Pad Thai and Cilantro Rice Chicken (Recipe)

I've been a little bit obsessed with eating Pad Thai lately... I mean Thai food is my favorite! So I decided to try making it myself last month and my gosh, I did good! heehee

So I want to share the way I make what I consider a yummy meal!

Let's start with how to make :

 Pad Thai

What you'll need:

• 1/2 Cup of pre-cooked and cut chicken tenderloins
• 1/4 Cup of chopped green onions 
• 1/2 Cup of already shredded carrots 
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 lime
• optional (chopped almonds or peanuts to taste)
• Pad Thai Sauce (Thai Kitchen)
• Pad Thai Noodles (Thai Kitchen) 

Follow instructions on the back of the box as to how to cook the noodles. 

Turn on pan to medium heat and spray with coconut oil spray.

Toss in chicken and garlic and stir for a good minute. 

Than add carrots, green onion and noodles. Mix. 

After letting it all mix in the heat for a couple of minutes, add your sauce and (optional choice of nuts) 

Mix. Garnish with Cilantro and BAM!  You are done with the Pad Thai! Drizzle lime when served. 

Cilantro Lime Chicken Rice

What you'll Need:

• Jasmine Rice (Follow directions on the back of package for cooking) (1 Cup of rice, 1 1/2 of water)
• Food Processor or blender
• 1 Cup of Cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup of cooked chopped chicken tendorloins
• coconut water
• 1 lime

Add Cilantro, Squeezed lime Juice, Salt, Olive Oil, minced Garlic into the food precessor/blender.

Pulse until you see a light green blend or recruit your busy toddler to do it for you while you heat your pan on Medium heat and add a drizzle of coconut oil.

 Add your cooked rice and cooked chopped chicken to it. 

Once the Cilantro Lime sauce is nice and blended, drizzle it onto the rice, cook and mix for a couple of minutes. 

I like to add a little bit of Coconut Water to the rice so that it doesn't lose it's moisture and to add a little flavor. Do Not drown the rice in the coconut water, just enough to moisten the rice. Stir for a couple more minutes and it'll be good to go!

There you have it! My Favorite Thai / Peru Dish to make! We love eating this! And it's so simple!

Sometimes we add a teenie bit of spice with the Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce! It's heaven in a bottle! I love that stuff!

I hope this recipe makes sense lol . I really enjoy this dish and hope anyone who reads this will too! Enjoy! 

Old Fashioned

You guys...! I am so proud to announce that I have officially become a woman! I'm 24 years old and I have just now, today, hours ago, conquered the perfect pancake! So, I'm on the late train but that's okay, because the deliciousness of the pancakes I made totally makes up for years of bad pancakes. So what's the secret?

I found the perfect recipe for old fashioned pancakes on A Household Alamanac a blog by a young chef by the name of Rachel Shultz. She's got some great recipes on there including the perfect pancakes! I will leave the recipe down below or just head on over to her blog to check it out.

Hope this recipe turns up your weekend by a hundred! =)


Old Fashioned Pancakes 

1 1/2 Cups of Flour

3 Teaspoons of Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Tablespoon of Sugar

1 1/4 Cups of Milk

1 Egg

3 Tablespoons of melted butter

1 Teaspoon of vanilla

Directions:

In a large bowl, add in dry ingredients and mix. ( Flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.)
Add in the egg, milk, butter and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
Heat the skillet to medium heat, make sure the fire is not turned up high.  
Pour 1/4  cup of batter onto the skillet and let cook. 
I like to wait a couple of minutes until you see the holes on the top of the pancake to flip. Pancake should be golden brown.

Repeat until batter is done.

Wala! How easy is that?! I love this recipe! Hope your breakfast is an amazing experience from now on! No more needing to go to ihop just for the pancakes when you can make them just as good at home!
Good Luck!

Chicken Teriyaki With Sriracha Cream Sauce

Do you ever have those days where you look in your pantry and don't see anything? Look and your fridge and nada just condiments and milk... Look in your freezer and just see chicken and veggies but you really don't want to eat just Chicken and Veggies.. Well I had that day today. I swear there was nothing to eat, I was so hungry and looking at delicious Chinese and Thai cuisine recipes on Pinterest didn't help... Until I came across this recipe for Salmon Teriyaki with Sriracha Cream Sauce, except I didn't have salmon and was missing a couple ingredients. What to do when going to the store isn't an option? IMPROVISE!


For The Original Recipe Click Here: Teriyaki Salmon

What You'll Need:

Teriyaki Sauce 

• 1 TBL Spoons of Cornstarch
• 1/4 Cup of Soy Sauce
• 1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar Packed
• 1/2 Tsp of Ground Ginger (optional)
• 1/4 Tsp of Garlic Powder (optional)
• 2 TBL Spoons of Honey

* Optional ingredients, I didn't have them at the moment so I did without and the sauce came out very tasty, so if you don't use the ginger or garlic powder, you're not missing anything. ;)

Meat

• 2 Boneless , Skinless Chicken Breasts ~ Thawed

Sriracha Cream Sauce

• 1/2 Cup of Mayo
• 2-3 Tablespoons of Sriracha
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk

To begin, we'll start by making the Teriyaki Sauce. Combine Soy Sauce, Cornstarch, Brown sugar, Ground ginger(optional), Garlic powder (optional) and honey in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add a 1/4 Cup of water and let simmer until sauce becomes thick. It should be a bit pasty when dipping a spoon, Be careful not to overcook. Takes 10 minutes or less and stir continuously.

Once the sauce is ready, let cool for about five minutes. Pour the teriyaki sauce into a bowl and add the two chicken breasts, let marinate in the fridge for half an hour or overnight. ( I did half an hour).

Once the chicken is done marinating, on a non-stick medium skillet, place chicken breasts with the sauce over it on medium heat. The chicken should be white and soft to touch. I used tongs to flip the chicken over a few times and with the tongs I also pulled apart the chicken, making it shredded chicken. 

Once the chicken is cooked, it should look something like this. ^ 

The Sriracha cream sauce is the easiest of all. All you have to do is combine the ingredients in a bowl. Mayo, Condensed milk and the sriracha and mix until it is an orangy paste. Tada!


Serve the chicken over white rice or Thai Rice (what I used) and with a spoon drizzle the sriracha cream sauce over the chicken. To make it fancy, add chopped green onion bits over the chicken and cream sauce!

There you have it! Super easy Recipe that you're hubby will thank you for and you'll enjoy! My toddler even loved it!  Let know how your sriracha cream dinner turned out!

Mexican Casserole (Skinny)

Last night I tried a new pinterest recipe I had found. It's a Mexican Casserole and it's supposed to be healthier since it's all veggies no meat and what not. Surprisingly, it came out good with the first try! It's super easy to make and perfect for mommies that have to hurry up and do this while baby is napping (which is totally how I made it!) You can find the original recipe HERE Or just scroll down for similar directions.

Ingredients:

2 Bell peppers of your choice ( recipe called for 4 but two was more than enough, I used one Red one Yellow)
1/2 an onion
2 Cups of frozen corn
2 tsp of chili powder
2 tsp of cumin
salt to taste (optional, I didn't use any and it was very tasty)
2 cups of mexican shredded cheese
18-20 corn tortillas
1 can and a half of refried beans
2 cups of red enchilada sauce
Cilantro and Sour cream for topping

Instructions:

1.) Roast the veggies on a skillet. I put the frozen corn on the skillet with low heat while I diced the other veggies (bellpeppers and onion). When I added the bellpeppers and onions, I turned it to high heat. Mean while they roasted I cut the tortillas into thin strips.

2.) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and grease a 9x13 inch pan. I use Coconut oil spray, it works the best.
Place the refried beans in a bowl and add water and mix for a smoother spreading process. Add a little bit of the enchilada sauce to the bottom of the pan, and begin layers.

3.) Layering. Lay half of the tortilla strips ( should be approximately 10 tortillas) on the bottom of the pan. Add all of the beans and spread evenly. Add half of the veggies, spread evenly. And than add half of the Enchilada Sauce and spread evenly. Top it off with cheese. Again, add the other 10 tortilla strips, veggies and sauce and top of with cheese.

4.) Bake.
Place the casserole in the oven and bake for 15-20 min. I baked mine for 20 minutes and it came out perfect! Make sure all the cheese it melted and sauce is nice and bubbly. Top it with cilantro bits and sour cream and serve. Enjoy!

My son actually loved this! It wasn't as spicy since I didn't add the jalepenos like the recipe called for but the sauce had a little bit of a kick to it. It was the perfect hearty healthy dinner!

Yes, I look like a bum. I had the worst hair and face day yesterday!!! Felt to frumpy and gross. oh well, it happens. =)

Sweet Potato Corn Cakes

Last night, we tried a new Pinterest recipe for Sweet Potato Corn Cakes and man was it delish! It is a fairly east recipe, you just need patience with cooking the patty. Naturally, I suck at making pancakes, eggs or anything that you have to just stand there and wait to be cooked. I'm very impatient. So David cooked them for me and they came out perfectly!

Ingredients:

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 green onions
• ¼ bunch cilantro (divided)
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• ⅓ cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
• ½ cup vegetable oil (for frying)
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 clove garlic

Recipe:

1. Begin by cooking the sweet potatoes. The fastest way to do this is in the microwave. Prick the skin of each potato with a fork. Wrap one potato in a paper towel, place it on a plate, and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Carefully remove it from the microwave, squeeze it to make sure it’s soft in the center, and the allow it cool as you cook the next one. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them open and scoop the flesh into a large bowl.
2. Slice the green onions and roughly chop a handful of cilantro (about ⅛th of a bunch). Add the green onions, cilantro, frozen corn kernels, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper to the bowl with the cooked sweet potatoes. Stir until well combined. You can taste it at this point and adjust the seasoning as desired.
3. Add the breadcrumbs, cornmeal, and egg to the bowl. These ingredients will bind the mixture together and keep it from falling apart while cooking. Stir until evenly combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to absorb moisture.
4. While the sweet potato mixture is refrigerating, mix up the garlic sauce. In a small bowl combine the yogurt, one clove of well minced garlic, and a handful of cilantro leaves (roughly chopped). Stir until combined and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
5. After the sweet potato mixture has refrigerated, it’s time to cook. Add enough vegetable oil to fully cover the bottom of a medium skillet. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until the surface appears wavy (if it begins to smoke, remove it from the burner immediately and turn down the heat). Shape the sweet potato mixture into small patties (about 2-3 Tbsp each) and cook about 4 at a time in the hot oil. Cook until golden brown on each side; about 2 minutes per side. After cooking, place open a paper towel covered plate to drain. Add more oil to the skillet as needed.

Super easy recipe! Ingredients and instructions are from Budgetbytes.com. Step by Step pictures are also on that site. 

*This recipe is toddler approved by Mr. Noah! 

ENJOY!

Sick! =( 23 weeks!

Guess who's in the beginning of the 6th month?! Me!!!!!!! =D Which means holy moly only 3 1/2 more to go! =0
Sorry for the lack of blogging this week, I got some kind of cold and it's no fun! Sore scratchy throat, coughing , congestion and headache... {insert Emoji thumbs down}
Anywho, this week something awesome began to happen, I can officially see Noah jumping in my belly! It's so fun, I'll be watching tv or just sitting and relaxing and I see my belly move a certain way! It's so entertaining! Little man is throwing punches now! =)
I finally captured it on video but vimeo is acting up and nothing appears when I click on the link...

Here's where Noah's at now, Just over a pound and a foot long! He's able to hear most things like Cosby barking and cars on the road. =) Which means by the time he gets here, he'll be used to Cosby's barks and talking sounds ha 

This weekend my dad's wife and her daughter came over and stayed until Sunday. On Saturday we went to the alley's to get some shopping in. It was hot! But so much fun!

The three of us eating Tacos!

I ended up getting a ton of fake eyelashes just for fun, hey they were a buck each why not! I don't usually wear them much, mostly on special occasions but I couldn't skip out on this deal!
When we finally came home from that long day of a ton of walking, I wanted to make dinner for my amazing guests and made Stuffed Bellpeppers and salad! Yum!

It's very easy to make! Click HERE for the recipe. 

The next day, Sunday, David came home from work and we all headed to LAX airport to pick up my dad! Here's what I wore:

That's my Little sister and I. 

Waiting and waiting for my dad to come out ! Noah's big!

Showing off my color contacts =) Oh david, silly faces in pictures never fail with you. 

By the time my Dad finally arrived, we were all starving! So we headed to Olive Garden and def got our grub on ! 

We got 3 different plates and all shared and that was more than enough along with the breadsticks, soup and salad! 

To top it off my sis ordered desert for her bday! 

When we got back to my house, my dad unloaded the goods and showed us what he brought us from Guatemala! I got this cute preggy shirt and a little shirt for Noah! He also got me a cute Jade necklace and David got a hand sewn water bottle holder! And some yummy treats! 

Showing off my Necklace

I kept feeling Noah move a lot and the second I said that both David and my dad put their hands on my belly but of course the second they do that Noah stays completely still! ha brat.

It was a fun weekend with my family! 

On Monday I made David a big breakfast, eggs, bacon, english muffins and pancake balls! To make pancake balls you just put the mix into a cupcake tray and bake for about 15 min and wala! 

He was happy and full that morning, which is hard to do since he eats so much! 

Than our neighbors came over and invited us to go play tennis for a couple hours so we said yes!

Of course we took Cosby and he was chasing the ball back and forth! So cute!

Our neighbors are super sweet and fun! They have a nine month old beautiful little girl! She's so happy all the time and lovessss Cosby! 

Last night we went to my aunts house for dinner and after we got donuts from Rolling Pin. Talk about delish! 

YUM!

On the way home, we had a BIG scare. We went down the canyon like we always do to get home. It's very curvy and very dark at night, not to mention there's no phone signal but both David and I are very familiar with the road that it's no big deal to us. Well last night, right after doing down the canyon, on a curve, we almost ran into a truck that was in the middle of the lane, light completely out and all! We swirved and just missed it and pulled over. David ran out to help and I got on the phone to call the cops. The truck was smashed all in the front and when David opened the door to it, no one was in it, airbag deflated and worst of all, beer cans and pot all over..... It was awful. There was another guy that had pulled over right when we did and he was looking to see if he saw anyone in the bushes maybe passed out... Meanwhile I was freaked out that another car would be coming down super fast and not see this truck and hit it, so I ran out of the way and was still talking to 911. They sent someone over but while we waited we were out in the dark trying to warn cars to slow down and a couple of them almost hit the truck... It was a scary situation. Once the cops got there we headed home shooken up. That night, I freaked out thinking "what if I were driving along and didn't notice the truck or what if a car did hit the truck and we got hit since we were standing right there?" That was the first time I actually felt like a mom. My first thought was "I can't stand right there, I need to move away and protect my baby." it was a new and scary feeling but I am so thankful to my faithful God that he kept us under his wing the whole night. That def brought David and I very close and made us very thankful. Sometimes we need scares like that to remind us that we are here for a reason and to show us how good we have it. 

well that 's pretty much what's gone on this week. Sorry for the long post!