Sometimes you need a recipe in your back pocket that doesn't require fresh produce or refrigerated items.  You need something that is in your pantry and isn't just pasta and tomato sauce.  I had a lot of that growing up. My Mom doesn't remember it for some reason but I remember a lot of grilled chicken over Classico tomato basil sauce and pasta.  It's not bad at all, and I'd still eat it today, but sometimes we want something a little more exciting.

This week I have been trying to cook from what's in our pantry and cut down on groceries after seeing how much we spent on them last month.  We've started getting our Arganica produce crate again so I've been cooking from what I've got there and hoping I can just worry about protein for a bit.  I'm going to avoid our local grocery store because although it's convenient I can't seem to get out of there for under $30.  City life.

Thankfully I had purchased soba noodles to make this dish a couple weeks back and had the rest of the ingredients thanks to having them on hand for other recipes.  This dish is great to make if you're wondering when you'll ever use your chili and garlic sauce again...or sesame oil.  I've got two bottles of rice vinegar for some reason so I was thankful to lessen that supply as well.

It's a cold dish so I made it in the afternoon and it was easy for dinner over some arugula for the added texture and peppery bite.  I ate the rest of it up today just plane and it was tasty as well.  Taste the dressing when you're all done.  It's really not that spicy so you may want to add some chili flakes to it or if you'd like a thicker sauce add in some more peanut butter.

{Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Quick Cook}

{Ingredients You'll Need}

• 8-9.5 ounces buckwheat soba noddles (the package I got was 9.5 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon chili garlic paste
• 2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili oil 
• 1/3 cup sesame oil
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• juice of 1/2 orange
• salt and pepper to taste