Spicy Turkey Stoup

Paleo-friendly, in other words, Gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, high protein goodness.

I’m calling this one a “stoup” because it’s a combination of a soup and stew.  The recipe makes enough for 2 people to enjoy, and even some leftovers for the next day.  Bonus!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb turkey breast, diced
• 2 Tbsp. Coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp. Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
• pinch of fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp. chilli powder
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 8-10 button mushrooms, sliced
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 Tbsp. red Thai curry paste

• 1 tsp. Bragg soy sauce

• 1 can (400mL) reduced fat coconut milk

Directions:

1. Marinate the turnkey in 1 Tbsp. coconut oil, salt, pepper, chilli and garlic for about 1 hour, in the fridge.
2. Heat a wok to medium-high heat.  When the pan is hot, add the rest of the coconut oil and sauté the onions until translucent.  Add the chicken and marinade to the onions.  Continue to cook for about 10 minutes.
3. Once the turkey is browned, add the mushrooms, red peppers, soy sauce and red curry paste and continue to cook until the peppers are al dente.
4. Add the coconut milk and stir.  Cook for another 5 – 10 minutes, or until the turkey is completely tender. 
5. Enjoy over rice or pasta (if not following a Paleo lifestyle). 

Spicy Prawns, Mushrooms and Orzo

Here’s a wonderfully easy and healthy dinner option for you.  It was so quick and easy to make, and tasty.  I’ve only recently started cooking with orzo again, mainly because I try to limit my intake of gluten whenever I can.  Orzo is a light, rice-shaped pasta and it cooks just like pasta.  Hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did.

I must give a shout out to my wonderful friend Brenda and her husband Al.  They gave me these scrumptious BC spotted prawns that came from the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  They don’t get much better than this.  Juicy and tender.  Thanks guys!

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried orzo
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes (I used a spicier version)
• 1 can mushrooms (use fresh if you can..much better, but I ran out)
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 lb shelled and deveined prawns

1. Cook the orzo in boiling water according to the package directions. 
2. While the orzo is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions and mushrooms are somewhat translucent.  Don’t forget to stir frequently.
3. Add the wine and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add the diced tomatoes and the spices.  Simmer for about 5 minutes. 
5. Add the prawns and cook until they become opaque.  Add the cooked orzo to the pan. 
6. When the orzo is thoroughly heated, you can chow down. 

---

Bon appetit!

Have  wonderful day!

Bea

xoxo

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…..

---

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. 

---

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

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

---

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

All good things must come to an end

Another beautiful (cold) day on the Island to cap off my last day of winter holidays. There is even a snowfall warning in effect…..hmm…..

Tomorrow I go back to my classroom of 21 bouncing 8 and 9 year olds.  And believe me you, I made the most of my last day of vacation.  I debated last night before going to bed whether or not to set my alarm so that I could get a bunch of things done today, but instead opted to wake up “au natural”.  It was 10:25am when my eyes peeked at the clock…and it felt soooo good   So, what did I get up to today? 

After a hearty bowl of oatmeal, it was time to make acquaintances with my newest addition. 

It’s a Horizon CT5.2 and I snatched it up at a wicked deal December 31st.  (retail value of $2000…my cost $599). I’ve been toying with the idea of buying one for many many months now, but never found one that was affordable.  I was stoked when I found this one and couldn’t wait to use it.  And now I don’t have to run in the rain anymore.  (will blog my treadmill workout schedules another time).  I ran for about 40 minutes today at interval speeds.  Maybe I’ll do the Great Walk again in June.   

After my run, it was pretty much lunch time.  For lunch I ate leftovers of my Chilli Stew à la Moose.  Leftovers are always awesome, quick and easy meals. 

I then spent the rest of the afternoon planning out my next social studies unit on Geography and European Explorers.  I made myself a big pot of tea because I couldn’t seem to warm up today.  This tea is awesome…leftover from the Christmas season, but definitely drinkable all year round.  It has a slight orangey taste. 

My workstation

I debated going to the beach with the dog this afternoon, but by the time I finished with my prep, it was time to make dinner.

---

BUTTER CHICKEN

I had such a craving for butter chicken in the past few days that I decided to cook up a batch tonight.  I recently discovered this spice paste and fell madly in love with it.  Walmart seems to be the only store to carry it.  I’ll be so sad if they ever discontinue carrying it. 

I try to read most food labels and was quite impressed when I read this one.  From what I can read….no preservatives.  Unfortunately it is not Dairy-free or Gluten-free, but oh well.  Not everything is perfect, right?  

My ingredients… I like to add vegetables whenever possible.  (spinach, onion, garlic and frozen veggies not listed in Cooking Instructions on back of box). 

Cooking Instructions (as per my modifications)

Cut up chicken thighs into smaller pieces and sauté in 1 Tbsp of olive oil.  Cook until brown and transfer to another plate so that you can reuse the same pan for vegetables. 

Add a splash of olive oil to hot pan and sauté onions and garlic until translucent.  Add spice paste and 300mL of water.  Scrape bottom of pan to get all the flavor from the browned chicken. 

Return the chicken to the pot.  Chop a handful of spinach and add to pot.  Also add about 2 cups of the mixed frozen vegetables.  Mix well.  Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the sauce thickens a bit.    It’s also a little bit on the spicy side… I found the longer I cook it, the spicier it gets. 

I also had a tall glass of Carrot Juice with my meal. 

Serve over a bed of rice.  I used my favourite rice by Nuworld called Wholesome Wild Rice Blend.  (Medium Grain Brown Rice, Black Sweet Rice, Red Rice and Wild Rice).  You can find it at Save-on-Foods. 

I ended my meal with this.

---

After being able to sleep in for the last 2 weeks, tomorrow morning will not be pretty.  It’s a 6am wakeup call from now on.  Aack… oh well….c’est la vie!

What do you guys do to readjust to your schedules after holidays?

 

Enjoy your day.

Bea

xoxo