peanut sauce Archives

Thai Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce

June 10, 2014 · by Ari · 11 Comments

All the delicious flavor of pad Thai in fun, healthy and delicious meatballs! These Thai turkey meatballs are so good, they stand alone without pasta, and are even more fantastic dipped in the creamy peanut sauce.

I have so much to tell you! I just got back from the most incredible weekend at Blend (incredible hosted by Lindsay, Janetha & Lauren)! I’ve been dying to go after reading about the last two years, and I was pee-my-pants-excited to meet some of my favorite people from the internet. That makes me sound like a total nerd, but it’s cool. I am a total nerd.

I shared a room with Nicole & Katie (because…duh) and I was so stoked that Ashley ended up in our room too. It was the perfect energy and we stayed up both nights chatting and laughing until I literally fell asleep mid sentence. I wish that was every night. Although, Steve might be a little annoyed.

I was so excited to finally meet Lindsay and Brittany. I feel like I’ve known them for years, and they are two of the kindest, most supportive people I have ever met. In fact, for a long time I felt like I was blogging to no one, and I don’t even remember who found who, but I can say that both of them have given me a huge sense of community, and it was even better to get to play in real life!

Gahhhh, I feel like I could go on for YEARS about every cool person I met, but how about we get talk about some meatballs, and I’ll make you a lovely little list at the end of new blogs you absolutely must check out because the humans behind them are incredible. Sound good?

Okay, so….these meatballs. They are seriously so so easy. And they involve mixing with your hands, which is always my favorite. Whisk together a little peanut sauce, then mixing and rolling your meatballs will only take you a matter of minutes. While they cook, you catch up on Netflix…or if you’re a better person than me, you get ahead on cleaning. I’m not sure I can say I’ve ever gotten ahead on cleaning…

I use the “cooling rack inside the baking sheet” method (very technical term) + a little olive oil to ensure even cooking and a perfectly textured meatball. Ya know, when it has the browned outside, but still super tender and juicy on the inside? The.best. Not to mention, these meatballs are super healthy–lean, packed with protein, and with some veggies inside for good measure! It will only take a few of them to fill you up, and the sweet and spicy peanut sauce makes you feel like you’re going to town on your favorite Thai take out. Literally the best of every world, and a dinner you will want to make over and over again!

Thai Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: approximately 20 meatballs

Serving Size: 4 meatballs

Thai Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

20 ounces lean ground turkey (I suggest 93-96%)
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup quick cooking oats (use gf if necessary)*
2 tablespoons peanuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped bean sprouts
generous pinch salt and pepper
1-2 tablespoons peanut sauce (recipe below)
1 tablespoon olive oil, optional

For the peanut sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter, melted
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon coconut aminos (or gf soy sauce, or regular soy sauce)
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce (or Sriracha)
water, as needed for thinning

Optional for serving:

fresh cilantro
fresh lime
Sriracha

Instructions

To make the peanut sauce, whisk together peanut butter, lime juice, coconut aminos, honey and chili. Add warm water 1 tablespoon at a time until sauce has reached desired consistency.
To make the meatballs, preheat oven to 400. Place a cooling rack inside of a large baking sheet** and spray with nonstick spray. Set aside. Combine all ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl until incorporated. Roll into approximately 2 inch (about 1 ounce) balls and place onto prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil if desired***.
Bake until browned and cooked throughout, about 25 minutes. Serve with prepared peanut sauce**** a squeeze of fresh lime, a pinch of cilantro and a drizzle of Sriracha if desired. Leftovers may be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Store peanut sauce separately.

Notes

*If you only have slow cooking oats on hand, simple throw them in the food processor for about 30 seconds, or even chop by hand. **Using the cooling rack inside the baking sheet helps the meatballs to bake evenly on the bottom and for any extra fat to cook off. It is not 100% necessary, but recommended. ***The extra olive oil helps the meatballs brown and get a a nice outer texture. This is also optional, but recommended. ****If peanut sauce becomes too thick, simply whisk in more water 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches desired consistency.

http://www.arismenu.com/thai-turkey-meatballs-peanut-dipping-sauce/

And because I love them, please check out some of my amazing friends that I hung out with this weekend. Tons of health tips, motivation & inspiration!

Thai Chicken Tacos

January 7, 2014 · by Ari · 17 Comments

The bold flavors of chicken pad Thai in a simple, easy, healthy and gluten-free weeknight meal that comes together in minutes.

Have I ever told you about the taco shop? I mean, I guess I should call it by it’s name now that taco shops are becoming a thing, and there’s a bunch of them popping up all over the place, but I still always call it the taco shop.

Anyway, they have tons of creative tacos and everything is served a la carte, so you can get a couple different tacos, all the same, tacos with Mexican street corn (OMG…), or even try out their many varieties of salsa. It is basically a dream come true for this Mexican-food-aholic.

I actually can’t believe I have never posted tacos on here before. I mean, I guess it’s because I never actually make them. I make this all the time, and this needs to happen again because it was freaking awesome, but never just regular tacos, and ummm, that needs to change because I think this dinner took me all of 10 minutes, and it was awesome.

In addition to Mexican food, I am also obsessed with Thai food. Okay, I’m actually obsessed with peanut sauce. I mean, there are many Thai dishes that I absolutely love, but it always comes back to that peanut sauce for me. Peanut butter + spicy + just slightly sweet? How can that be bad??

Well, actually one time I made the mistake of using someone else’s pad Thai recipe that I found on the internet. It was loaded with soy sauce, and even using the lower salt soy sauce, the peanut sauce just tasted like a mouthful of salt. And I LOVE salt. One day in the middle of a long run I came back home to refill my water and ground some sea salt onto a plate and ate it. By itself. Perhaps I should add that to things I should be embarrassed to admit on the internet…

Anyway, my peanut sauce does not taste like pure salt. It’s the spicy, peanutty, slightly sweet goodness I mentioned before. And for these tacos, all you do is throw some shredded chicken and chopped veggies onto some corn tortillas, drizzle your new favorite peanut sauce on top, and then if you want to get fancy (or if you just want the best possible flavor combo) squeeze on some lime, throw in some of my favorite food (cilantro), add some crushed peanuts, and a drizzle of sriracha. You’ll find yourself looking at a dinner that seems so complicated and wondering how you made it happen in just a few minutes. Then when you taste it, you’ll want to recreate it every night forever (and ever).

Thai Chicken Tacos

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 8 tacos

Serving Size: 2 tacos

Thai Chicken Tacos

The bold flavors of chicken pad Thai in a simple, easy, healthy and gluten-free weeknight meal that comes together in minutes.

Ingredients

For the peanut sauce:

1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sriracha + more for drizzling
1 tsp honey
Water, as needed

For the tacos:

8 small corn tortillas, warmed
2 (8 oz) chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
Handful cilantro, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp crushed peanuts

Instructions

To make the peanut sauce, whisk together peanut butter, coconut aminos, lime juice, sriracha and honey with 2 tbsp water until well combined. Continue to add water 1 tablespoon at a time until sauce has reached desired consistency.
To assemble tacos add chicken, red pepper, scallions, cilantro and peanuts to each warmed tortilla. Top with peanut sauce and drizzle with sriracha if desired. Serve immediately.

http://www.arismenu.com/thai-chicken-tacos/

Crab Fried Quinoa with Spicy Peanut Sauce

August 17, 2012 · by Ari · 10 Comments

I used to hate Thai food. Well, I thought I hated Thai food. I used to have this thing where I was sure I hated anything I’d never tried that wasn’t a type of cheese or brownie.

One day when I was just starting to branch out in my eating habits, I got coerced into going to a Thai restaurant. Someone once told me that Thai food was healthy, and at that point in my life, that was all it took to make me believe it. I just just barely begun my weight loss journey, and I just assumed everyone knew more than me. Plus they don’t use cheese, so clearly it’s healthy, right?

I tried Chicken Pad Thai and never looked back. It was love at first bite, and I’ve been totally hooked on Thai food ever since! In fact, one of my best friendships is pretty much based off of a mutual love for Thai food. And Seinfeld. Have I ever talked about my love for Seinfeld???? It’s an intense burning love bordering on obsession. I’ve seen every episode at least 10 times, and I own the entire series on DVD. I can recognize a Seinfeld quote at any time, and if I find out you share my love, I immediately consider you my best friend.

Things I love: Seinfeld, Thai food, puppies, peanut butter, cilantro, glitter, polka dots, running skirts, the color green. Now you know the way to my heart. Now if only they made polka-dotted glitter puppies that like to watch Seinfeld while eating Thai food, peanut butter, and cilantro while wearing green running skirts, my life would be made. Okay, that was weird. Let’s talk about the food.

Ohhhhhh my gosh, THE FOOD. The quinoa works as a perfect rice substitute, but you could also use brown rice. I can’t cook rice. I mess it up every.single.time. It’s so annoying. No matter what I do, it turns out crunchy. It’s like I’m missing the rice gene or something. Luckily, I CAN cook quinoa, and it’s so easy. Rice–who needs it???

Not me. Not this dish. So there.

I got the fancy dish and chopsticks in Hawaii, and I knew I needed to make something awesome to put in/eat with them. My last day at CGST, I ate quinoa with peanut sauce on top, and I was basically in heaven. My mind started racing almost immediately “WHAT CAN I MAKE??? MUST HAVE MORE QUINOA AND PEANUT SAUCE!!!!” Oh peanut sauce. I just want to put this stuff on every meal I ever eat for the rest of my life.

This dish was surprisingly easy, and as soon as I took my first bite, I started wondering where it had been all of my life. I’m not always the best about leftovers. If I’m not 100% IN LOVE with the dish, leftovers often sit around in my fridge while I make salads for lunch and try new recipes for dinner. This lasted about 48 hours. Do you ever get sad when your food is gone? Please tell me that’s not weird….

Crab Fried Quinoa with Spicy Peanut Sauce

yield 6 servings

For the Crab Fried Quinoa:

1 cup quinoa
1 tbs canola oil
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 eggs
1 zucchini, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 tbs reduced sodium soy sauce
pinch ground ginger
1/2 lb crab meat (I used imitation–it’s super inexpensive and still delicious)
extra cilantro for topping (optional)

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used chunky)
3 tbs unsweetened almond or coconut milk
2-3 tbs reduced sodium soy sauce (use gluten-free if applicable)
2 tbs fresh lime juice
1 tbs red chili paste
handful fresh cilantro,finely chopped

Directions:

Cook quinoa to package instructions.
While quinoa is cooking, prepare the sauce by warming peanut butter and milk in a medium microwave safe bowl for 10-15 seconds. Whisk in all remaining sauce ingredients and set aside.
In a large wok pan over medium heat, sautee garlic and onion in canola oil until golden and fragrant–about 5 minutes. Add eggs stirring constantly to scramble. When eggs have reached scrambled egg consistency, add remaining vegetables, soy sauce and ginger. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add cooked quinoa and crab meat. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, tossing constantly to combine.
Serve topped with spicy peanut sauce and cilantro.

Thai Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Thai Chicken Tacos

Crab Fried Quinoa with Spicy Peanut Sauce

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