Plan B

I always have a plan A for dinner.  I plan my breakfast and dinner meals for a week to two weeks in advance.  During the school year I will also plan lunches.  For me, it's a sanity saver.  Do I stick to it to the letter?  No, sometimes life gets in the way.  Sometimes I get to a Thursday for instance and realize, I'm out of avocado, there goes fish tacos!  Or there's no more spaghetti sauce in the freezer, bye bye spaghetti and meat sauce, and that's when Plan B comes into play.  We all know a well stocked fridge and pantry saves us money in the long run, it also saves our health by eliminating the temptation of the drive thru.  Being flexible and creative also means you don't actually feel compelled to stop at the store to buy the missing ingredient because, at least in my case, it takes discipline that I simply do not have to only buy an avocado at the grocery store!  Inevitably I walk out with three bags of stuff that looked like it was a good price!  Then I've wasted both my time and my money.

Last night's dinner was an example of Plan B:

Quinoa spaghetti noodles with spicy ginger peanut sauce

Pasta, cooked according to package directions, add in fresh broccoli and frozen edamame about 1/2 way through. Drain, reserving a ladle full of the water from the pot, return the pasta and veggies to the pot and set aside.  (It took longer last night to get the water to boil than it did to cook this meal!)

The sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon Sriracha (or more if you like it hot, Paulo declared that the sauce was not spicy enough so next time, more sauce!)

1" of ginger grated

Mix those three things together.

To a bowl add:

1 cup of natural peanut butter

The spicy ginger sauce

The reserved water

Whisk well to blend.  Add sauce to the noodles and veggies and toss well to coat.  I rounded out the meal with quinoa flour dusted tilapia fillets that I pan fried to get a little crispy coating to them.  The noodles themselves are hearty enough to be a main dish for a meatless night, you could easily serve with a side salad with an Asian style dressing and be done.  It was quick and easy and totally not what I had planned for dinner last night.