Thai Green Curry Chicken

My dear friend Allie gave me this recipe a couple of years ago.  In the form of a Facebook message.  So every time I want to make this, I have to search the archives of my old Facebook messages, which really isn't the best method.  I have grand ideas for a sturdy binder and transparent sleeves for recipes like this... to put together someday.  In the meantime, my "For the Tummy" board on Pinterest is where I keep my online recipes. 

And so I decided this recipe needed to be Pinable.  For my own sake.  So here it is.

serves 4 to 6

3 large chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 cans coconut milk
2 tablespoons green curry paste (or much less, if spicy)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup chicken broth
chopped fresh basil and cilantro
at least 4 cups cooked rice.
salt, to taste

I didn't have any limes, so I used a tablespoon of lime juice, which was perfect.  The green curry paste I have is from a little local Asian market, and it's pretty spicy.  So I actually only used maybe 1/2 a teaspoon so the sauce would be mild enough for my young kiddos. Then after the cooking was all done, I mixed a couple of teaspoons of curry paste with some of the sauce, and added it to what my husband and I ate.  Spicy, and oh so tasty!

Get some rice going.  Jasmine rice is great, but regular plain white rice is what I had on hand.

Pour (or scoop, really) coconut milk into large pan.

(Notice the different textures?  The thick stuff in the back is the Trader Joe's Coconut Cream, which I love.  The creamier stuff is good old basic coconut milk, which is also great.  Some people prefer to use a "light" coconut milk, which is fine too, just less creamy.)

Let it melt, allow to boil, and simmer for a good 15 minutes so it reduces from about 4 cups to about 3cups.  Now is a great time to cut your chicken into bite sized pieces.

Add the curry paste, fish sauce, lime zest, and chicken broth.  Simmer for another 10 minutes or so.

Add chicken to sauce. 

Return to boil, and let boil for 3 or 4 minutes to ensure chicken pieces are fully cooked.

Remove from heat, and scoop over rice.  Garnish with fresh cilantro and basil, if desired, and serve warm.

Salt to taste, and enjoy!

We've Been Domestic

We really have. 

Well technically, I suppose I'm domestic every day.  But changing diapers, reading books, and cooking dinner doesn't usually make it into the glamorous side of domesticity.  It's the extra stuff that gets the attention. 

Last month I bottled up some delicious vanilla vodka.  I was hoping it would be strong enough to use for baking, but it mixes well for sipping too.  The vanilla beans had been marinading in vodka for 14 months.

Then last week I made a cake.  A Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Salted Caramel Coconut Mocha Cake for our church dinner last week.  (Recipe found here.) This was, perhaps, one of the most frustrating culinary experiences of my life.  The cake actually turned out great.  As long as you didn't notice the little clumps of baking powder that didn't mix well.  But the frosting... oh, the miserable frosting.  After almost two hours in the kitchen, I had completely ruined two attempts at making frosting.  The spatula turned out not to be made of silicone, and didn't hold up very well to the heat of the first batch of caramel.  Oops.  And with the second batch, the meringue buttercream ended up more like caramely scrambled eggs.  Double oops.

So I just made the salted coconut caramel and used that.  Not the prettiest cake I've ever made, but it turned out alright in the end.

I've been doing various artsy crafty stuff, too.  I saw a cute idea on Pinterest to make some pretend miniature tea bags out of cloth, but I figured I'd make them a little more realistic.  So a couple of days ago I used a coffee filter, some brown paper, a threaded needle, and a little glue.  Voila.

They fit perfectly into Chloë's tiny porcelain tea cups.

Aaand I made lots of jam. Five batches of it, actually.  I unloaded the bags of frozen berries from my freezer, and got to jammin'.  I know it doesn't look like much, but those pint jars hold a lot of jam! One batch of raspberry, and four batches of cherry raspberry mix. Chloë and Elaina eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Thus concludes my domestic post for this month. I'll spare you pictures of the dirty diapers. But don't worry. I really don't have any pictures of dirty diapers. From this month, anyway.

Chicken Biryani

My friend Sarah asked me to help her plan the menu for our church's big Easter Feast in May. We tossed around ideas and recipes, and decided on an Indian theme.

We had some friends over for dinner this week, so I experimented with our main recipe for the second time. There are so many great spices in this dish, but the recipe we had was a bit vague on some of the measurements. The first time I made this I used whole cloves and cardamom, but I found that it was a bit tricky to find and remove them once the cooking was complete. And a cardamom pod is quite a potent thing to chomp down on. So I used ground spices for the cloves and cardamom, and didn't have to worry about finding them before serving. The bay leaves and cinnamon stick are easy enough to fish out. For you locals, I had to get the ground coriander, cloves and cardamom at the Co-op. Everything else I was able to get at Winco.

I served this with homemade naan and tzatziki sauce.


Chicken Biryani
serves 5 or 6

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
3 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 whole cloves (or 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves)
cinnamon stick, about 2 inches long
4 green cardamom (or 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom)
2 bay leaves
medium onion, diced
3 green chillies, chopped finely (or an 8 oz can)
2 cups white rice, uncooked
2 cups broccoli, chopped
2 cups coconut milk (15 oz can)
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 1/2 to 2 cups water


1. Combine coriander powder, chili powder, ginger powder, granulated garlic and salt, mix well with chicken pieces. Set aside to marinade, 20 to 30 minutes.


2. Heat olive oil in large skillet, add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, diced onion and chopped green chillies. Saute on medium heat until onions are tender, 10 to 20 minutes.


3. Add chicken and stir frequently. Fry until mostly done, about 10 minutes.


4. Transfer to a large pot. Add rice, chopped broccoli and diced tomato, stir for a minute over medium heat. Add coconut milk and water.


5. Place lid on pot, turn heat down to low, stir occasionally, and cook until rice is done, about 30 minutes.


6. Remove whole spices, and serve warm.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins: Gluten and Dairy Free

This is my go-to recipe for spoiling my dad a bit when he's in town. I know he misses the good old days of carbs and dairy (he admits he sometimes has dreams of bread and cheese), and these turn out surprisingly tasty. While he and my husband and two of my brothers were outside working on getting the tree off my house this weekend, I whipped him up a double batch of these. I am so grateful we didn't have to shell out the $500 quoted to us by the tree removal guys. Thanks, Dad!




Gluten Free and Dairy Free Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together the dry ingredients:

1 1/4 cups gluten-free flour (I like to use 1/2 cup white rice flour, and then a mix of brown rice flour, sorghum flour, garbanzo flour, soy flour, and buckwheat flour for the other 3/4 cup.)
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice

In a separate mixing bowl beat together:

1 cup natural applesauce
1/3 cup light olive oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla
2 eggs
4 tablespoons apple juice, more as needed

Beat the wet ingredients and sugar until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and combine well. Add more apple juice a tablespoon at a time, as needed to make a smooth batter.

Spoon the batter into greased muffin pans. Or use muffin pans lined with paper muffin cups.

Sprinkle with raw sugar, if desired, for a crunchy top.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven until firm and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Test with a wooden pick if you need to. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Thai Coconut Soup

I have been making this soup for a couple of years now, and my husband enjoys it almost as much as I do, I think. I tripled the recipe last week when my family was in town, and I was even able to serve it to my dad, who doesn't eat gluten or dairy. It has an amazing blend of flavors, and a is a hearty and satisfying soup.

I love this soup.

Thai Coconut Soup
serves 4

1 lb chicken breast cut into thin strips or chunks
3 tbs fish sauce
1 1/2 tbs lime juice
1 quart and 3/4 c chicken stock
3 stalks lemongrass, bottom third only, peeled, smashed and cut into 2" pieces (or, the zest of about half a lemon)
1" piece of ginger, peeled and cut into thirds
1/2 cup long-grain rice
1 3/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk (15 oz can)
2 fresh red chilies, seeded and sliced thin, crosswise (or a tbs or sweet chili sauce)
3 tbs chopped fresh cilantro, optional

In a shallow glass dish, combine the chicken with the fish sauce and lime juice and set aside.

In a large saucepan bring the broth, lemongrass and ginger to a simmer.

Add the rice, then continue simmering until nearly done, about a quarter of an hour. (I usually use brown rice, and I let it simmer a good 45 minutes.)

Add the coconut milk, bring to gentle boil. Stir in the raw chicken with the lime juice and fish sauce. Let boil for two minutes to cook the chicken, then return to simmer.

Stir in the chilies and cilantro, and serve!

Crème Brûlée

I made crème brûlée for the first time last week. I got eight handsome ramekins for Christmas, and was excited to try them out. Since my mother-in-law's and brother-in-law's birthdays are shortly after Christmas, I had a great excuse to try them out. This is the recipe my sister-in-law Jessie always uses, and it turned out perfectly. If you're at all like I am, and love good food but feel unqualified to try to make anything more complicated than a batch of cookies, I can assure you that this was surprisingly simple. I used one and half of these measurements for eight ramekins, and it was the perfect amount.


Crème Brûlée
serves 5 or 6

1 egg
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (I used Kahlua instead)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I don't have a Kitchen Aid, so I just used my hand mixer), mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of sugar together on low speed until just combined. Meanwhile, scald the cream in a small saucepan until it's very hot to the touch but not boiled. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cream to the eggs. Add the vanilla and Grand Marnier and pour into ramekins until almost full.

Place the ramekins in a baking pan and carefully pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the custards are set when gently shaken. Remove the custards from the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until firm.

To serve, spread 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly on the top of each ramekin and heat with a kitchen blowtorch until the sugar caramelizes evenly. Allow to sit at room temperature for a minute until the caramelized sugar hardens. Enjoy!

Gluten Free

...and dairy free, and potato free, and legume free (which includes peanuts), and citrus free, and nightshade free (tomatoes and peppers and eggplant)... and I think that's all my dad has cut out of his diet so far. My sister is keeping her cool and is "only" gluten free.

I've learned a lot in the last few months about cooking and baking with strange ingredients. And that you have to read labels verrry carefully. Whowoulda thought that simple products like soy sauce are not gluten free? Or that oats are processed on equipment that also process wheat products, which deems them contaminated. So, when my family comes to visit, I pull out my ever growing supply of weird baking ingredients, and search the internet for something new to try.


I'm always perfecting my bread recipe. I use my own concoction of white rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, soy flour, garbanzo flour, guar gum, and xanthan gum (which, at $20 a pound, is a good thing I only need a couple of teaspoons). If I make muffins, I'll throw in a little buckwheat flour (which incidentally, is not really a wheat at all).


Since it's my sister's birthday on Monday, I went all out and made a chocolate cake. I considered a "flourless" cake, but the reviews all said they were really brownie-like. And I really wanted something that resembled an actual cake. It was really tricky, because lots of chocolate is contaminated with dairy. I couldn't find a dairy-free frosting recipe that didn't include margarine or shortening, so I created a chocolate frosting using tofu. The end product looks almost normal.

I'm very grateful that I'm not a glutentard.

Guinness Beef Stew

I've been wanting to attempt this Irish stew for a while now. In fact, ever since that tasty bowl we shared in a Dublin pub. I finally had the inspiration and motivation this week, and decided to try this recipe, with a few exceptions, of course.

I added a little extra Guinness (of course) and some salt (of course), and I used turnips instead of parsnips. I didn't have any bittersweet chocolate on hand, so I just threw in a tiny handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but, but wowee, it's great. It made a huge pot of soup, so I think I'll have to freeze some, unless we have someone over for dinner tomorrow night.