Thai Yellow Curry

If there is one type of food the Fish Fam loves it's curry. 

Whether it be Thai, Indian, or Japanese.

It's all so amazingly good.

I worked at a Thai restaurant while in college. The family was from Bangkok and they made the best Thai food in town. Seriously, Thai Ruby is the best! If you live in Provo, Utah area check them out! Here's their menu.They used lots and lots of fresh ingredients. Their mom was very traditional and I loved that she grew her own basil plants out back. They would go to different grocery stores to get the best quality fruits and veggies. Again the mom was very very particular about only picking the best mangoes for their Thai Mango with Coconut Sticky Rice dessert. Oh my, so incredibly good! That being said, it was only a seasonal dessert, so you better believe my husband and I went all the time when it was in season. Which, actually, when my husband and I were first married we ended up living right below this restaurant. I forgot about that! 

The family would make yearly trips back home to Thailand during Christmas Break, which we were always sad to see them closed because we loved going there. They would bring back plenty of their specials ingredients and spices. I specifically remember always picking Thai Ruby to go out for my birthday dinner in January because can you tell I really love Thai food?! Plus when you get a bigger group to go you can do family style and share lots of incredibly good Thai dishes. 

Well, onto the curry, I remember for the most part Thai Ruby used Mae Ploy curry paste, "O" the son who manages the place, said it's the best kind. He also said for Americans they had to make it sweeter and add more sugar. Lol!! But of course, Americans can't really enjoy other cultural foods without adding lots of sugar. Smh. 

Anyways, while shopping I always read the ingredient labels and Mae Ploy has the shortest list and best ingredients. Being that we live on a military base in Japan, my options are slim. So I was happy they have this brand of curry paste. Really though, I ought to make it from scratch, but I have yet to try that!!

Check out the awesome ingredients with NO msg, preservatives, or artificial color added. Looks great to me compared to the super cheap and awful ingredients in the other curry pastes with things like, ya know...MSG, Sodium metabisulfites, #40 yellow yaddah yaddah #5,6 and 7 coloring, etc.! You'll want to stay away from these and other ingredients like them. 

Okay, onto the recipe. I use this recipe on the carton as a guide.....

Directions: 

- I first start off infusing up to 3 minced garlic cloves in the pan. Infuse means to cook on med.-low heat garlic in oil. This will bring out the flavor of the garlic in a very good way. Then I add some chopped onions and sprinkle some salt on top and cook for a few mins. 

- Then I stir-fry 50g about 3.5 Tbsp of Yellow Curry Paste with 1Tbsp oil, then add 1 cup coconut milk. This is also letting the curry paste infuse in the oil to bring out the flavor of the curry. Yum, it's starting to smell sooo good!

-Add 200g of cubed or shredded chicken, which is about 1.5cups and add another 1/2cup coconut milk (which should be the rest of the can) and heat until boiling. 

-Add about 1 cup of cubed potatoes, 1/2 of diced onion, and I add carrots too, then add 1/2 cup water and cook until the vegetables soften. You may want to add the potatoes a little bit later because they cook faster than the onions and carrots.

-Lastly, add 2tsp sugar or to taste.

*I use this recipe as a guide and always double it and add as much curry paste, potatoes, onions, and carrots as I think best. Also, something that makes a huge difference is NOT using water. I use my homemade bone broth or the broth left over from cooking my frozen chicken breast in my instant pot. I also add fresh basil in the end and let it simmer. For more flavor I'll add some Red Boat Fish Sauce. 

*I am also very choosy about the coconut milk I use. Cheap coconut milk brands have some pretty bad additives and preservatives as well. Thai Kitchen is good, but Native Forest Organic Coconut is better. I order mine from Vitacost here. I also love that the can inside is BPA-free. Did you know canned foods are lined with BPA? Fresh is always best. 

*Also, if want more flavor in your meat I would recommend using chicken thighs. Chicken thighs are dark meat and fattier and hold more flavor. 

*So because of my Instant Pot or rather Incredible Pot or now formally named Mr. Incredible...

I can take out my organic frozen chicken breast from the freezer and have it cooked in 30ish mins! I'm tellin' ya this thing is incredible. It has made things so much easier. All you do is put 1.5 cups of water in the pot with 1lb of frozen chicken breast and put it to a manual time of 10mins. After about 10mins it reaches high presses, cooks for 10mins, and then with a natural release pressure of 10mins the chicken is mostly cooked, depending on its thickness. Which I use thicker chicken breast and don't want it cooked all the way through because I'm going to continue cooking it on the stove. So there you have it Mr. Incredible comes to the rescue!

Ok, now go enjoy that curry!!

But wait, don't forget to serve it over white rice or even better Jasmine rice. 

Yum. Yum.

Stew & Frybread

The Fish Fam sure enjoyed this meal...

Navajo Frybread & Stew

I'm Navajo and growing up I always enjoyed helping my grandma, mom, and aunties all make or rather "flap" the dough, to get it stretched and ready to fry in the pan. Unfortunately, I never learned how to make the dough. Sad I know. But, I sure can flap out the dough. But, getting the dough just right so it's nice and soft and easy to flap is an art that doesn't include measurements! It's all about watching your Masani (grandma) and learning.

But, in the last few times that I've made my own dough, and yes did have to use measurements, it's came out pretty good. The thing that might be funny is this is an all organic fry bread. Lol! It's even fried in organic shortening from mechanically pressed palm oil. A much healthier option than the usual crisco or vegetable oil.

Seriously, read this article here why vegetable oils and margarines are so toxic for our bodies.

You can use this recipe for a general idea and try at making your own dough...

Navajo Tortillas or Frybread

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/3 cups warm water

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add 1 cup of the water and mix, adding more water as needed to make dough soft but not sticky. Knead smooth. It's best to let it sit on the counter with a towel over it to let it soften up, makes it easier to work with. When ready tear off a chunk about the size of a small peach. Roll in a ball then flatten out to about 1/8 inch. And flap and stretch it if you know how or just use a rolling pin. Put in pan or cast iron skillet or in hot oil to fry (carefully do so dipping the dough in the pan closest to you and slowly laying down the dough away from you until it is all in the oil, be so carefully to not drop the dough in or it will splash oil all over). Watch it closely and turn and cook on other side.

Serve with Navajo mutton stew. Yum!

Or in this case beef stew. They didn't have any mutton this time at the store.

Beef Stew

Meat:

1- 1 1/2 pounds stew beef

Vegetables:

1 onion, chopped

2-4 cubed potatoes

2-4 carrot, chopped

2-4 celery stalks, chopped

1 zucchini & yellow squash each

*All to your liking or add different veggies.

Seasonings:

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoons dried sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried parsley

*All to your liking

Flour Mix:

½ cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

10-12 cups beef broth

2 tablespoons oil

The broth for our beef stew was made out of beef bones that we cooked in our pressure cooker, an Insta Pot, so amazing! Then I coated the beef chunks in 1/2 cup gluten free flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1/2 tsp of pepper....mixed and shook meat and flour in a ziplock bag until it was well coated. Then added the oil to the pot and cooked it until it was browned all all sides, took a few minutes. Then I took it out and placed it on a plate. Next, add a little beef broth, maybe a little bit more oil to sauté the onions until caramelized and soft. Add in all the beef broth, meat, and chopped up vegetables. Cook until veggies are soft and ready!

You can make this stew in the crock pot or pressure cooker (find a good recipe and follow instructions exactly).

Also, add more sea salt (prob more of this) and pepper to taste.

While it's cooking get your dough ready and whalla, enjoy!

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars

Some friends had us over for dinner and I brought the dessert.

Paleo pumpkin pie bars...

No refined sugars, grains, or milk dairy.

They loved them!

From PaleoOMG

For the crust

• 6 dates, pits removed
• 1 cup almond butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. First we will make the crust. Add your dates and almond butter to a food processor and pulse until it breaks down together.
3. Then add your 2 eggs, honey, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt and puree until smooth.
4. Grease an 8×8 glass baking dish with some coconut oil and pour in your crush. Use a spoon to smooth off the surface and level out all over.
5. Place in oven to bake for 12-15 minutes or until crust is firm and cooked through when you poke it with a toothpick. Then let cool.
   
   

While the crust is baking start the filling...

From Paleo Newbie

• Pumpkin Pie Filling:
• (1) 15 oz can of pure pumpkin (not pie filling) –or– 1 3/4 cups of pumpkin purée
• 1/3 cup of Medjool dates (pulsed in a food processor or puréed)
• 1/3 cup of raw honey
• 1/2 cup of coconut milk, full fat
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 2 tbs coconut oil
• 1 tsp of pure vanilla
• 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp of nutmeg

Instructions:

1. Start pie filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk all the filling ingredients together
2. Cook over medium heat, until filling starts to bubble - then cook for 1 minute more
3. Remove from heat, and pour over cooled pie crust layer
4. Refrigerate 2 hours before serving
5. Keep refrigerated except to serve
   
   

Then top it with coconut whip cream. Yum!

Coconut Whip Cream:

1. The most important thing to do is put a can of full-fat coconut milk in the fridge overnight.

2. All the fat will solidify at the top of the can.

3. To open the can turn it upside down where the cream isn't sitting, heavy side on bottom and then open it up with a can opener.

4. Pour out coconut water into another container to save if you want.

5. Scrap out the cream into a mixing bowl.

6. Add some kind of sweetener...white sugar, powdered sugar, maple syrup, honey, agave, etc.

7. Beat/whip it together with a mixer.

8. Taste taste and sweeten to your liking.

Enjoy!

Healthy Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins

I was looking for a pumpkin muffin recipe that looked good...

These Healthy Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins via Pinch of Yum looked great!

I like how she puts it...

"This recipe is basically five simple things: mix the wet, mix the dry, mix them both together, bake, and glaze. I love recipes that can be explained in one sentence."

And Healthy because...

This “healthy” version follows a basic rule of halves.

• Half the sugar of the original, subbing real maple syrup for some but not all because DANG girl that stuff is expensive.
• Half of the flour swapped out for whole wheat. Fiber. Healthy. Simple as dat.
• Half of the total oil, using olive oil. Guess what? NO TASTE. I served it at a brunch with friends and they were all surprised when I mentioned the olive oil. And ironically my other friend who had brought pumpkin bread also made hers with olive oil. This is one where you can get away with that sort of healthy debauchery.
• Half of the glaze. NOT! Hello? The maple glaze is the bedazzling crown of this puffy little muffin.

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: 16

 

Ingredients

For the Muffins

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon each cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup real maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3 eggs

For the Glaze

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1¼ cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tbs. maple syrup
• 1-2 tablespoons water

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix the dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and sugar). In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, milk, and eggs).
2. Combine the dry and wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring until just combined. Fill each muffin tin almost to the top with a scoop of batter - I like to use an old fashioned ice cream scoop with the little thumb press to get a nice rounded top.
3. Bake for 20 minutes or until tops are puffy and spring back when you press them. Remove from the muffin pan and let cool before glazing.
4. For the glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Add powdered sugar and vanilla - it will be thick and sticky. Stir in maple syrup. Add water until desired consistency is reached.

 *Her trick to getting perfect domed muffin tops is using a disher aka ice cream scooper with the thumb button.

*I also used coconut oil instead of olive oil.

 

 

 

"Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding"

This actually is really good "pudding." Recipe found at Paleo Omg here. 

I just added about a teaspoon of raw honey. It calls for a tablespoon.

It seems that it would be great with maple syrup too.

I have to stay low glycemic, so I go easy on the natural sugars too.

Her's just looks more appetizing. :)

Pumpkin Hummus

This is oh so good! Recipe found at The Paleo Mama...

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (I made my own)
• 1 cup peeled & chopped zucchini (I steamed mine)
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a mini food processor.
2. Process until everything is combined and the texture is as smooth as you like – that’s it! Drizzle with a little extra olive oil for prettiness before serving.

Serve it with cut veggies or homemade crackers...

"A Jar of Pumpkin & Pecan Pie"

 If you love pumpkin then you'll love this smoothie from mywholefoodlife...

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 frozen banana

handful of Pecans

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup water & ice

Blend!

I roasted suger pie pumpkins and it's so so good!

"Baked Goods"

I like to think of these dishes as the "real baked goods."

All you gotta do is throw some fruit and veggies onto a baking sheet and put it in the oven.

Make your own dipping sauce.

And most importantly BE CREATIVE!

Top dish is papayas topped w/ a slice of banana, beets, and radishes. The sauce is frozen peas, fresh mint, ginger, chia seeds, soaked and peeled almonds, and water.

Bottom dish steamed hard squash, papaya, banana, starfruit, and turnips. Sprinkled with grated nutmeg and crushed cardamon. 

I'm working with a wonderful friend I have met who is a very creative and an amazing cook! She is opening up my right brain and getting my creative juices flowing. She baked all these and shared all her good ideas!

I'm really focusing on food and how it makes me feel....I'm listening to my body. For the last 10 years I've been on a serious health journey because through health challenges and c-sections and raising kids it's been a bit crazy. I've tried this and tried that...vegan, raw food, juicing, candida diets, alkalizing-diets, whole foods, gluten-free, etc. I did see great improvements in my health, but at the same time I still wasn't feeling great in other ways. But as I've included more, actually a lot, of cooked veggies in my diet, I have felt a world of difference and have slowly, but surely been feeling better! I'm so thankful for all the good people who have helped me along my journey!

Herb Grilled Chicken & Veggies

Organic Chicken Breasts that soaked in a marinade of...

Olive Oil

Coconut Vinegar

Fresh Lemon Juice

Minced Garlic

Your Favorite Herbs

Coconut Chicken Curry

 Super yummy with so many spices!

Coconut milk, made my own chicken bone broth, organic chicken meat, onions, garlic, ginger, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach. Spices consisted of red chili powder, cilantro (coriander) powder, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, & mustard seeds.

Spice Up Your Life!

These are some simple spices that I have in my easy access spice cubby. I use them to spice soups, breads, meats, curries, chilies, and lots of other good foods! The power of spices and herbs are incredible in supplying our bodies with an amazing spectrum of good strong nutrients and health. Spices and herbs help prevent and fight against sicknesses and diseases! Here's a great article. I don't usually go light on spices and I have cupboard full of more spices behind this door. Spices I use the most are most cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.

So spice up your life!

 

Tomato Coconut Basil Soup

A friend gave them this recipe from another friend and it's super easy and best part is my kids loved it with some noodles! Her friend's recipe...

Tomato Basil Soup  

"This one minute soup is a healthy alternative to a Martha Stewart classic that bursts with such flavor, you'll want to cheer!"

-1 quart Classico Spaghetti Sauce
-2 (13 oz) cans coconut cream
-1 Tablespoon dried basil

*Classico brand is sold in packs of 3 at Costco. Or your choice of sauce. Sugar-free is better.

*Coconut cream is sold at Good Earth and probably other health food stores. 

*Try part coconut milk w/ any other milk...rice, soy, almond, or diary.

*Along with the basil I put in more spices.

Here it is with the added organic noodles...

Spices...

 These are a few of the spices that we like using. My kids love adding cinnamon to their morning oatmeal, we really enjoy using the Organic No-salt Seasoning, and the Sweet Mesquite is good on fish and chicken.

I prefer sea salt over any other salt.

I really like adding this to some of the Chinese Stir-fry's I make.

For some reason I crave this and love adding it to some dishes, like spaghetti.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

There's nothing better to eat than homemade chicken noodle soup when you have a cold during the winter months. I put about five chicken thighs in a big pot of boiling water for a couple hours. In the meantime I cut up garlic, onions, carrots, and celery. I take out all the chicken thighs and the meat should be soft enough that it almost slides off the bone. I dump in all the veggies. Then I take two forks and shred the meat up. I add in spices like oregano, basil, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, etc. I put the chicken back in and add dry egg noodles. Everything is up to you, but this basically what I do!