friday love

Is it just me, or are the weeks going by much too quickly???

I LOVE Whitney of Rookie Cookie, and love her even more for doing a little guest post for me today! I LOVE curry, but have no idea where to start when it comes to making it....so she did all the dirty work for me! I cannot WAIT to try it out!

Make sure to check out her blog....this girl knows her food (and she is a crack-up!)

Much too long ago, Sheena asked if I would be willing to search for a good Thai curry recipe for her. And it took me way to long to get back to her. Blame it on having a new baby. Once I got serious about finding a good recipe, I remembered I had the most perfect resource. My husband Ethan has a cousin named Julia. Julia is all sorts of wonderful. She is beautiful, kind and smart and is also the talented wardrobe and makeup artist for “Yo Gabba Gabba”. I know, here I am, name dropping. Above all, Julia spent a year and a half living in Thailand. Once I remembered that, I e-mailed her and asked for some of her favorite Thai recipes. And the girl didn’t disappoint.

This dish is just like what you would get in a Thai restaurant. Tender potatoes, carrots and chicken simmered in a rich coconut curry broth. Admittedly, I had a difficult time finding the ingredients. Nothing is less fun than hauling your three children around to three different stores looking for things like palm sugar and tamarind paste. So I ended up doing what I should have done in the beginning, buying them online. Amazon had exactly what I needed and it wasn’t expensive. I have provided links below of the ingredients I used in case you don’t feel like hunting them down.

Massaman Curry Paste

Tamarind Paste

Palm Sugar

1/3 cup peanuts

2 cups coconut milk

2 Tbsp massaman curry paste

1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 heaping Tbsp tamarind paste

1 tsp grated palm sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp granulated chicken bullion

1/2 cup water

In a small skillet over medium heat, add peanuts and saute until lightly toasted and fragrant. Pour peanut into a small bowl and set aside.

In a large pot over medium high heat, add coconut milk. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until the coconut milk is slightly reduced. Add curry paste and stir until paste is dissolved. Add peanuts, chicken, carrots, potatoes, fish sauce, tamarind paste, palm sugar, salt, chicken bullion and water. Stir well and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Serve with or without jasmine rice and garnish with additional peanuts and cilantro.

Yields 4 servings.

Rookie’s Notes: I don’t think that cilantro is traditional in this dish, but I did it anyways. I really like the way cilantro balances out the flavors of a curry, whether it’s India or Thai.

I am drooling. Thank you Whitney for sharing your recipe!

We LOVE fresh tomatoes.....every single day!

I love that our neighbors let us pick apricots off their tree! (I think they are trying to repay us for being so creepy and peeking in our windows) recipes coming soon!

I have been LOVING (and craving) POM Wonderful's Pomegranate and Blueberry juice (86% Pomegranate juice and 14% blueberry--that's it, nothing else!) I'm still running alot and it's been soooooo hot. I love coming home to an icy cold POM (and the bottles are ridiculously adorable). Try it!! You will fall in love!

I am in love with this shop. Her earrings are so tiny and cute, and won't get tangled in my mop of a hairdo.....they're perfect!

I love ALL of her music--this song is off her old album but it was floating through my head as we picked apricots the other night.

Happy Weekend!!!

What did you love about this week?