Saturday, November 8, 2014

When the Blues Go Marching In...

I could start this post off writing about why I haven't posted in such a long time...or I could just start with the recipe, save you some time, pretend the gap never happened, and pick up where I left off...

This past Thursday night, my roommate Matt and I had made plans to watch hockey, but it wasn't just just any hockey game - it was the St. Louis Blues versus the New Jersey Devils. Translation: my team against his team. So I thought I'd at least make a good meal before the game began and someone ended the night unhappy.

Pad Thai - one of my favorite dishes and if you've never made it, I hope the rest of this post will help nudge you closer to making it.

Ingredients:
   - 1 Pad Thai Kit (Asian Creation was the name on the box I bought - it included rice noodles and peanut sauce)
   - 1 lb. chicken breast (as much or as little chicken as you'd like)
   - 1 egg
   - Carrots (either buy matchstick carrots or cut them yourself)
   - Green onions
   - Bell Pepper
   - Lime wedges
   - Peanuts (a solid handful will do)

Directions:
1. Boil a pot of water. I followed my step-mom's instructions for cooking the rice noodles and it goes as follows: Lay out the rice noodles in a 9x13 baking dish (basically a casserole pan). Pouring the boiling water over the rice noodles and loosely cover the pan. I used a cookie sheet to cover the dish to help keep the steam and heat contained. Set the timer for 20 minutes and let the boiling water do the rest.
2. Cut up the chicken into bite size pieces. Lightly season the chicken (I used salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes). Using 1 tbsp. of vegetable oil, cook the chicken on your stove top, flipping as needed to ensure the chicken cooks throughout. This should take between 5-8 minutes, depending on your stove top. Place the chicken on a plate off to the side and cover with foil.
3. Next, you'd want to scramble the egg. Unfortunately, I did not have any eggs in my place when I was cooking, but it's a delicious part of the meal so it has to stay in the recipe. 
4. Cut up your carrots (if needed), peppers, and onions into small pieces. The peppers you can cut how you like them, either small bite size pieces or strips, whichever you prefer.
5. Steam the veggies for a few minutes to have the flavors begin to blend together. I used the same pan that I cooked the chicken in, because I'm trying to use as few dishes as possible (less cleaning)! Add a little bit of water and cover.
6. Combine the rice noodles, chicken, egg, and veggies into a big pot. 
7. Add the peanut sauce to the pot and stir thoroughly to make sure everything mixes nicely. 
8. Cut up the limes into wedges
9. Mash up the peanuts into bite size pieces - I did have a wooden spoon or anything like that, so I improvised and used a hammer! Put the peanuts in a ziploc bag and starting smashing!
10. You can serve the peanuts and limes on the side and allow for your guests to add as little or as much as they'd like.
11. Bon Appetit!
Recommendation: If you like spicy, add some sriracha on top

Wait, there's more! I mentioned that Matt and I were going to watch a hockey game...in a first for my blog, we have a drink recipe to be shared! Now that I'm of age to legally consume delicious beverages, you might see more posts including drink recipes. Or, maybe not.

But anyways, for tonight's game, the drink I made was eloquently called...the Blues shot,
Ingredients:
   - your favorite vodka 
   - blue curacao
   - lime juice
Directions: Mix equal parts of each into a shaker. Translation: pour a shot of each into your shaker and start shaking! You can skimp on the lime juice if needed. 
Yes, those are despicable me shot glasses!
And to complete the post, let the record show that the Blues did in fact beat the Devils 4-3. Let's Go Blues!