The Lonely Candy Bar

On the IPOD "Sister and Sam" by: Sara Hickman

Ok so I when I left you I was heading to work with pretty much a thousand dishes to make. Oh what a rough day! I knew I had a chef meeting all the way up north at 5pm which wouldn't have been difficult except that I forgot we were having an appetizer competition and we each had to bring a dish and the recipe. So what was I going to make with the ingredients I had on hand???
I threw together a version of a dish I was making for a client and turned it into a appetizer... and I won the competition and a prize whoohoo! This would be great as a cold or hot pasta dish or twirled onto Chinese soup spoons as a one bite appetizer. I cut 3/4 of the fat out of the recipe (original called for full fat peanut butter and 1/2 cup vegetable oil) and you can totally play with the sauce to taste and even use it with chicken satay.

Szechuan Noodles

6 garlic cloves
2 T grated ginger
1 1/2 T sesame oil
1 tsp hot chili oil
1 cup reduced fat peanut butter ( i used 1/2 cup chunky and 1/2 cup smooth)
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce (can use less or more to taste)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 T Agave Nectar
dash cayenne pepper (I made mine pretty spicy)
1 pound whole wheat linguine
4 green onions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow bell pepper, julienned

Blend first 9 ingredients with a hand blender or in a regular blender. Cook pasta in salted water as directed on package and drain.
Toss while hot with veggies and then with some of the sauce until coated to your liking. Most likely you will not need all of the sauce. Btw I never really measure the sauce ingredients I just eye it and then adjust.

So I'm going to admit that I have been trying to con my friends into trying new candy bars that are on the market. It's Halloween and all the new candy is out on the shelves. Now what most of you don't realize is that I'm an advertiser's dream...You make a new package...I buy a new package. Do you know how much it kills me to see new items of the shelves that I have yet to taste? I have reached a new low, I have spent a good 15 minutes (more than once) trying to talk different friends into sampling new goods on the shelves and reporting back to me. And after I do I have to say I feel a bit dirty...Its not that I want them to gain weight, I mean it, but somebody has to take the fall. The "snickers fudge bar" is soo lonely, why does it have to take the brunt of the American public finally deciding to stop the comfort food craze because we have all realized that we still have no money but we are all wearing a bigger pant size. I'm not being political here, by the way!! I'm just saying there has got to be one of you skinnies (or not so skinnies) out there who is willing to help a girl out. So please take this opportunity to let me live vicariously through you. If you have tried or want to try a new candy product from this Halloween season, please fill me in with details of it's deliciousness. Ill take this information as a comment or feel free to send me a private email if that makes it easier to admit. Thank you all for your help!!

xoxo chef a