Cooking On The Fly: Peanutty Chicken with Teriyaki Noodles

Okey dokey.

I am not a chef. At ALL. But I LURVE me some good food!!! Tomorrow will be grocery shopping day. As I thought about what to prepare for dinner tonight, I surveyed the contents of my pantry. Spaghettios. A pack of "Asian Sides" teriyaki noodles. Easy Mac'n Cheese. In the freezer? A couple of frozen pizzas. Some leftover pasta in the fridge from a couple nights ago.

Really not inspiring.

What I wanted, nay, what I have been CRAVING all day long, is sausage with peppers and onions.

That's not what I made today. Somehow, a memory was triggered. Several years ago, I was served tiny bites of chicken with a peanut sauce for dipping. And somehow, I vaguely associated that particular dish as part of a larger Oriental-styled meal.

So I googled "Do peanut butter and teriyaki go well together" because I had NO.IDEA. I didn't dare ask on facebook because then I would reveal how much of a kitchen LOSER I am.

I found directions for how to make peanut sauce using peanut butter and teriyaki sauce. BINGO!

I checked my pantry for the ingredients. Peanut butter? Check. Soy sauce? Check. Teriyaki sauce? Check. Brown sugar? Check. Fresh lime? Well, no, but I guess we'll skip the lime.

I really, REALLY wanted to make this peanut sauce. But what could I put it on? I knew I had a packet of teriyaki noodles in the pantry. Maybe if I added a little peanut sauce to that, it would be good? Hmm. Maybe let's add some chicken. I had some frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts, so I thawed a couple, cut them into bite-sized pieces and browned them in a skillet.

Then I made the peanut sauce. I poured the peanut sauce over the browned chicken and let it simmer.

I cooked up the teriyaki noodles in another pot, and then served the chicken with peanut sauce over the noodles. It was good.

Here is how to make the peanut sauce:

-Bring a cup of water almost to a boil. Just before it becomes a rolling boil, remove it from the heat.

-Begin spooning peanut butter into the water. Stir immediately. Continue adding spoons of peanut butter until it becomes a "sauce" consistency. (I ended up putting about 4 big spoonfuls of peanut butter in mine.)

-Add a tablespoon of soy sauce and a tablespoon of teriyaki sauce

-Add a tablespoon of brown sugar

-Taste, and adjust ingredients as needed. (I ended up putting a bit more brown sugar in, because the peanut butter I used was "all natural" and had no added sugar, so the peanut sauce needed a little boost. It was very salty from the soy sauce.)

And then I gobbled it up. YUM! I should have taken a picture of it before gobbling it up, but I was hungry.