thai style chicken soup

this is the best soup i've ever had! it takes some special ingredients i got at the asian market in town, but this has to be one of my favorite all time recipes ever. after you do it a couple of times i am sure it wont take as long as the first time.


ingredients:
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 lemon grass stalks, outer leaves removed, trim top and bottom (like you would a green onion), halved lengthwise and sliced thin crosswise
3 large shallots, chopped
8 sprigs fresh cilantro
3 tbsp fish sauce
4 c chicken broth
2 (14oz) can coconut milk
1 tbspn sugar
1/2 # white mushrooms, sliced (you can omit these if you want)
1 # chicken breasts, sliced on bias into 1/8" thick pieces
3 tbspn lime juice
2 tsp thai red curry paste

garnish:
1/2 c fresh cilantro
2 serrano chiles (i didn't do this- too hot)
2 green onions, sliced
1 lime, cut into wedges


preparation:

1. heat oil, add lemon grass, shallots, cilantro and 1 tbspn fish sauce; cook stirring frequently until softened (not brown)
2. stir in chicken broth and 1 can coconut milk, bring to simmer, cover, decrease heat, simmer till flavors blended, about 10 minutes. pour broth through fine mesh strainer and discard solids in strainer. return broth mixture to pan
3. return p an to medium high heat, stir in remaining can of coconut milk and sugar. bring to simmer, decrease heat to medium, add mushrooms and cook till tender (2-3 minutes). add chicken and cook, stirring constantly until non longer pink (1-3 minutes). remove soup from heat
4. combine lime juice, curry paste, and remaining fish sauce in a small bowl. stir into soup.
5. garnish with cilantro, scallions and lime.

** i make a cup of rice first and put rice in the bottom of my bowl and then spoon the soup over the rice. it gives it a little more texture and fills you up.

our menu for 2 weeks

let me know if you want any recipes from this

artichoke chicken

tacos

mediterranean frittata

spaghetti

chicken fajitas

roast beef with vegetables

dolmadas

spanish noodles

chef salad with chicken

American Shish Kabobs

here's what we are having tonight:

Shish Kabob

marinade:
some olive oil
1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c red wine or maybe cooking sherry
some lemon juice
some garlic
little salt
some rosemary
some pepper

we are marinading chicken and steak ( i just bought some steak i don't really know how b/c i don't buy it very often)
i think you have to soak the skewers in water first, so do that. then thread the meat on. we are also threading on quatered onions, mushrooms (maybe you'd like them i f they were grilled!), green bell peppers, tomatoes, and one granny smith apple(i've never tried this before but it sounds really good)

actually i've never tried this entire recipe before and i am kinda making it up but i think it sounds like it has a lot of potential. it's pretty easy, you get your protein and your vegetable all in "one fell swoop". i am making red lobster biscuits to go with it too.

i googled shish kabobs and actually didn't come up with a lot of good recipes. maybe i'll keep looking. i'll let you know how this meal turns out.

fresh herbs

I have been looking on Rachael Ray's 30 minutes meals website and a lot of the recipes look really good. But i've noticed she uses a lot of fresh herbs in all her meals, which sounds really good to me. however, fresh herbs are expensive and, i feel, hard to find. wal mart sells small packets of them in the produce section but they are just dang expensive. do you use a lot of fresh herbs and where do you find them? last summer my attempts are growing all the wonderful herbs myself were thwarted by all the shade around our house. i might try to cut down some branches and grow them on the roof of our little patio this summer. i'll have to look. it's such bummer after growing up with bob's garden and being able to go out to the garden and get unlimited supplies of these fresh herbs. i never knew how much you had to pay for that sort of thing! anyway, i was just hoping you had some ideas for herbs and if you use them dried or fresh when you make things. i will try out some of these recipes from the website and post them if they are any good.

i haven't posted in a long time b/c i haven't done anything really new or interesting. with the warmer weather we have heated up our outdoor grill and eric's been making dinners- cavender's chicken, lawry salt chicken, tonight we are doing a garlic lime grilled chicken which i think i posted back a while ago. we do some wild rice in the rice cooker with a cube of buillon and a steamed vegetable for the whole meal. then i don't feel bad eating ice cream for dessert b/c dinner was so light. actually, i made a really good chicken salad for dinner last week. i will post that recipe. we made the meal and packed it up in that sweet picnic backpack you gave us for christmas and rode our bikes to the park. it was really fun!

also, have you tried cooking/baking with organic products? if you have do you think they make any difference in taste? i've tried organic tomato sauces and haven't really tasted a difference. i notice the difference in my dairy products and bread products- maybe just the raw stuff. we always buy the regular frozen vegetables b/c they never go bad and then just steam them quickly for dinner. but the other week i bought a fresh broccoli b/c it was on sale and it was so much better than the frozen! i just don't want to keep buying it b/c if we dont' use it fast enough it will go bad.

on a completely different note- i found the receipt for my birthday present from eric a couple weeks ago. he put it behind my spoon and spatula container on the kitchen countertop and i was wiping down the counter and of course i found it. for some reason it came up this week and he found out so he gave me my present early! he got me an altimeter watch off of steep and cheap. it's pretty fun, but has a very large face.

well, post back when you get the chance. that chocolate cake looks really good. i'll have to try it. i made the beet cake for eric's birthday party and everyone loved it!

chicken fajita marinade and killer Mexican rice

I don't know if I've given you this recipe for mexican rice or not, but it is by far the best I've ever used.

Mexican Rice recipe

1 tsp salt
1 clove minced garlic
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
2 cups chicken broth (I use boullion most of the time)
1/2 cup tomato puree (I use salsa)
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion

heat oil. add rice and cook until golden. add and saute onion, bell pepper, and garlic. add salt, tomato and broth. simmer until tender about 20 minutes with the lid on just like other rice.

Fajita Marinade
Chicken or turkey
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup lime juice
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp pepper

marinate overnight or as long as you want. I marinaded it for several hours. I think the lime is what makes this taste so good, so don't leave that out!!