...Jeni talk Thai real good....but not really...

Okay, so the title is silly of this blog...but I'll explain. The past two weeks I've made two Thai recipes that I'm going to share with you. They were really good!! However, the whole time I was making them I couldn't help but chuckle to myself because I kept thinking about that scene from Meet the Parents, where Greg (Ben Stiller) is confronting Jack (Robery De Niro) about the conversation Greg overheard in Thai (which is really Jack planning a surprise honeymoon for the bride and groom). And Dina (Blythe Danner--who I love by the way in Will and Grace!) remarks that Jack can't talk Thai, to which Greg replies "Oh no Dina, Jack can talk Thai...Jack talk Thai real well." I love that movie and that scene...so of course the whole time I was cooking I kept laughing to myself. I know I'm silly (read: nerdy!), but I don't care! :) I know I haven't blogged since my Veteran's Day post (which if you haven't read...do so! It's about my favorite Veteran in my life!), but I'm about to grace you with a great post (hopefully) and maybe that will make up for it! On to the recipes...

#1: THAI-STYLE STIR FRIED CHICKEN
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
 
1/4 cup rice vinegar 
2 tablespoons brown sugar 
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 
2 teaspoons red curry paste 
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces*
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 
1 cup chopped onion 
1 cup chopped carrot 
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms*
1/2 cup light coconut milk 
1 tablespoon fish sauce* 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 cup fresh bean sprouts  
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Added: Snow Peas!!!! Because they are yummy....
*Revisions: For the chicken, I actually bought about a pound or so of chicken tenders. I find that they are easier to cut into chunks. For the mushrooms, I bought an 8 oz package of whole mushrooms and sliced them myself. I find that the pre-sliced are often a bit more expensive than the whole. Just compare and go with what you feel comfortable with! Pre-sliced are fine especially if you don't have time to slice them. The fish sauce, I actually did not use because I forgot to get this at the store. I used Oyster sauce instead since I had it. I don't think it ruined the flavor at all, but of course would have used fish sauce had I not forgotten it! :)

The first thing you want to do is to combine the rice vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, and crushed red pepper in a large zip-lock bag. Add your chicken; seal and marinate in refrigerator for about 15 minutes or so. You can always marinate overnight as well! 

While the chicken was marinating, I chopped up the onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Then washed the bean sprouts and snow peas! I also made extra marinade (as per the reviews and comments!) combining again the rice vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, and crushed red pepper in a small bowl.

Set aside your veggies, and heat a tablespoon of oil in your pan (or wok if you have one). Add your chicken (reserving the marinade it was in) and cook for about 4 minutes or until done. 

Once the chicken is cooked, remove and cover to keep warm (and to develop the juices). 







Add the remaining oil to your pan, then add your carrots and onions. Stir-fry for about two minutes. 

Then add your mushrooms! Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. 

At this point, I also added the bean sprouts and snow peas. Even though the bean sprouts, according to the original recipe, aren't supposed to be added in until last, I like to cook them in. 

Using the extra marinade I made as well as the reserved marinade from the bag (which there wasn't a lot left over to be honest so I'm glad I made extra and I encouraged you to do the same), pour it over the veggies and scrape up those browned bits/flavor fairies. :) 

Add your coconut milk and fish sauce (or oyster in my case!) and bring everything to a boil. Reduce and simmer for about a minute. Then add your chicken (plus accumulated juices) back into the mix.  





I topped this with the cilantro and served over thin spaghetti (I couldn't decide on what Asian noodles would be best) and of course a salad. The calorie count for about a cup of the chicken mixture is around 271 and boy was it tasty!! It's not spicy at all and reheats pretty well. I enjoyed it because it was really easy to make and the sauce was really creamy and tasted comforting without the calories! Recipe is below! Onto the next...fist bump. Matthew may be the only one who gets that. At the end of Ghost Hunters on the SyFy channel they always say Onto the next at the end of the episode and then fist bump...haha...so we sometimes fist bump. You have to had the explosion at the end or else it isn't a proper fist bump! ;-)

Thai-Style Stir Fried Chicken



#2: THAI COCONUT CURRY SHRIMP 
Serves: 4 

Ingredients: 

1 tsp oil
4 scallions, whites and greens separated, chopped
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 oz light coconut milk
2 tsp fish sauce

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

Added: surprise! Snow peas. 

First before I go any further, this recipe is from a different website called Skinny Taste! I've been trying to make more recipes from this website. This week in fact everything I'm making comes from it. The recipes are very tasty and full of flavor. I encourage you to look around. Also before we go any further, I have a funny picture. So I'm making dinner which has shrimp...who do you think was excited about it??? Yep...the cats. I'm sitting there cleaning and taking the tails off the shrimp and look up to these two staring at me. They kept inching closer and closer....so I teased them. Silly kitties.

As I said, the first thing I did was clean the shrimp under cold water and remove their tails (gently pinch and twist! you don't want to lose any valuable shrimp yuminess!). I love shrimp.

Next I chopped up my green onions and garlic. I chopped up more than what was called for because I love the flavors of both. :) Remember to separate the whites and the greens of the scallions. I basically chopped all of them in half width wise and then set aside the ALL green scallions and then chopped up the whites/somewhat green parts.



Heat oil on medium high heat in your pan. Once hot, add your scallion whites/somewhat greens and the red curry paste. Saute for about one minute.







Add your garlic and shrimp! I also add the snow peas so they could get all garlicky and yummy too! They were jealous of the shrimp. ;-) Also, side note: notice the awesome gingerbread decor in the kitchen! I love the pot holder there. He makes me smile because he looks like he's saying "Hey! You should give me a hug!" I don't hug him though...so don't think I'm nuts y'all.



Once you've cooked everything for about 2-3 minutes (or until the shrimp are pink and pretty), add your coconut milk and fish sauce...which yes, if you were wondering, I did remember to pick it up at the store this time! :) Simmer everything for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in the scallion greens and cilantro. Easy as that!!!



I served this with jasmine rice and a salad! The calorie count for this yumminess is about 135 calories per serving. Not too shabby in my book! And it was sooooo good! One of the great things about doing these two recipes back to back was the fact that they had similar ingredients. So...buy once...use twice! :)  Here's the link:

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp

What's been going on over here you ask? Many things! It seems like these weeks are going by really fast lately! Matt's plane landed at around 11am on November 12th. Which was awesome! I was so happy to finally see him! And I know he was excited to be home. For Thanksgiving we stayed in Colorado Springs and were really blessed to have gotten an invite over to one of his co-workers homes to join their family for dinner. It was a lot of fun--full of food, football, and fun games with their three girls. I'm fully convinced everyone should play Hedbanz because it was too much fun! :) I know our family missed seeing us, but it was a really nice relaxing day and we really did appreciate the invitation. The day after Thanksgiving was Christmas decoration time. Our tree went up and decorated, the nativity scene went out, all of my gingerbread decor is up, along with other various decorations. I really enjoyed bringing everything out and especially while listening to Christmas music! :) The only thing that hasn't gone up yet are our lights on the house, this is because the whole city of Colorado Springs was sold out of Christmas light hooks. I'm not kidding. We went everywhere! I finally found some at the very last Walgreens I stopped at yesterday. I bought three boxes. I'm sure we will be taking some back, but I just wanted to make sure we had enough because I wasn't going to drive all over the city again! This week we are having a cookie exchange with the Brigade Coffee group I'm a part of. I'm really excited. I love to bake, so any excuse to do so is something that makes me giddy! :) I've narrowed down my cookie choices and hopefully will make a decision...they all sound so good! Perhaps I may just share the recipe with pictures! :) On Friday morning, Matt and I are also participating in the Brigade's "march" to the Marian House. I am really looking forward to it because in the spirit of Christmas it's very humbling to be able to help others!! I can't wait to experience it.

Well as this post is already pretty long, I'll leave y'all with that!! More later...especially after tonight's dish that I'm super excited about. Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

PS: did you notice the new background and falling snow?????? :) :) :) :)