I first made this about a year ago, just after I bought Laurie David’s The Family Dinner, Great Ways to Connect With Your Kids One Meal at a Time (which is now one of my favorite cookbooks!) This recipe is from the book, which I highly recommend because it offers so much more than recipes. It has ideas for cooking with kids and how to get them interested and involved in food and prepping meals, as well as stories, playlists, great quotes, pictures and poems.

This is a great recipe if you feel like you or your kids are in a bit of a pasta “rut”. Plus, it’s a great way to include vegetables since they get to be creative designing their own pasta bowl. I don’t know who had more fun with this recipe, me or my kids! Don’t toss it, it’s great the next day too. Just heat it up and add fresh toppings.

For Peanut Sauce:
1 pound of pasta, any shape (I used regular pasta for this recipe, but you could also use rice noodles, whole wheat or quinoa pasta.)
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup warm water
3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoontoasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons white (rice or wine) vinegar

I put all the ingredients for the peanut sauce in the blender in order to keep it simple and also to make it easy for the kids to help. Blend sauce ingredients together and mix into your cooked pasta. Serve with small bowls of various chopped garnishes: red cabbage, cucumber, scallions, cilantro, red pepper, tofu, etc.

The picture above was taken after the pasta bowl was attacked! It looks soupy but it tasted delicious.

ENJOY!!!