I've Never Posted a Recipe So Here Is a Meal to Die For

Okay, dying for almost anything seems a little ridiculous, but this was so yummy. I wish I could be more specific on the amount of everything to use, but I think it would be hard to mess up.

Thai Stir Fry with Crispy Chicken


Wisk together about 2/3 cup of coconut milk, 2-3 Tbsp Peanut Butter, a couple of teaspoons sugar and curry powder. (Curry powder is a mix of several spices and comes in varying degrees of heat; there is also curry paste. Each curry will have a slightly different mix of flavors. I use about a tablespoon of the McCormick brand.)

In a pan, saute vegetables in the following order, cooking each veggie for just a minute or two on high heat: onion, carrots (I like carrot shreds in stir fry; they are a lot faster), celery, fresh green beans (best if boiled for a minute or two before stir-fried), and red and/or yellow sweet peppers (green ones tend to get slightly bitter when cooked).

Reduce heat to low. Wisk sauce again to get PB and spices off the bottom of your dish and pour it over the vegetables stiring well until all PB is melted. For added heat, add red pepper flakes to taste (a little goes a long way) and stir well. About a minute before serving, stir in a generous sprinkle of fresh, chopped basil and a handful of cashews.

You can also add grilled or pan cooked chicken to the mix--very good. However, the night we had this , we cut chicken into small chunks, dipped them in egg and corn starch and then fried the pieces in oil. It is so crispy and tender at the same time with a melt in your mouth texture.

For serving, put the Thai vegetables over brown rice and put the chicken on the side. My kids loved the chicken dipped in honey; my husband made a mixture of soy sauce, honey and brown mustard for his chicken; I just used the left over sauce from the vegetables for mine. It was good any way. To make it easier for little kids to eat the veggies, only use veggies they like (heavy on the carrots, in other words) and scale back on the curry and don't use red pepper flakes.

And now for our favorite summer drink. It is divine with Mexican food but was also a fabulous compliment to the recipe above.

Plantboy's Brazilian Lime-Aid

You need a cup of fresh squeezed lime for this, so you shouldn't make it unless you can find really big limes--the small ones take forever to get this much juice from.

Add a cup of cold water and a cup of lime juice to your blender. Put in a quarter cup of sugar and blend on low for about 20 seconds. Add 1/3 a cup of sweetened condensed milk (the secret ingredient to Brazilian fruit juices) and blend for a few seconds. Fill the blender with ice and blend until all ice is slushed up. Taste. If it is not sweet enough for you, add a couple of Tbsp of sugar at a time until it tastes right. If it seems like it needs to be creamier, add more sc milk. Do NOT add these two at the same time without tasting in between--you don't want it to get it too sweet.

Happy eating!

Also, the Poopy Pirate lost TWO teeth yesterday. And, I'm happy to report that the tooth fairy knows where our house is.