Spicy Peanut Sauce

I eat a lot of peanut butter.  

Luckily, Costco sells a great natural peanut butter in larger jars and a cheaper price! 

As a teacher, peanut butter is a no-no.  Lots of kids = lots of allergies.  No peanut butter sandwiches.  No apple slices and peanut butter dip.  No peanut butter and crackers.  Easiest thing to eat for lunch.  But not for the school life.

And I truly feel sad for the kiddos who can't enjoy a delicious peanut butter sandwich.  It's so good, easy, cheap, and filling.  But, there are alternatives.  My fave was sunflower seed butter.  That became my peanut butter while working.  It has it's own flavour, but I loved it.  Used it in place of peanut butter for cooking, baking, sandwiches - it's great!  I definitely recommend it! 

But I'm not teaching anymore!  I'm home!  Woohoo!  Peanut butter for the win! And did I ever get back into my peanut butter groove.  And Hannah has eaten her fair share of it, too!  I wanted to make sure she could tolerate peanuts, as they are so much apart of my life! Haha, so far, so good! 

Not only has peanut butter become my go-to lunch and snack, I've gotten back into the routine of using it to cook with.  Not having to worry about bringing leftovers for lunch that had nuts in it. 

So, here, I present you with a recipe I use often - a spicy peanut sauce.  It's smooth, creamy, rich and spicy.  Using peanut butter as a base for sauces started out as a make-shift ingredient in place of soy sauce when making stir fries.  I definitely miss soy sauce when it comes to that.  But then, over repeated version and attempts, this yummy sauce has emerged!  We use it over stir fried veggies with rice or noodles.  Or, it makes a great dipping sauce for rice wraps!  Another frequented meal around here.  If you haven't tried those yet, get going with it would ya!?  They are super easy and healthy! A simple recipe found here and here. 

Anyway, I urge you to opt for a different kind of sauce for your next stir fry.   If you can't serve peanut sauce because of the peanuts, try a different nut or seed butter in place!  I used to make it a lot with almond butter since my students could tolerate almonds.  It tastes great, as well! 

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. all natural smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 cup vegetable broth/bouillon + water
zest and juice from 1/2 lime
1 tsp-ish (more or less, depending on your preference) each: garlic powder, ginger, cumin, cilantro
1/4 tsp-ish each: cayenne, sea salt, pepper

What to do: 
1) Add all ingredients to a small bowl or jar.  Mix well until combined and 'saucy'. :) You do not need to heat this up, although you can if you prefer a warm sauce.  It's good cold or hot! Great for dipping wontons, rice roll ups, overtop stir fry, noodles, or chicken.  So good.  Enjoy!