Thai Coconut Stir Fry

 The key to any stir fry is the balance between sweet, sour, and spice. This Thai Coconut Stir Fry is slightly sweet from the coconut milk with a heat that builds as you eat it. For a pop of color, I use red Fresno peppers but if you like your Thai food extra spicy, use the extremely spicy Thai Bird's Eye chiles.

In our house, we like to do a stir fry at the end of the week when there are some left over fresh vegetables in the crisper that we can't figure out what to do with. Only use fresh veggies, the frozen stir fry mixes usually result in a mushy end product and the excess water in them dilute your sauce.  Another great quick tip is to use ground chicken or pork because it cooks much faster than sliced or diced meat.

The secret to having full flavored stir fry is not to drown it in sauce, start with aromatics and chilies and let that become the base of your sauce. 




Thai Coconut Stir Fry
Ingredients:
1 Tbs. canola oil or grapeseed oil
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Fresno chili pepper (optional Thai bird's eye chili pepper for extra spice)
1 -2 pounds ground chicken or pork
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen edamame peas
1 Tbs tamarind paste (or juice of one lime and 1 Tbs. dark brown sugar)
1 cup organic coconut milk
! Tbs. cilantro leaves, chopped
2 green onions, thinkly sliced
Jasmine rice for serving

Directions:
In a large wok over high heat, heat the oil until it shimmers. Carefully add in the ginger, garlic and chilies and cook for 1-2 minutes. Generously season the ground chicken or pork with salt and pepper and add it to the wok, breaking up the meat into bite-sized pieces with a wooden spoon. Once the meat is almost cooked through, add in the vegetables, cooking for another minute or two until slightly softened.

Stir in the tamarind paste and coconut milk. (If using green vegetables such as broccoli or asparagus, add them in when adding the coconut milk so they do not over cook.) Turn the heat to medium and let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the green onion and cilantro. Serve over rice.

10 Minute Seared Ahi Tuna

Need a quick and delicious fish recipe? This Seared Ahi Tuna delivers on both. Crusted with sesame seeds and served with a wasabi lime sauce, it can't get much easier and better than that. My husband gets complete credit for this Seared Ahi Tuna. He came up with the fish recipe and I added a dipping sauce to accompany it.

Before you prep the fish, make sure everything else for the meal is finished, the sides and the dipping sauce. I am typically in charge of making the sides and dipping sauce while my husband makes the fish. Cooking is much more fun when you have a teammate in the kitchen.

Sesame Crusted Seared Ahi Tuna

Ingredients:
1 pound Ahi Tuna steak, cut into 4 ounce portions
3 Tbs. raw sesame seeds, white or black
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp. sesame oil
For the Sauce:
1 lime, zest and juiced
1 Tbs. Tamari or soy sauce
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp. wasabi paste, or more to taste

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and mix well. Transfer to a serving dish.

Preheat a non-stick skillet over medium high heat until very hot. Salt and pepper the tuna steaks. Place sesame seeds in a shallow dish or bowl and dip each side of the tuna portions into the sesame seeds. Press slightly to make sure the seeds stick. Pour sesame oil into hot skillet and immediately place fish in skillet to sear. Sear each side of the tuna for 2 minutes for rare and 3 minutes on each side for a medium rare tuna steak. Remove fish from skillet and place on a cutting board. Slice tuna into 1/2 inch slices and serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Detox Green Juice

Already cheating on your new diet? I know I have. Shake Shack tasted great yesterday, but my body is craving something nutritious. Here's my detoxifying green juice recipe that actually tastes great (the kids love it, too, even my picky eater!). I will usually send a bottle of this juice with my husband to work for a great mid-morning energy boost since eating healthy at work can be very difficult. 

This juice is full of healthy greens like baby kale which is high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C and potassium. I try to use baby kale in my juices because it tends to be less "grassy" tasting and you get all the same health benefits of the larger varieties. 

My green juice also has lots of ginger which aids in digestion and absorption of nutrients in the intestines. If this is your first time juicing ginger use only a small thumb-size piece as it can overwhelm the juice and make it very spicy. If you are like me and love ginger, you can add even more than the recipe calls for. 

If you don't have a special juicer like the Omega juicer I use, you can easily use a blender and fine mesh strainer to strain out the larger pulp. Another cheaper alternative to a heavy, duty masticating juicer like the Omega is a centrifugal juicer, which like the name suggests spins the juice out of the fruits and vegetables. If you are new to juicing, try the blender technique first, but I guarantee you will be hooked and your body will be craving yummy, nutritious juice all the time. 

I love juicing and my body loves it too! When I drink this healthy, detoxifying juice I can feel my body soaking it up. I get a quick energy boost and cravings for sweets and junk food diminish. 

This recipe makes enough for 4 medium servings or 2 large servings and it stores in the fridge for 2-3 days. 

Detox Green Juice

Ingredients:

3 small cucumbers or 1 large English cucumber, diced

2 granny smith apples, diced

6 cups baby kale leaves, lightly packed

1 2-inch piece ginger

2 lemons, peeled

Process all ingredients through the juicer (or blend in a blender on high for 1 minute then strain through a fine mesh sieve). If using a juicer, save half an apple for the end to push all of the kale leaves through the grinder. 

Pour into a glasses and enjoy or store in a large pitcher in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Thai Chicken Soup

This is the perfect chicken soup for cold weather or to help get over a dreadful cold. Winters here in Texas can be brutal for your immune system because we can swing from 80 degrees to 30 degrees and back in a matter of a few days, so having this soup in your repertoire can help when someone in your family comes down with the sniffles.

Starting your soup with a bundle of aromatics like cilantro stems, scallions, fresh ginger, garlic and lemongrass make a wonderful base to build upon. I also like to use rice noodles in this soup to keep it gluten free but if you don't have those on hand, you can use buckwheat noodles (Udon noodles), Chinese egg noodles (Lo Mein noodles), or a few packs Ramen noodles without the seasoning packets.

Thai cuisine balances three contrasting flavors: sweet, sour and spice. This recipe uses carrot for a subtle sweetness, lime zest and lemon grass for sourness (if you can find kafir lime leaves use those instead of the lime zest), and ginger and sambal oelek for spiciness. 

Carrots and mushrooms are traditional additions to this soup but you can add any vegetable you like. 

Serve this soup alongside a plate of fresh herbs such as mint, Thai basil (can with substitute regular basil), cilantro leaves, and sliced scallions. Serve with lime wedges and chili paste (Sambal Oelek). 

Thai Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, skin removed
8 cups chicken broth
6 cups water
kitchen twine
1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced
4 scallions
1 bunch cilantro, stems and leaves separated
2 limes, zest and juice
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 stalk lemongrass, cut in 3 inch pieces
8 oz. mushrooms, cremini, shitake or button, sliced
4 medium carrots, sliced
1 12 ounce package rice noodles
1 Tbs. fish sauce
salt, to taste
For serving: fresh basil, mint, lime wedges, sliced scallions, sambal oelek 

Directions: 

Clean chicken and remove skin. Using coarse salt, scrub the chicken to remove any impurities. Using kitchen twine, tie up cilantro stems and scallions into a bundle. In a very large stock pot, place chicken, broth, water, cilantro bundle, ginger, lemongrass, lime zest and garlic and bring to boil over medium high heat. Simmer on medium-low heat for 35-45 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked through, skimming any foam that rises to the surface while cooking.

Remove the chicken from the soup and let cool for 10-15 minutes before picking the meat off of the bones. While chicken is cooling, strain the broth with a fine mesh strainer to remove all of the herbs and aromatics. Return broth to a full boil and add the carrots,mushrooms and noodles. Boil of 3-4 minutes (or longer according to the cooking instructions on the noodle package). Add fish sauce, juice of 1 lime, and return chicken back to the soup and season with salt.

Ladle into bowls and serve with fresh herbs, lime wedges and chili paste.