thai pasta salad

This pasta is sooo good. My friend Hillery served this as part of the "Mommy Food" at the awesome Halloween party that she hosted and was kind enough to pass the recipe on to me too! She added chicken and spinach to it when she served it and had even made a special batch just for me that did not have chicken in it (due to my allergy). How thoughtful is that???

Thai Pasta Salad

2 cups uncooked pasta
1/4 c. cider vinegar
2 TB. sugar
3 TB. creamy peanut butter
2 TB. soy sauce
1 TB. fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small cucumber, seeded and chopped
2 medium carrots, coarsely shredded (1 cup)
4 green onions, sliced
1 c. fresh cilantro, chopped

Cook, drain, and rinse pasta. Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine vinegar, sugar peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Beat with whisk until well blended. In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, cucumber, carrots, and green onions. Mix gently. Pour dressing over pasta mixture and toss gently to coat.

** I added about 3 cooked chicken breasts, doubled the pasta (actually, I think I just used the whole box) and added 2 cups of fresh baby spinach and doubled the amount of dressing.

My hubby preferred it warm and it reheated great the next day. You may need to add just a bit of water if the pasta seems a little dry.

Loved it and can't wait to make it again!

in disguise....

Xavier had a homework assignment to disguise his turkey like a family member so that they turkey would make it "safely" through Thanksgiving Day. Here is the Turkey before the disguise...



and after much deliberation, here is what we came up with...

  

Dr. Turkey!!!! A Surgeon Turkey to be exact. One that looks suspiciously like someone else we know and love:)

We mentioned doing a superhero turkey (which really would have been cute too) but in the end, decided that a Dr. Turkey would be more fun. Xavier had some help but he was definitely the idea man on this. His turkey had to have scrubs on with a pocket, string ties at the waist and glasses. He also wanted things in the pocket. We had Dad bring home some real stuff from the OR that we used. The mask was from a large mask, the hair bonnet from a large bonnet, the gloves from big gloves, etc.

We had a very funny discussion on the way home from school as Xavier excitedly told me about his project. After we decided to to a Surgeon Turkey the conversation went like this.

Me: Alright, let's talk about what we want this Dr. Turkey to look like.
Xavier: He should have scrubs on and maybe a jacket that opens up and you can see all his tools.
Me: It would be cool if we had some tools in the turkey's hands!
Xavier: Yes!
Me: What besides a knife could we put in his hands?
Xavier:  Uhhh, what does he need a knife for?
Me: For operating.

Silence.....from both boys.  

Me: You know... for cutting. (sometimes I forget who my audience is!)
Dax: What??? Daddy cuts people in HALF?
Me: NO, of course not!!!You know what Daddy does. What kind of Dr. is Daddy?
Xavier: A surgeon.
Me: And what does he do at work?
Xavier: Operations.
Dax: And scopes!
(At this point, I realize that even though they have the terminology down..they have ZERO clue what this all means! I hope that I have not scarred them for life!)

Me: In order for Daddy to fix people, sometimes he has to make a small cut on them to get inside their body to be able to help fix them.
Xavier: Is there blood?
Me: Maybe a little....but as soon as Daddy is done fixing the patient he stitches the small cut back up.
Xavier: Can we put some blood on the turkey?
Me: No. But we can call Daddy right now and tell him our plans and ask him what kind of tools he uses.
Xavier: OK, let's do that right now!

Yikes!!! That was a tricky conversation!! For the record...we put forcepts in his hands...but it really looked much more like tongs to me:) 

another "super" Halloween

The much anticipated Halloween was another fun event at the Noe house again this year. We had all sorts of activities going on for the week or so prior and Dax and I attended a fabulous Halloween party thrown by my very pregnant friend Hillery. The party was awesome and so much fun. It was blogged here by another friend. (No relation even though we have the name last name...she pronounces it NO:)

We carved some pumpkins in early afternoon of the actual day. Xavier was really into cleaning out the pumpkin and separating the seeds so that we could roast them.


Dax wasn't quite as enthusiastic!



He did not like the feeling. So he thought is was better if he helped Daddy like this...


Anyway, Daddy and I carved the pumpkins while the boys ran around doing other things. Iron Man for Xavier and Incredible Hulk for Dax....with the help of a tracing kit of course!

Some friends joined us for Trick or Treating and the kids had a blast.
 

Fun times!

The baby was even dressed in costume! I saw the shirt online and just had to make one. I drew it out and then had some anatomical corrections from the hubby, traced it onto fabric that had iron on adhesive on it and then just ironed it on. Sounds simple enough but took HOURS!!! Anyway, I was pleased:)

We had a ton of Tick or Treaters and went through 13 bags of candy...that was mostly just giving one piece to each! I wonder if we will have more super heros again next year??