Thai Red Curry

In yet another attempt to get the food I want without having to pay restaurant prices, I went on a quest to figure out how to make Thai Red Curry. Yes, a quest. I love curry—Indian, Japanese, Thai, everything—and so does my husband. It's kind of our comfort food, especially in the winter. Recently my husband has fallen in love with Thai curries (his first love was Japanese, as he spent time living there), so it made sense that I add this to my ever-growing repertoire of Asian-origin dishes instead of dropping 20 bucks on dinner out.

Well it turned out great! And it wasn't too hard to make as far as curries go.

Thai Red Curry

(Note: This recipe is spicy. I like heat, and this is about "medium hot" to "hot" for me. Heat depends a lot on the paste you get or the peppers you use to make your own, so it's hard to gauge just how much curry paste will make your curry too hot. If you're worried about heat, start with less paste and work up by adding more until it's right for you)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbs. red curry paste (I got mine at the Asian store, which is where I have to get most anything "exotic" in Utah.)

• 2 cans coconut milk

• 2 tbs sesame oil (or any oil on hand, though peanut or sesame will create a deeper flavor)

• 1-2 tsp salt

• 1-2 tbs fish sauce (you can sub soy sauce if you don't like fish sauce)

• 3 tbs brown sugar

• 1 tsp paprika (optional: for color)

• 1 large chicken breast, cubed (other meat options: beef, pork, shrimp)

• 1 green pepper, sliced

• 1 red pepper, sliced

• 1 sm. zucchini, halved long-wise and sliced

• 1 onion, halved and sliced

• 2-3 cups bean sprouts

• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

(Other veggie options: carrot, potato, bamboo shoots, peas, basically what you enjoy)

Directions:

1. In a deep, large skillet, pour sesame oil and heat. Add red curry paste and warm, then add the coconut milk and stir until smooth.

2. As mixture heats, add fish sauce, brown sugar, salt, and paprika. Taste to adjust the flavor to your personal preference. Add more curry paste if not spicy enough.

3. Cut chicken breast into small pieces and add to curry, cook until chicken is mostly done. About 5 mins or so.

4. Add longest cooking vegetables first and fastest cooking last. In this recipe, that order is green and red pepper, onion (wait a few minutes for these to cook some), then zucchini, bean sprouts, and basil. Simmer curry until the vegetable are tender, but not too soft or mushy. Should have a fresh taste.

5. Serve curry in a bowl (preferably a large one, according to me) with a side of rice. Enjoy!

What's For Dinner: Bleu Cheese Salad

It's time for another recipe! As you may have seen on Twitter, I officially have gestational diabetes again. Third time. I'm a veteran here. What that means is that I basically have diabetes until the baby is born, and I manage my glucose levels through my diet (The goal is not to have insulin if you can, and so far I've been able to do that). Managing through diet simply means that I eat a measured amount of carbs in each meal, so my levels stay even. I can still eat whatever I want, just so long as I stay within my limits.

So for instance, tonight I really wanted to eat some clementines. Because that's how I wanted to get my carbs, I needed a low carb dinner. Salad is great for that! And there are so many ways to make a salad filling. This is definitely NOT the healthiest salad calorie-wise, but it's packed with protein and veggies which equal nutrients. That's how I think of healthy. Here's the simple recipe, which you can adjust to the amount of people you're making it for:

Bleu Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

• Romaine Lettuce, chopped

• Red cabbage, chopped

• Carrot, shredded

• Cucumber, sliced

• Tomato, sliced

• Red onion, sliced

• Black olives, sliced

• Almond slices

• Cubed grilled chicken or chopped bacon (or both!)

• Bleu cheese crumbles

• Balsamic vinegar reduction

• Your choice Bleu cheese dressing

Directions:

• Clean, cut, chop, and slice all vegetables and place in a large bowl and toss.

• Cook bacon/chicken as desired. For the chicken, I do a simple grill with olive oil. I season the chicken with garlic salt, pepper, and italian seasoning.

• In a small pot, pour balsamic vinegar and set on medium heat. Bring to a boil and let it reduce until the liquid is syrup-like (a good indicator is if it nicely coats a spoon). Let reduction cool while assembling the rest of the salad.

• Divide salad into desired portions, add almonds, chicken/bacon, bleu cheese crumbles as you'd like. (You can also add croutons, but I don't because of the diabetes thing, obviously.)

• Lightly drizzle dressing and a couple spoons of the balsamic reduction over the salad. Serve and enjoy.

Simple, right? I'm all for simple. Cooking doesn't have to be complex to be good.

Japanese Ramen Escapades

I've decided, as part of my "What new paths will my blog be taking?" meditations, that I want to share recipes and food on my blog. Now, I'm no gourmet chef or anything, but I love to cook and eat and try new things in the kitchen. But the thing is, I usually create recipes and then never write them down because I know how I made it. Then people ask me for a recipe, and I end up sounding snooty or recipe-hoggy when it's really that I eyeball amounts and do things to my taste.

So, all that to say I think writing down recipes for the blog could be a good way to keep track of my kitchen adventures, and maybe a few of you might enjoy trying them out. I know this has nothing to do with writing, but if you search this blog you'll find I've talked myself into a corner on that subject and it's time to throw a few other things into the mix.

Okay, on to the Ramen. I should have probably gotten more pictures of the process, but I wasn't planning to do this when I made it. Next time! I will get fancy like that.

To many Americans, ramen is looked at as this cheap food only fit for desperate times or college students. When we think ramen, we think blue package with dried noodles and powdered sauce thing. Poor ramen. In its native land this dish is a beautiful bowl of noodles served in all sorts of broths and topped with a variety of ingredients.

Mmm. Ramen. It's served spicy, mild, with pork or egg or both. It can come with onions or bamboo shoots or daikon or bean sprouts. It even comes cold in the hot summer months.

Alas, it's not easy finding Ramen like this where I live in Utah. I can't speak for the rest of America, but I'm willing to bet there are very few ramen houses here in general. And if your local Japanese place does serve ramen, it only comes one way.

So what do you do if you want some real ramen on a cold winter day? Well, in Utah you search out the one decent Asian market in the county, buy the ingredients you need, and make it yourself.

On to the recipe! (And disclaimer: This isn't like the be-all-end-all of how to make ramen. This is just how I made it, and I probably did stuff wrong and I know there are even better ways to make it if you have time to make the stock from scratch. But I liked how this turned out, and it was pretty easy.)

Ingredients (For the ramen at the top of post):

Broth:

• 3 cups water mixed with 1 1/2 tsp Hondashi (This is a Japanese fish broth stock, basically, and is the key to that distinct flavor you find in Japanese soups like miso, udon, and ramen).

• 3 cups vegetable broth (or chicken or pork, if you like)

• 2-3 tsp minced ginger

• 1-2 cloves minced garlic

• 1/3 cup soy sauce

• 1/3 mirin (or apple juice if you don't do alcohol [mirin is a Japanese cooking liquor])

• 1 tsp chili oil

• 1 tsp sesame seed oil

• Add all ingredients to a fairly large pot and bring to a boil.

Noodles:

• 3 Packs fresh "yakisoba" noodles. (These are about the same as ramen. I couldn't find fresh noodles labeled as ramen around here, but it may be different where you're at.) Wash these noodles under warm water until they are loosened, keep moist until ready to assemble.

OR

• Dried, actual ramen noodles. (Not from a cheap pack at the store, though I suppose you could go that route if you wanted, but dry ramen you'd find at the Asian market. They are straight, not all crinkled.) Cook these noodles for 4-5 minutes in a separate pot of water, drain, keep in cool water until ready to assemble.

Toppings:

• 3-4 green onions, sliced

• 1 cup bean sprouts, rinsed

• 1 cup spinach, rinsed and chopped

• 2 shitake mushrooms, sliced

Assembly:

1. Get a large bowl, put desired amount of noodles in.

2. Ladle broth over noodles until they're covered.

3. Add desired toppings, submerging in broth so they cook.

4. Let rest a few minutes while vegetables get tender.

5. Devour.

Note: If you like more heat, I add a little sriracha to my bowl, but I make it fairly mild so my kids can eat it. You can also add any type of meat you like, but I make it vegetarian because my husband is.

Hope you enjoy it if you try it!

Happy Writers: Lime Cupcakes For Everyone!

This is my new favorite cupcake: The Lime Cupcake. A little slice of heaven, I'm telling you.

So I'm often passing out virtual cupcakes at our Happy Writers meetings, but today I thought I'd actually pass out a recipe for this lovely, perfect, and surprisingly simple cupcake. And with it I want to give some good writing advice: Have other hobbies.

Seriously. There's a lot of waiting to be had in the publishing world, and you have to fill it with something. You could fill it with angst and staring at your email inbox (guilty). Or you could spend it making cupcakes and watching Downton Abbey (also guilty). Which one is more fun? Well, I'm gonna have to go with the cupcakes. Cupcakes make EVERYTHING better.

Doing life. Just as important as writing life. If not more.

On to the recipe!

Natalie's Lime Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

For Cupcakes:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup 2% milk (I've used 1%, too, and it's come out fine. Not sure about fat free.)

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 egg whites (large eggs)

1-2 limes (or 4-8 key limes [those babies are small])

2 drops yellow food coloring

4 drops green food coloring

For Topping:

3 ounces Cream Cheese

2 ounces soft butter

2 cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar

1 lime

Crushed graham cracker OR toasted coconut (depending on your preferences)

Directions:

For Cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners (supposed to make 24, but I usually get like 21).

• In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. In a large bowl, put in shortening, then pour in the milk and vanilla. Do NOT mix, as the milk will go everywhere.

• Add half the dry flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix, add the rest until well blended.

• Zest one whole lime into the mixture (Or two, if you want it really limey, but I like mine more subtle...so I can eat more. [Plus the frosting has lime, too.]), and then cut lime and squeeze the juice into the mixture. Add the food coloring. Blend.

• Add four egg whites, beat mixture until it's fluffy with slight peaks (makes for an equally fluffy cupcake).

• Fill cupcakes 2/3 full with batter. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean (always 20 minutes for me, but I'm at high altitude so it could be different). Cool 10 minutes in pan, then take out to cool completely.

For Topping:

• Beat cream cheese and butter together until blended.

• Zest lime and squeeze in juice. Blend.

• One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar and blend. If it seems too runny, add more sugar until firm. Put in fridge to cook while cupcakes do.

• Crush graham crackers or toast coconut, depending on your preference.

• When cupcakes have cooled, frost them generously, then dab the cupcake in graham cracker or coconut. (If I had extra limes, I would also cut slices to put on top as decoration, if I were getting super fancy.)

And there you have it! I hope you like them if you try them, and if you don't...don't tell me! Ha. I think I'm just as nervous about sharing a recipe as I am about sharing a book! What if you don't like it? What if it's just me? IT COULD BE THE WORST CUPCAKE EVER.

But it's not. It's amazing.

I hope. *deep breath*