A little heat to kick this cold

I woke up this morning after a very restless night’s sleep.  I had a hard time falling asleep and woke up what seemed like every few hours unable to breathe through my nose.  I also had a couple of furry friends join me in bed last night.  Misty was curled up against my chest, furiously kneading me and Buster was curled up behind my legs.  I felt like the icing in between an Oreo cookie.  Pretty cozy though .

Trevor left me with a lovely Valentine’s Day gift.

 

Valentine’s Day was pretty exciting for the kids at school.  Many brought Valentines to exchange, but I told them they had to wait until after lunch as I didn’t want to have to deal with sugar highs all day long.  I also gave them their treat after they showed me that they wrote their homework in their agendas.  They were pretty stoked for these goodies I made on the weekend.  All got eaten up too   Always a good sign, right?

Today’s weather was a whole other story.  It poured all day and the rain was coming down sideways.  Unfortunately we had to have an indoor day for both recesses this afternoon, which didn’t help with the Vday excitement at school. 

I did manage to stop along the highway on the way home and snap a few shots of the crashing waves.  I do love watching the waves crash in, minus the rain. 

It was very chilly out…glad to get home shortly thereafter.  The cold and wind did clear up my sinuses for a little bit, so that was good, but when I got home I made myself a tall hot mug of Vanilla Rooibos Tea… my favourite.

As for my yummy food creation tonight, I thought a little bit of spice may help kick this head cold out of me…so let me introduce you to…..

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Spicy Beef and Noodle Soup

I haven’t made Thai food in a little while and had some leftover Beef Tenderloin from last night’s Bacon Wrapped Fillet Mignon.  My recipe calls for Beef Fillet, so what a perfect time to make this soup. 

  Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 oz Beef Tenderloin, sliced thinly
• 1 medium onion, sliced thinly
• 3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
• 4 Tbsp crushed ginger
• 3 Tbsp  Green Curry Paste (or less if you can’t handle too much spice)
• 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Bragg Soy Sauce
• 4 oz Flat Rice noodles
• 4 cups low-sodium Beef Broth
• some cilantro for garnish

Here is my spread of ingredients used

How to make this goodness

You will need a large pot and a wok.  Prepare the broth first by heating to a simmer in the large pot.  Once the broth comes to a boil, add the rice noodles and reduce heat to a simmer and prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In the wok heat oil over medium to high heat and add the sliced onions, garlic and crushed ginger.  Sauté for a few minutes until onions are translucent in color. 

Add the beef and green curry paste and stir-fry for another couple of minutes.

Add the fish sauce and soy sauce and add entire mixture to the noodles and beef broth.  

Cook for another few minutes and serve in a bowl.  Garnish with some fresh chopped cilantro. 

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After dinner settled, my friend Vicki and I had some of this….

Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream goodness with fresh strawberries and Maple Balsamic Reduction. 

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That’s it for me tonight… going to head to bed to try and catch up on missed sleep from yesterday.  Hopefully I’ll be able to breathe somewhat.

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day.  Remember….it’s not about how much you or your sweetie did or did not spend today or this weekend… everyday should be like Valentine’s Day.

I think that Valentine’s is definitely a money maker for the stores and companies out there. It’s just another reason for people to go out and buy things to please someone. My opinion is that you shouldn’t have to go out and buy material things to show how much you care about that special someone in your life.  It’s the everyday actions that you do and show towards your significant other that speak louder than words. 

But if you got some chocolates or a card or some flowers today… enjoy them.  I did I will admit that I did enjoy getting chocolates, flowers and a card from my sweetie.

Have a great night

Bea

xoxo

Another Asian inspired meal

Well I wasn’t up to anything too interesting this weekend. I was actually feeling a bit under the weather. It was a rainy weekend to boot and so I decided to lay low and hang around town.  Had another hockey game Saturday night (and yes, I scored another goal ) and Sunday was a quiet day of cleaning up and shopping for groceries. And it was my friend’s Birthday Sunday.  Too bad she lives too far away to celebrate with her.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA! 

A couple of highlights of my weekend were:

#1) I did finally get around to purchasing a new pair of running shoes at our local running store.  After trying on 3 pairs of shoes and walking around the store numerous times, I went with these:

Brooks Cascadia Trail runner. 

They are a trail runner, perfect for my May 1st event.  I think they will be well broken-in and this also means that tomorrow I can finally run shin splits free (I hope). 

#2)  I bought a new Wok.  Been meaning to get one for a while now and after my very successful attempt at making Pad Thai last week, it was time to buy one.  It came in handy Sunday night too

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ASIAN INSPIRED CHICKEN AND SHRIMP STIR-FRY WITH COCONUT SAUCE

Another successful attempt at making a flavourful stir-fry.  And guess what?  It’s Dairy Free and Gluten-Free…the best of both worlds.

Ingredients:

To make the sauce

• 2 Tbsp  olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp  ginger puré
• 2 tsp  curry paste
• 1 tsp  Tabasco Sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 can Coconut milk
• 4 Tbsp  peanut butter
• 2 tsp lime juice
• salt and pepper to taste

To make Stir-fry

• 2 Tbsp  olive oil
• 8 oz  boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut in small pieces
• 8 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 800 gr assorted veggies
• 1 Tbsp sesame seed oil
• salt and pepper to taste.
• 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Garnish – chopped peanuts, cilantro, green onions (your choice)

How to make

Make the sauce first.  Heat oil on medium heat.  Add onion, garlic and ginger and cook until onions translucent.  Then add your curry paste and hot sauce and cook for a few minutes.

Add tomatoes, coconut milk, peanut butter and lime juice.  Reduce your heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. 

Now transfer the mixture to your blender (I used my Vitamix) and blend until you get a smooth sauce.  Return to saucepan and keep warm until you are ready to use it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now time to make the Stir-fry.  On medium heat, heat your oil in your Wok.  Add your shrimp and chicken and do a quick sauté.  Careful not to cook too long as you don`t want to make your shrimp tough.

Add your veggies and sesame oil.  I used carrots, broccoli, pepper and bok choy.  Continue to sauté until your veggies are mostly cooked. 

Laddle a desired amount of the reserved sauce into Wok and continue cooking until your chicken is tender, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add your cilantro right before serving.

Serve over rice.  Garnish with more cilantro and chopped peanuts. 

   I also had one of these to go with my meal.  It was left in my fridge after having a few friends over. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Stay tuned for a gluten-free applesauce cake coming soon to Beaglebea. 

Did you do anything interesting this weekend? Make anything new and exciting?

See you soon.

xoxo

Bea