didn't already have.

Cons: My crappy Iphone picture, I mixed in the garnish, no vegetables

For those of you who know me, you know I am an absolute pasta freak. Like....would eat some form breakfast, lunch, and dinner for weeks (probably). This was a great dish to start with since it didn't use any of those Asian type noodles that need to be cooked differently than my beloved Barilla. I had most of the ingredients to make the sesame "dressing" as the author called it. I've been wanting to try other similar dishes, but have been hesitant since many call for peanut butter in the sauce and for some reason I have a brain block against that idea. I love PB but the thought of it in a savory dish kind of grosses me out. This recipe uses tahini, so that was great. I'll admit that instead of 8 oz of pasta, I made the whole box (16 oz), and held some of the noodles back. I also didn't use all of the sauce for the first batch of noodles for dinner because I despise having anything Asian that is swimming in sauce. Thankfully, the amount of chicken was perfect as were the green onions (that I mixed in instead of "garnishing" with because....I was feeding myself and my husband). I can't remember the last time I garnished anything....

Anyway, this recipe was super quick - all you had to do was cook the chicken and noodles and mix up the dressing. You rinse the noodles when they're done cooking to cool them down (a big no-no in my kitchen when I make Italian type dishes), but for this, it worked. Served it at slightly more than room temperature since the chicken was still warm as were the noodles). I liked it at that temp, but to be honest, I brought some leftovers for lunch and will be nuking them to see how it compares. 

Overall, a good dish to start with since it was super easy to make and didn't take much active cooking time on my part. My husband said the "noodles are too al dente" which is his general comment any time I make noodles because I use the time on the packaging instead of boiling the heck out of them til they're mushy. Personal preference. Other than that, he liked it. Dressing was a little bit spicy but not overwhelming, just an enjoyable hint of heat. 

Rating: Probably will make it into my general rotation of meals since it's easy. Needs to be served with a salad or side dish with vegetables because it doesn't have any...and every meal needs vegetables!