Chicken Adobo

30. November 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Entree, Recipe · Tags: , , , , , , ,

Stephanie here…

Have you ever had Filipino Adobo? I have. A friend of mine is of Filipino heritage and she introduced me to short ribs Adobo. Delicious, falling off the bone, amazing-ness they were. I didn’t have any short ribs last night but had seen recipes for Chicken Adobo. All of them called for bone-in and all I had were boneLESS. Sheesh, couldn’t I just get the point and make something else. Nope. No can do. Once I get in the mood for a certain dish, that is IT! Adobo is tangy and a bit spicy the way I was taught to make it. Like pad thai, there are many variations on this dish.

Chicken THIGH Adobo

2 lbs. boneless chicken thighs
1/4 c. vinegar (most recipes call for white, but I’ve used others)
1/4 c. Coconut Aminos
pepper (I put a heaping tablespoon of the ground pepper in mine, like it to ZING)
heap of minced garlic
2 bay leaves

Place the thighs in a nice sized stockpot or deep skillet. Cover with vinegar/coconut aminos and enough water to cover the thighs. Add pepper, garlic and bay. Bring to a boil and cover. Cook about 20 minutes, turning chicken over about halfway through. During the last five minutes, I like to break the chicken up with a strong spatula into smaller pieces and then leave the lid placed so that the sauce can vent and cook down into a thicker sauce.

Serve with some steaming cauliflower and a salad.
Put a bottle of Sriracha on the table for the folk who need MORE spice. Enjoy!

Side note: Some cooks like to brown the chicken before adding the other seasonings. Some cooks like to marinate the chicken before hand. Good for them. I’m usually in a hurry at din-din time. So, give it a go and see what you come up with. If you don’t like pickles or other tangy treats, don’t EVEN try this dish. You won’t be up to it.

Sorry no photos, as we ate it. Will try next time!

Another Pad Thai Option

12. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Entree, Lunch, Review · Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Stephanie here…

Thursdays are Asian Food Night at our place. Last week, I made a new version of pad thai for my family, a ketchup containing one which is unusual for us. It came from this recipe, and I had some broccoslaw that I steamed for my own noodles and made a paleo modified version. I really liked it. It’s not my favorite, but it was really tasty and hit the pad thai spot. If you’re an adherent to a certain pad thai school, this one may not be for you. One of the Thai chef’s notes that I was reading said that there are as many variations of pad thai as there are cooks and kitchens! Here’s a peek at my prep plate for this dish…

So, my modifications were to replace the ketchup with a paleo friendly one (Organicville has agave as it’s sweetener, for example), brown sugar with a bit of honey (I don’t like pad thai to be too sweet), coconut oil for the peanut oil, and use a good fish sauce! Also, pad thai isn’t pad thai to me whithout piles of cilantro, so I added that in as you can see on my prep plate. IF you’re going to take the time to make a pad thai dish, do yourself a favor and prep everything first into plates or piles as they go in at different times. It’s really NOT hard, just takes a bit of preparation!

P.S. I eat peanuts. They don’t bother me and there is nothing that tastes like them. If you don’t, choose something else for a crunch!

Shrimp Scampi with Zucchini Pasta

21. September 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Entree, Meal Plans, Recipe · Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

After trying out my new Paderno Spiral Slicer on a Mega Zucchini, I had a very large bowl full of zucchini noodles. Now, what do I make with these awesome looking noodles? I could have made Stephanie’s Zucchini noodle pesto, but I was looking for something different. I decided to make a Shrimp Scampi with Zucchini Pasta. I have to say, this was one of the easiest dishes I’ve ever made!

 

 

 

 

Shrimp Scampi with Zucchini Pasta

10-15 Shrimp per person – thawed

1 T coconut oil or butter if you eat dairy

1 C zucchini per person (sliced thin or spiral cut)

Dressing/marinade

1/2 C Olive oil

1/2 C lemon juice

1 t minced garlic

1 t Dijon mustard

1 t dried parsley or 1 T fresh parsley

1 t sea salt

1 t black pepper

1 T sun dried tomatoes diced (optional)

1 onion cut into thin rings (optional)

 

 

Mix Olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, mustard, salt and pepper in a jar with a lid. Shake well to combine. Pour half of the dressing into a shallow dish with shrimp. Let marinate in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Heat coconut oil or butter in a skillet. Discard marinade and place marinated shrimp in skillet and cook for about a minute on each side or until shrimp are pink and no longer translucent.

If you like your zucchini uncooked or al dente skip this step. Otherwise, boil several cups of water in a saucepan. Drop sliced/cut zucchini into boiling water for 1 minute then remove to plate.

Place cooked shrimp over zucchini then drizzle a few tablespoons of dressing over shrimp.

Optional: If you like caramelized onions, heat more coconut oil in a skillet on low heat and cook thinly cooked onions until browned and caramelized. You can also add some sun dried tomato to the onions to add a little extra zip. Top shrimp and zucchini with caramelized onions.

Perfect Burgers for Your Grill

14. September 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Entree, Of Interest! · Tags: , , ,

Stephanie here…

I love burgers. I mean LOVE. I can dress them many ways, eat them plain, eat them at anytime. I talk about burgers as though they are a true love. Ask any of my walk buddies… all too often the talk on our long journeys turns to my beloved burger and how I’d love to have one of those right now.

My mother-in-law makes the best burgers ever. While visiting this past summer, I watched her carefully and gleaned some of her secrets on making these “best burgers ever”. We asked for burgers several times during our visit.

The secrets:

  • Don’t buy the lowest fat ground beef. Get the 85%. Juicier and more flavorful.
  • Shape them properly.  A flat patty is going to give you a lens shaped finished burger. More on this later in the article.
  • Use 1/3 lb. not 1/4 lb. per burger to get a really nice shape out of it. 1/4 pounders just don’t hold up to the heat/shaping as well.
  • When grilling, turn them ONCE only and only with something that will not pierce them.

That’s it. I followed this successfully at home and we’re amazed with how much different our home burger experience is!

Now, on the shaping. The little burgers need to be 1/3 lb… yep pull out your kitchen scale and make little balls of 1/3 lb. beeves. Next, you’re going to shape them so that they look like Red Blood Cells!! MMMMmmmm.

So, take that ball of beef in your hands and shape it into a nice patty, nice and firm. Next, start to bring the sides up just a bit so that they are concave. You want the sides thicker, since the inside puffs up when you cook it. Pretty cool, really.

 

Here’s mom’s method:

Shaping the burger

The finished burger ready for the grill

And sorry, but I ate the final product fresh off the grill before I could snap a photo. Will try to control myself next time and post a pic of these beautiful finished burgers. Bison, beef, whatever, give it a try!

Thai Basil Garlic Chicken – Gai Pad Krapow

16. August 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Entree, Recipe · Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Stephanie here…

After eating a wonderful ground chicken dish a few months back at a local Thai restaurant, I thought, “Hey, I can make this!” That is what I usually end up thinking, because I’m cheap. Well, this one took a few tries to learn what I liked and what I didn’t like. I do like this dish made with ground chicken thighs, I do not like it as well made with ground chicken breasts, but it was not bad, just dry and lacking in flavor compared to it’s dark counterpart. I’ve consulted many recipes in cookbooks, many thoughts online about this dish. This one is a major mixture of all I’ve learned and is very simple. Most of all, it’s very like the one I had at the restaurant!

Gai Pad Krapow
1 pound of ground chicken thighs (make your own with your handy little food processor)
2-4 T. coconut oil
several cloves of minced garlic (how much do you like the garlic?)
2 cups of basil leaves, ribboned (I used Thai basil in most of my attempts, but the regular basil was delish too)
1 t. or more of Huy Fong’s Chili Garlic Sauce
2 T fish sauce
1 T honey

Have all ingredients ready to go. Mix chili garlic sauce, fish sauce, honey and set aside.Heat a cast iron skillet (I used a 12 inch skillet) over medium high heat. Heat the oil and add the ground chicken. Saute until pink is no more. Add garlic and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add basil and sauce and stir fry until basil wilts. Serve by itself or with some cauliflower rice.

I also added zucchini and mushrooms to several of the different makings of this and it was wonderful that way too. Give it a try. It’s a lovely addition to my paleo options!

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