I love it when recipes come together so easily. A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a simple meal that wouldn’t take any time to prep. I actually had the luxury of time for it to cook, but I needed to be taking care of other things around the house, so the situation called for something that didn’t need baby sitting and would get me to work ASAP. Usually my go to in this situation is a roasted chicken, but I’ve made quite a few of those lately, so I turned to the cookbook Rôtis for some inspiration.

While I love this cookbook, I wasn’t too hopeful about finding a recipe I could make as most of them, though they need little prep, usually require forethought because the recipes have wonderful marinades. To my surprise, I stumbled upon a recipe for roast pork with lemongrass and tea that required no marinade, 15 minutes of prep, and about two hours to cook. Sold! Off to the store I went. (more…)

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Asian, Dinner, Gluten free, Prep for Later Use, Wine pairings by Courtney

At the end of last week I shared with you what is quickly becoming my favorite roast chicken recipe, and I promised a follow up post with a chicken soup that could be made with the leftovers, if you had any. While you could just as easily make a traditional chicken noodle soup following the same instructions, I decided I wanted to give my soup a little kick this time around with a few Asian flavors – ginger, lemongrass, and just a hint of Thai chile. It sounded like the perfect match for a chicken and rice soup, and I agree even more so with that sentiment now that I’ve devoured a large potful of it. (more…)

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Asian, Comfort food, Dairy free, Gluten free, Soups by Courtney

Despite the fact that I had decided my previous grilled chicken wings were hands down the best chicken wings I’d ever had, I couldn’t help but wonder how they could be topped. Grilling the wings is a must – it gives the skin a nice crispness and the chicken a smoky flavor that I love. As for the flavors, I’ve long toyed with some Asian-laced chicken wing, and being on a Thai kick, I started thinking about flavors that would lend lots of flavor, a little spice, and taste oh so nice. (more…)

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Appetizers, Cooking outdoors, Dairy free, Gluten free, Lunch, Snack time, Thai by Courtney

I’ve been on a bit of a Thai kick lately. Earlier this week I played around with a couple of recipes for Thai beef salad, and while I was perusing my Thai recipes, I came across a recipe for Tom Khaa Kai, or Chicken, Coconut and Galangal soup.

As I read through the recipe, I realized I had most of the items I needed already in my pantry or freezer to make the tropical-flavored soup. Originally I was going to make the soup to go with the Thai beef salad, but I ended up not being that hungry the other night, so I decided to put my soup and sandwich tray to good use, making monster spring rolls to go with the soup.

And that’s how this recipe became more than a variation on the cookbook recipe. (more…)

Filed under:
Dairy free, Dinner, Gluten free, Sandwiches, Soups, Thai, Vegan, Vegetarian, World traveller by Courtney