Green Curry

I really enjoy Thai green curry dishes.  I have some store bought curry paste in the fridge but thought it might be fun to try making it!

The recipe I used is from Canadian Living magazine (issue November 2012) and can be found here.

Notes:

-I included the seeds from the chilies for some extra spice

-this paste does keep well in the fridge for 2 weeks

I have made a couple of different things with the curry paste.

1)  Baked Chicken with Green Curry Marinade
Combine 2 or 3 heaping tbsp of paste, and 2 tbsp olive oil in a bowl and mix well.

Cut 2 to 3 chicken breasts into pieces (about the size you would use if you were going to put them on a skewer).

Coat chicken with paste mixture and marinade for 1 hour.

Spread chicken on baking sheet and bake at 375F for 25 min.

2)  Coconut Green Curry with Vegetables

There are many different variations of this type of recipe online.  Here is what I did:

Coconut Green Curry with Vegetables

Ingredients

• 2-4 tbsp curry paste
• 2 - 3 tbsp oil (vegetable oil or coconut oil)
• 1 can coconut milk (regular or lite)
• salt
• assorted vegetables, chopped
• e.g. red pepper, yellow pepper, zucchini, broccoli, peas, etc
• cilantro or basil, chopped
• peanuts, crushed (optional)

Directions

1) Prepare vegetables.

2) Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.

3) Add curry paste to saucepan, stir for 1 minute. (Start with 1 tbsp of curry paste if you don't like too much spice).

4) Add coconut milk. Bring to a boil stirring regularly.  (You might want to taste your curry at this point. If it's too spicy, add more coconut milk*).  You can also add some salt here too.

*I usually just add regular or almond milk because I don't want to open another can of    coconut milk!

5) Add vegetables that take the longest to cook first. I started with broccoli, then a few minutes later I added the zucchini, peppers and frozen peas.  As soon as your vegetables are cooked the way you like them (I prefer al dente), you're done!

6) Serve with rice. Garnish with cilantro or basil, and crushed peanuts.

Butternut Squash Pasta

Recipe from two peas & their pod.

Some notes:

-I didn't have fresh sage

-I threw in some arugula for picture taking purposes!

I really liked this pasta and I will definitely be making it again. Not too time consuming either. I will try it with the sage next time.

Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole

I wanted to try something with eggplant.  After a bit of searching I found this recipe from oh she glows.

Some notes:

• I used white kidney beans instead of navy beans
• I omitted the optional nutritional yeast
• I included the optional spinach

This casserole was tasty and held up well for leftover lunch the next day.

Asian Quinoa Salad

Recipe from two peas & their pod.

I really wanted to love this salad, beautiful colours and individually the ingredients are things I like. But, unfortunately for me, the end flavour just wasn't something that I really enjoyed.

New year, new goals!

In 2013, I set a goal to try at least 52 new recipes for the year.  I tried about 60 new recipes and considered it a success. For 2014, I thought I would do the same thing and blog about the new recipes I try.

Ultimately, I'd like to create a collection of really great recipes.  I would also like to practice my photography skills by taking photos of the food I make.