New Recipe Week 19

The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind, and I have barely kept my head above water and it looks like more of the same is coming through June. We have had overnight guests each of the past 2 weekends, Mother's Day and 3 other obligations. Since I am not the best housekeeper and have only been upstairs  a couple of times since Christmas to change over my winter and summer duds the entire second floor needed a stem to stern scrubbing. (Yeah, I haven't sone that yet.  I just cleaned to rooms people were actually going to be staying in.)  All of this while we are trying to get the lake place "summerized"  made me feel like I was in the deep end of the pool with a weight around my ankle. Fortunately, I love everyone who was here and thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Now it is time for me to start the process over. The next group of houseguests will not be here until June 20, but it is a group of nine, which presents unique problems and requires all those nooks and corners I did not clean will need to be done. Son3 is touring with a band and they will be preforming here June 21.  Birmingham was a no brainer to book since they are staying here and will have no room expenses.  I would say I have a ton of time to get everything ready, but we have a big Memorial Day long weekend at the lake and then leave the first week in June to travel to Portland to see Pip's first dance recital. (Because some things are worth the time and expense!) I truly have limited time to pull everything together, but I will get it done somehow. It is going to be interesting to see how I come up with places for them to sleep. I am pretty sure 9 adult males do not want to share beds.

This was a long intro just to lead into a recipe. I just didn't have the time to sit and post this and felt the need to explain before diving into last week's dinner.

I am back on the Whole 30 meal plan and have been trying to make tasty foods that will feed me with enough flavor options and, in turn, keep me from fudging on the diet and eat cookies, or cake, or pie, or whatever else sings to me. For me that means intense flavors that will satisfy me and will also be enough for TheHub's meal enjoyment. (I have brown rice cooked and frozen in individual serving sizes to throw in with his meals if needed) And now I am finally getting to Week 19's new to me recipe. I found this recipe right before I went to the grocery store and decided if they had this brand of Thai curry paste (Whole30 compliant) we would have this for dinner. Publix had it so it was game on. I found this recipe when I was looking for a quick and easy Whole30 dinner. The original recipe can be found here. The recipe below is how I actually made it. If you click on the link you will notice it is called Thai Red Curry with Sweet Potato Noodles. I do not own a spiralizer. I only have one of those things that functions like a big pencil sharpener for making zucchini noodles so, as usual, I punted.

                                                                               Thai Red Curry

2 small, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 small onion thinly sliced and separated into rings (esthetics only chop if you had rather)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 red pepper, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 can of full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp red curry paste
1 teaspoon hot curry powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 teaspoon dried mint
1/2 tsp  salt
2 small sweet potatoes (I cut then in thin slices and intended to make matchstick slices but it took too much time, so I cut them into thin rectangles instead.)
2 cups of kale sliced into ribbons
1 tbsp of fresh lime juice
fresh basil shreds

Cook the chicken breasts however you want. I poached mine in  little chicken broth, set aside to cool then cube. IN a medium saucepan heat the oil to almost smoking. Add the onions and quickly wilt then toss in the garlic and ginger, stirring continuously, until they wilt 45 or so seconds. Remove from heat and throw in the sliced peppers. This will cool down the pan quickly to keep the garlic from scorching. Lower the heat and return the pan, cooking and stirring until the peppers begin to soften a bit. Add the coconut milk, broth, curry paste, all the seasonings and the sweet potatoes. Stir well to mix everything then add the chicken to it. Cook on a medium low heat until the sweet potatoes are soft, then add the kale ribbons and cook until they are soft.( A couple of minutes) Stir in the lime juice and serve in bowls. Sprinkle as many or as  few basil shreds as you like then eat this bowl of deliciousness. It was so  good and I was so hungry I ate a bowl and a half, and could have eaten more but I wanted to save some for the next day.

I loved it but even better, TheHub, who is not doing Whole30 thought it was fantastic. I definitely think this is a huge win and will be doing this often. If you don't like heat the curry paste is insanely mild, so just use it and forget everything else.  If you do like heat be sure to add the hot curry powder and the red peppers.

I apologize for being lax commenting on some of your blogs. I am only on my computer in the early mornings, but have been reading most of the blogs late at night on my Ipad. I have given up on trying to comment while lying down. Blame it on finger dexterity. I think of comments to make the following morning but it's morning and I am not at my best then. Sorry again.