Thai Food, Anyone?

I have really grown a taste for Thai and Indian cuisine. This is another Green Smoothie Girl recipe from her 12 Steps to Whole Foods book. It is not just a recipe book, but it contains a lot of recipes to help you implement the things she teaches. Some of the recipes are winners, others not so much. This was a winner--not just a "we could eat it again."

Be warned that it has a kick (one my two year old could handle though. Take care if your kids are wary of spicy foods). It must be the red curry paste. But you can do yellow or green curry paste as well. To find good deals on curry paste and other Asian products go to your local Asian market. The prices are WAY better there and the stuff is probably more authentic. Gluten intolerance? Asian markets have lots of rice and yam noodles for cheap. Really, give them a try. It's one of my new favorite places to shop. :)

I made this with brown basmati rice and would highly recommend the same for you, unless you are really wanting it with noodles.

Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce

My teenaged son calls this dish “Asia Meets Europe.” You can serve it with 4 C of cooked brown rice instead of pasta, if you prefer to keep it truly Asian.

16 oz. whole-wheat or spelt pasta, cooked according to package directions
3 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 can coconut milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 onions, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 red bell peppers, sliced
3 carrots, chopped
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. red curry paste (or green or yellow, if you prefer)
1 can lychee fruit, drained (pronounced “LEE-chee”) --I left this out--
1 can baby corn, drained
¼ tsp. sea salt

Heat the coconut oil in a wok or skillet and sauté vegetables until tender-crisp. Blend the coconut milk,cornstarch, fish sauce, curry paste, and salt in a blender. Add to the vegetables, along with the lycees and baby corn. Heat and stir until sauce thickens. Toss vegetables/sauce with pasta and serve.

Of course, I always recommend serving dinner with a big green salad.

My Favorite Things

Early on in my search for fresh (excuse the pun) ways to feed my family, my mom sent me a blog link to what is now one of my most favorite resources. The blog is called Taste is Trump, and I've linked to it on the side bar. The author is known by first name in our home. When my husband asks me where I obtained a new recipe, most often all I have to say is "Kara."

As her blog title denotes, her philosophy is: "What good is a healthy dish if nobody eats it?" I most wholeheartedly agree. She is into whole, from-scratch foods, and she is fabulous at what she does. I will likely have her recipes cited here often, because they are staple for us.

One of my favorite things Kara does is her "One Grain at a Time" segment. She shows and teaches about varied grains--probably some that you have not heard of! How does one use spelt, amaranth, or teff? Just ask Kara. She incorporates them into her own recipes and shares them with us. This has changed the way I do things a lot, and we not only love the taste of these recipes, but how we feel when we eat them.

Hopefully, our friend will be a guest-poster for this blog, but make sure to keep up with her blog directly. I can't tell you how highly I recommend it!