August 31, 2009

I've Done It

I've disgusted myself. With chocolate. And peanut butter. In cake form.

Its no surprise, I guess. There are 8 cups of sugar in this cake.

8. Freakin. Cups.

More tomorrow. Or whenever I wake up from the food coma.

August 28, 2009

Thai part 2 - Spicy Peanut Noodles

These were SO good. I mean it. Craving good. I don't have to develop a Thai takeout addiction because I can whip up a batch of this for next-to-nothing good. The recipe I found came from allrecipies, but I played with it a bit to suite my tastes... meaning, I added more peanut butter and made it much spicier... can't go wrong there!


Spicy Thai Peanut Noodles

1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp Sriracha
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh minced ginger
1 tbsp fresh minced garlic
8 oz udon noodles
chopped green onions
chopped cilantro
2 limes
2 cups random veggies


Cook noodles as directed. Boil or steam veggies.

While the noodles are cooking, combine the chicken broth, peanut butter, chili sauce, honey, soy sauce, ginger, juice of 1 lime and garlic in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until smooth and uniform.

Toss the noodles and veggies with warm sauce. Garnish with green onions, cilantro, and lime.

August 11, 2009

Tom Kha Gai

One of our favorite restaurants in LA is a little hole in the wall Thai place near Hollywood. Its quite a drive from our little beach town so we don't go very often - usually only when we have guests in town - but it is deeeeeeeelicious. Last time we went was with D's parents (in town for the Greatful Dead concert!) and they introduced us to a few new dishes, including this one. Its a coconut and chicken soup flavored with lemongrass and hot peppers - so yummy!


Tom Kha Gai

1 can coconut milk
2 cups water
1 lb chicken breast, cut into thin strips
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced
2 stems lemongrass, sliced lengthwise
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 limes
1 jalepeno (not what you're supposed to use, but its available in LA)
small bunch chopped cilantro


Pour coconut milk, water, lemongrass, ginger, cilantro, and peel of 1/2 lime into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat.

Add fish sauce and juice of 2 limes. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the chicken and cook until chicken is done; about 10 minutes.

Add chile. Serve warm.

August 4, 2009

Pollo con Espinaca

I like to cook on Sundays. Its relaxing, to be able to plan a meal, grocery shop, prep, cook, and of course eat everything. Its one of my favorite ways to end a nice weekend, and great to begin the week with because we always have leftovers!

One night a few weeks ago we were in the mood for something spicy. We also had a big bag of spinach that needed to be used up, so we decided on pollo con espinaca. Sounds easy enough, right?

This is D's favorite dish of maybe all time. Whenever we go out for Mexican this is certainly in consideration. To make things a little more interesting, I have never had pollo con espinaca before, so I had absolutely no idea what I was in for!

We followed a mish mash of recipes from one of my cookbooks and from various sources online. This is what we came up with!



Pollo Espinaca

4 Chicken Breasts
Fresh spinach, washed and stems removed
1 jalepeno, diced
1 package cream cheese
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I wanted to use crema mexicana or oaxaca, but its $$$)
salt and pepper
Olive Oil

We chose to grill our chicken, so we gave it a little olive oil rub and seasoned with salt and pepper before cooking.

Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Saute spinach until wilted.

Stir in softened cream cheese and plain yogurt. Allow to melt, stirring constantly to break up the spinach.

Add cheese and allow to melt. Continue stirring. Add jalepeno, salt and pepper to taste.

We served the grilled chicken and the sauce with rice and beans. Quite delicious, and healthy too! This will definitely be an addition to our regular dinner rotation.