Tag: quick and easy

thai noodles recipe

Thai-Inspired Noodles with Sunflower Butter and Chicken

Published on by Rebecca2 Comments

June is turning out to be hot, hot, HOT. Heat records are being set all across the US southwest. We reached 102F (39C) yesterday! Historically, Colorado doesn’t hit the 100s until July and August, so this summer is turning out to be quite unusual. I, for one, really enjoy the heat, especially after our long, cold mountain winters. But all I’m craving is cool, crunchy fresh veggies. I’ve been making these Thai-inspired noodles for years. Before my daughter was born, I made them with peanut butter, which is traditional but, because of her food allergies, I now use sunflower seed butter. Either is just fine. If you really don’t want to cook in the heat, you can use a Rotisserie chicken. If using fresh chicken breasts, I like to cook them early in the morning to prevent the kitchen from getting too hot (season well with salt and pepper and bake at 400F/200C for 25-30 minutes). Then I let them chill in the fridge all day. At dinnertime, it’s just a matter of boiling the noodles and whipping up the sauce which is made in the blender. No fuss, no sweat – just how a summer weeknight meal should be! 

Continue reading “Thai-Inspired Noodles with Sunflower Butter and Chicken” →

Chicken Paillard with Lemon Orzo

Published on by Rebecca3 Comments

Chicken breast is such a staple in my kitchen, but sometimes it can feel a little repetitive and a bit boring.  I compensate by trying to hide it within elaborate casseroles or stews, but there’s no reason why chicken breast can’t take the spotlight of the meal, if it’s cooked correctly.  This Chicken Paillard is an elegant dish that comes together in just minutes and showcases the chicken as the star of the show.  It’s neither bland nor boring, and is a great dish to make if you find yourself in a weeknight meal rut. Continue reading “Chicken Paillard with Lemon Orzo” →

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

Published on by Rebecca4 Comments

We were snowed in for three days last week, with work closed and school canceled, which is very unusual for October in Colorado. A light dusting of snow is expected and welcomed, but it’s equally expected to melt in the sunshine the next day.  To have snow on top of snow on top of snow with subzero temperatures for days on end before Halloween is completely bizarre.  In the end, we had over a foot of snow outside our back door.  I don’t think anyone really took the weather forecast seriously.  I mean, this is Colorado and, while we are well-equipped to deal with snow in the winter (where it belongs), we also like to brag about our 300 days of sunshine every year and joke that if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.  I hope this latest storm doesn’t portend a harsh winter. Continue reading “Pumpkin Black Bean Soup” →

French Garlic and Potato Soup

Published on by Rebecca2 Comments

This traditional garlic soup is similar to a vichyssoise, with the leek being replaced by garlic and sweet shallots.  It’s my cure-all for everything from relieving a simple headache to treating the full-blown flu. Garlic has so many antibacterial, antiviral and medicinal benefits, I’ve always said it’s better than antibiotics.  For ages, women have kept their families healthy by making healing garlic soups to fend off sickness and disease.  Don’t let the whole head of garlic in the soup turn you off – as it cooks, it becomes sweet and buttery, and the bite is tempered by puréed potatoes and a splash of milk. Continue reading “French Garlic and Potato Soup” →

Quick and Easy Garden Pickles

Published on by Rebecca2 Comments

This warm weather has me dreaming of the garden and all the easy summer meals we’ll have out there!  My grandmother’s recipe for quick garden pickles is still one of my family’s favourite side dishes. They’re so easy, they come together in just five minutes – perfect for those busy days and hot nights when you really don’t feel like cooking at all. We all have nights like that, don’t we?  Growing up, my grandparents had a large garden where we would play as children.  There they grew many different varieties of cucumbers – Armenian, gherkins, lemon cucumbers – which my grandmother would combine when making these pickles.  If you have several varieties in the garden, it’s fun to mix and match the colours and shapes, but if not, an English cucumber works perfectly well.   Continue reading “Quick and Easy Garden Pickles” →

Linguine with Chard and Bacon

Published on by Rebecca4 Comments

While many people become depressed in the dark months of mid-winter because of the lack of sunlight, I become depressed by the absence of green.  In Colorado we have plenty of sunshine year round, a photographer’s dream, really, but in winter, nearly every where you look nature is dead, brown or sleeping.  This, I have to tell myself, is the price you pay for living in place where the light is so pure and the air crystal clean, but Colorado is essentially a high desert with a lot of wind and little moisture, leaving everything parched and dry in wintertime. Continue reading “Linguine with Chard and Bacon” →