Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

As most of you know by now, one of my favorite things to do is throw a bunch of crap together and pretend it's gourmet use leftovers to create a new recipe. A takeout box of leftover brown rice inspired my latest endeavor. We always seem to run into this problem: we finish every last ounce of our delicious Thai leftovers, but we can never get through the rice! It's almost like they give you enough for another meal entirely. I mean, it's as though you could whip up a stir fry and...you see where I'm going with this.

Per usual, I had some chicken breasts lying around. I also had some frozen veggies. If this sounds familiar, that may be because you're a loyal reader (have I mentioned that I love you?) and you might be thinking of my similarly spontaneous Nutty Noodles. That dish was a little more sweet,than what I was craving at this particular moment. I wanted the same thing only different...perhaps with some heat!

Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp fat of choice (I used coconut oil because it's my fave...especially in Asian dishes!)
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4-5 medium green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups sugar snap peas
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
• Sriracha, to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp...Dave dumped some more on later)
• 1/2 c fresh basil, minced

Directions

• Sauté chicken in oil. Remove from pan.
• Cook onions and garlic until fragrant, using the same pan.
• Add peas and broccoli to pan, reduce heat and cover. You may need to add a few tablespoons of water so they steam properly. Cook just until crisp and bright green...you don't want to overdo it!
• Add sauces and return chicken to pan. Stir well to combine.
• Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until flavors meld. Stir in basil.

Just so you know this recipe is only 4 WeightWatchers PointsPlus per serving, so go ahead and add that rice! Yay for veggies!

What do you like to include in your stir fry dishes?

Nutty Noodles

Last night, I was craving some kind of Asian food, but I didn't want to spend the money ordering in. I had some chicken breasts defrosted, and some peanut butter in the pantry, so I figured I could throw something together. I found this recipe, altered it a little to accomodate what I had, and was really satisfied with the results! If you multitask just right, it should only take about 20 minutes to make. This easy, quick, and healthy recipe just shot to the top of my weeknight recipe list.

Nutty Noodles

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup reduced fat creamy peanut butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• Splash of rice vinegar
• 8 oz whole wheat spaghetti
• 1 bag frozen sugar snap peas
• 1 bag frozen broccoli
• 1 bag fresh baby carrots
• 1/2 cup peanuts
• 8-12 fresh basil leaves

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil for the pasta.
2. Place chicken breasts in another pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer covered until chicken is fully cooked (about 10-12 minutes).
3. While chicken is cooking, cook pasta for about 8 minutes (it will be undercooked).
4. While both the pasta and the chicken are going, cook your frozen veggies in the microwave (mine took about 5 minutes).
5. While these three elements are cooking, whisk the peanut butter in a bowl with the garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, and pepper. You may choose to add soy sauce and ginger to taste, depending on your personal preference.
6. Once the peas and broccoli are done cooking, add them along with the carrots and peanuts to the cooking pasta. Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes until the pasta is fully cooked.
7. Remove the chicken from the pot and place on a cutting board to shred.
8. Drain pasta and veggie mixture, then place back in pot.
9. Stir peanut mixture into pasta mixture. Add chicken. Stir in basil and serve.

I haven't tried it, but I imagine this dish is good cold as a salad too.

What's your favorite weeknight meal?

Organic and OTP: L'Thai

Maybe it's all this talk about house hunting, but something's got me thinking about the suburbs (otherwise known as the area Outside the Perimeter, or OTP, here in ATL).  Some of my favorite places in Atlanta are its quirky, hole-in-the-wall, off-the-beaten-path, intown eateries.  Would I miss out on such indulgences if I moved OTP?  Well, thanks to Scoutmob, I recently learned that good food exists in Suburbia, too!  Oh Scoutmob, you've never steered me wrong!

Dave and I took my dad out to dinner for his birthday at L'Thai, an organic Thai restaurant.  The original L'Thai is located in Tucker, but this particular location is part of Smyrna's West Village.  West Village, by the way, is super cute.

 {image via Smyrna Vinings}

My dad works for a large hotel company, and has enjoyed conducting training sessions for fellow employees all over the country.  Occasionally, training has taken him abroad.  Some of his fondest travel memories took place during his trip to Bangkok, and he often speaks of Thailand with a tinge of nostalgia in his voice.  When we told him we were taking him to try a new Thai place right near his suburban home, he was pretty psyched.

L'Thai is apparently the only organic Thai restaurant outside of Thailand.  I know!  I was surprised, too!  I believed that claim as soon as we stepped inside the restaurant.  Traditional details met modern decor, and every smell we encountered confirmed that this place was legit.

We were served promptly, and often.  In fact, several different waiters and waitresses visited our table intermittently.  Though they were checking on us pretty consistently, it never felt intrusive...just attentive.  The owner of the restaurant stopped by a couple of times just to chat, and he could not have been more charming.

We started off with basil rolls, which were different than I expected.  I'm accustomed to basil rolls that look like this:

{image via Thai Pavilion}

The basil rolls at L'Thai looked like this:

Don't get me wrong, both versions are delicious, but they are different dishes.  The basil rolls typically found at thai restaurants consist of rice paper filled with shrimp and pork, rice noodles, and basil.  The basil rolls at L'Thai were all veggie and much lighter, yet somehow still just as flavorful.  Plus, I really liked the presentation.  Bite-size pieces were perfect for sharing!

For my entree, I had the Pra Ram Long-Song.  This was a chef specialty consisting of lean, grass-fed beef smothered in peanut curry sauce and served on a bed of spinach and broccoli.  It was big enough to turn into two meals, but good enough not to. (And possibly healthy enough?  Maybe?  There was green stuff in there!)  Okay, okay, I ate the whole thing!

We had turned in our dessert menus, assuming that we were too stuffed after our delicious dinners.  But then, my dad started up with the nostalgia again, this time about some mango sticky rice dish.  I told him to ask the waiter if they had such a thing.  My dad asked, almost apprehensively, hoping that just maybe it would live up to his expectations.  They waiter smiled, and said that of course they had it!

When they brought over our dessert, I was a little surprised by the appearance.  Shouldn't rice look like rice?

Apparently, this appearance is normal.  The sticky rice looks that way because of all of the brown sugar. *drools*

It was an excellent meal.  I learned a lot about Thai food, I had a great time, and it was a pretty good deal thanks to Scoutmob.  What's your favorite Thai dish?  Do you have a favorite Thai restaurant?