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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Thai Chicken Saute and a Six Word Memoir

Do you guys make grocery lists, or do you just have a general idea what you want to make and fly by the seats of your pants? I always have a list. I plan our weekly menus and head off to the store to restock and pick up whatever new goodies that intrigue me. Sometimes, I see something so interesting (which could sometimes translate to "on sale" hehe) that I'll pick it up and plan a meal around it. Good things can happen that way. Sometimes. ;)

This recipe for Thai Chicken Saute was a planned, on the list meal. But I decided to do it at the last minute. I had to head to the store, but I had no list made. Panic! So I quickly scanned my e mail inbox to see what interesting recipes I'd received in the past week. This wasn't one of them, but I was led to it by another, not very memorable one. No clue what it was. See? Uninteresting, it was. (I sound like Yoda saying that, don't I? hahaha!!) Let me take a minute and snap of my Yoda-like trance....

Ok! Anyway, I found this on MyRecipes.com, which includes recipes from Cooking Light, Southern Living, and Sunset, to name a few. This one is from Cooking Light, and you can see the original here.



It's so quick and easy to make! I love that. Who wouldn't? You can have this on the table in less time than it would take to get take out. It's delicious, too. I used brown rice and didn't use bottled minced garlic, because, eeeewww. It takes one minute to chop fresh garlic!

Tip: To get the smell of garlic off your hands, run your hands under cold tap water, no soap. And do it right after you handle the garlic, don't handle anything else before you rinse your hands. Works like a charm! Then you don't have to use bottled garlic, lol. (Tip from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, by Judy Rodgers)

A word on the Sriracha in the recipe--it's SO delicious. But it's hot! I cut the amount of Sriracha in half, and it was just right. If you haven't seen it, it looks like this:
And it's gooood. It's hot, but it adds flavor, too, not just heat. I can get it in my regular grocery store, so I'm guessing it's not hard to find. You can read a little about it here. If you can't find it, use another hot sauce instead.

Thai Chicken Sauté

From Cooking Light


Ingredients

1 (3 1/2-ounce) bag boil-in-bag rice (I used regular brown rice)
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon fish sauce
4 teaspoons canola oil, divided
1 cup sliced onion
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic (I used about 4 cloves garlic, minced)
1 teaspoon bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1/2 cup light coconut milk
2 tablespoons Sriracha (hot chile sauce, such as Huy Fong)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 lime wedges
Preparation
Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Keep warm.

Toss chicken with cornstarch and fish sauce.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes.
Remove chicken from pan.
Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in pan.
Add onion, garlic, and ginger to pan; sauté 1 minute.
Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute or until done.
Stir in coconut milk, Sriracha, sugar, and juice; cook 45 seconds or until thoroughly heated.
Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cilantro.
Serve chicken mixture over rice with lime wedges.

I cooked the onions for about 5 minutes, because my husband doesn't like crunchy onions in his cooked food. They've got to be tender, lol. But they were still good. I'm definitely making this one again! It's got three important things going for it--quick, easy and delicious.



Six Word Memoir

The Irreplaceable and Irresistible Pixie over at You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato tagged me for a Six Word memoir. It's basically just six words that describe yourself. She's such a sweetheart, that Pixie, and she has a fabulous blog, so please go check it out!

So, six words to describe me...

1) Loyal
2) Level headed
3) Sweet
4) Stubborn
5) Bratty
6) Funny

I'm sure my friends and family could all give you different words about me, but they're not writing this blog, I am! hahaha!

I LOVE Pixie's idea for tagging 6 more bloggers, so I'm copying her.


**********

Pixie says:

"Oh 'fortunate' selected Bloggers, it's really up to you if you wish to play along! I believe the entire purpose of this is to introduce bloggers to each other; to build the wonderful Food Community that exists. So feel free to write your memoir or not, the choice is entirely yours but honestly, I'd much rather prefer if you took just about 5 minutes to visit at least one of the mentioned blogs that you have yet been to, have a quick browse and say hello."
***********

So I'm going to tag six blogs that you may not have seen yet. Three of them I read regularly, and three I chose randomly from the Foodie Blogroll, and I'm going to add them to my reader. I hope that you guys that are reading this will check them out and leave them a nice comment. It's still so thrilling to me that you guys actually read my blog and leave nice comments! I'm continually amazed at how supportive the food blogging community is. I'm still so new to this, but everyone has been great, and it would be nice to look at some blogs we may not have seen yet.

Here are the rules:

1. Write your own six-word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
4. Tag five
(umm or 6 or 7 or) more blogs with links.
5. Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.


I'm tagging:

Lauren at Parsnips Aplenty
Farida at Farida's Azerbaijani Cookbook
Lori at Made Healthier
Wendy at Home Sweet Home
Holly at Old Recipe Detective
Sarah at Homemade

So please go check them out and let's show them the same support that you all have given me. Thanks!


PS--I can't figure out why the bottom half of this post has gone all funky with the text. Please excuse it. Maybe Yoda typed it...

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22 comments:

RecipeGirl said...

I don't cook Thai food very often. I don't know why. I guess I'm afraid of the spice of it all. Since hubby likes it though, I'm inclined to try this one and definitely halve the hot sauce!

Elle said...

It's really delicious, Recipegirl. I was very happy with it. But it started getting spicier towards the end, so yeah, cutting in half was good for me, hehe. I think it would be good with some coarsely chopped nuts over it, too...peanuts or cashews, maybe.

Pixie said...

I love easy quick dishes; as for planning dishes well we try our best; it's usually, umm what are we having for dinner tomorrow night? My freezer and fridge is always full-perhaps, a bit too full for just two. (i'm rambling- i do that A LOT)

ta for taking part and for adding my suggestion- i'm glad you tagged a few bloggers that I love too and a few that are new for me that I will check out NOW.

ICook4Fun said...

Hi Elle, thanks for you comment at my blog. Thai food is one of my fav and I just love cooking with the sirachi chili sauce. I normally don't plan my meal before shopping and I just buy whatever that are on sale at the supermarket. Do you mind if I link you?

Anonymous said...

Yummm! That looks like something that we would love, Elle. Srirachaaaaaa! Love that stuff. I add enough to my noodles to make my lips numb. wooosh-squeak! lmao

Anonymous said...

Hi Elle I've only just come across your blog and wanted to say how wonderful it looks.

I love Thai food and will certainly be giving this a go.

Elle said...

pixie--I love having a full freezer! It makes planning meals so much easier.

Thanks for tagging me! :)

icook4fun--you're welcome! Sure you can link to me!

Nikki--I think you guys *would* love this one! woosh squeak, lmbo!

culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess--thank
you so much!

Ben--I'm so bad. I need lists to remember so many things. Someday, I think it would be cool to go to the smaller markets (farmers market, butcher, fish guy) nearly every day to get the freshest ingredients.

Deborah said...

I am totally a list maker. I wish I could find an ingredient and be inspired by it right at the store, but it doesn't work that way for me.

This recipe sounds delicious - I'm a huge Cooking Light fan!

Elle said...

Deborah--I love Cooking Light, too! They have a recipe for just about anything you could ever wish for.

taste memory said...

this is really tempting....anything Thai; esp. Thai inspired chicken over a bed of rice will do me in....and I'm doing the raw & juicing thing during the day but this is getting my pavlov reaction going!

Sharon said...

I just found your blog & it's great! I usually base what I'm cooking on what I have in the pantry. I try to make lists, but I never succeed! This recipe looks delicious.

grace said...

mmm...coconut milk. you can sign me up for anything involving coconut milk.

yes, i'm definitely a list-maker. if i don't make a grocery list, i a)tend to buy things that i really don't need, and b)forget something super important. sometimes i forget something super important even if it's on my list in capital letters with a box around it... :)

Anonymous said...

Oh looks great and I make grocery lists and then leave them at home. It's really helpful.

Vicarious Foodie said...

Oh my God--I just picked up a bottle of Sriracha for the first time ever on Saturday. I got it just because my bf likes spicy stuff and he wanted to try it. I didn't know what to do with it though, and look--here you are with a recipe. I think I'm fated to make this dish of yours--it looks great!

By the way, I'm a list-maker. I try to do my grocery shopping only twice per month, which means carefully planned shopping that covers two weeks at a time. I just love planning what meals I'm going to make and how I can get the most out of a single set of ingredients. It's a small obsession of mine.

Anonymous said...

I like Thai food. Your chicken looks delicious! BTW, thank you for tagging me:) I didn't know it is this challenging - I've been thinking what to write about myself ever since you tagged me:))

test it comm said...

That chicken looks so tasty!! I like the coconut milk in it.

Ginny said...

I'm the same way...I have a list but sometimes I must go off it when something looks good. I love this recipe! Adding it to my list!

Anonymous said...

Love thai all day long! haven't had it in a while though. Make the grocery list--it's sooo helpful.

Unknown said...

i love this idea! and yep, my idea of "interesting" ingredients = ON SALE! hahahaha

sometimes i figured out wat i was gonna make and i had everything i need to buy in my mental list, but sometimes i just go with the flow and get anything tat's.......

on sale *grin*

Anamika:The Sugarcrafter said...

hi elle
a very good blog site..passing by but stooped to read and loved it. greetings to you from botswana

Hallie Fae said...

Looks great. I have to try this recipe. Thai food is one of my favorites. I love the recipes from cooking light, makes eating healthy simple and good. Every time I make something I never miss the fat or calories.

Elle said...

Taste Memory--I've been reading about your adventures with juicing and raw foods--very inspiring!

Sharon--thank you so much!

Grace--thank you! I just got back from the grocery store and guess what? I forgot something that was ON my list. hehehe!

Noble Pig--I've been known to do that, too.

Vicarious--I love choosing what to make, too. And my husband is a consultant and goes from contract to contract, so very often I go shopping every 2 weeks, too, depending on how he gets paid. It's tough that way, especially if you've got lots of produce!

Farida--thank you! And you're welcome! ;)

Kevin--I like the coconut milk, too. A lot. :)

Ginny--hope you like it as much as we did!

Cindy--yes!

Flanboyant--I could, too.

Rita--yeah, sale is a big part of my list, since there are 6 of us, hehe.

Anamika--greetings to you, too, and thank you so much!

Hallie--I love Cooking Light, too, so much!

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