Never A Silent Night

hahaha Okay, so I’ve been able to cook for a while but it’s mostly been by recipe. I’m not usually very creative in the kitchen but every once in a while I make a delicious, yummy, gem. They don’t always look pretty but they taste wonderful. Last night was one of those “throw stuff together and see if it works” cooking nights.

Ever since I broke the sesamoid bones in my right foot I have been on a slow decline of healthy habits. I slowly stopped working out and stopped eating healthy. I picked up a lot of old bad habits that were pretty unhealthy and destructive. I also gained back about 25-30 lbs of the almost 90 lbs I had worked so hard to lose in the first place. I needed to get out of this trend, so I decided yesterday to start with eating healthy and (mostly) clean. I hit up the HT Mart in the OakTree Plaza and did some grocery shopping. It was hard at first, about 15 minutes into the shopping trip I noticed I had ginger beer, taro and cassava chips, asian cookies and a few other “junk” food items. I stopped myself to start over. I put everything back (except one bag of Taro chips. Baby steps!!!) and started again.

This time I headed for the meat department. I grabbed some chicken and contemplated the beef, but wasn’t sure how I would use it yet so I decided to pass for now. On to the produce section. I had just entered the area when I noticed the tofu. I like tofu, so I grabbed a package and a woman asked me if I had ever tried shiritake noodles. I said I had and I liked them. She asked me to describe them. This was harder than I thought it would be, I didn’t know how to describe them. I ended up saying they reminded me of sweet potato noodles used in jap chae, she said thanks and still stood there staring quizzically at them. I walked away.

Ah produce. I love the asian market and asian produce. It must be my filipino side but asian veggies are my favorites. Baby bok choy, chinese eggplant, green papaya, snow peas, chayote, ginger, napa cabbage, okra, long beans, give me it all!!! I loaded up on the veggies but failed to think about how I was going to cook them so when I got home the panic set in. I just spent $30 on veggies and meat. So I went with my first thought. Stir fry.

I decided to stir fry some potato, eggplant, okra and long green beans. While I was chopping garlic and onion I put a pan on the stove and put in some coconut oil. The spell was amazing. I added the garlic and onion and then the potatoes. The smell of these with the coconut oil gave me a though. What if I stir fried these all together with some coconut milk. Yes. That sounds amazing. Problem was though, I did not have coconut milk. I’d never cooked with coconut milk, although I was curious. Turns out I had bought some powdered coconut milk a month or so back. It would have to work.

I added the eggplant to the potato and then made me some coconut milk. It wasnt bad fat and calorie wise, not a lot of calories or sugar either so seemed like it would still be healthy. Boy did it smell amazing once I put it in. I let that simmer for a bit then added the okra and long green beans along with some chicken stock. Simmer, simmer, simmer…then in went the chicken. Cooked that for a bit to get the okra, chicken and green beans cooked.

It took a lot of patience on my part. Everything smelled amazing. I wanted to eat it all as soon as the smell started to waft through the air. About 15-20 minutes later and it was all cooked. It didnt look super pretty, but it tasted so yummy. I even ate a second small helping. I forget how yummy real food can be when not loaded with a bunch of oil, fat, salt and grease. I’m also impressed with my ability to throw shit together and make it work. Go me! I think I can make this healthy eating thing last this time. I included my random recipe/instructions of my madness below.

Recipe?

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 small/medium onion
• okra
• chinese eggplant
• long green beans
• 4-5 chicken tenderloins (or fried tofu)
• coconut milk powder (or straight coconut milk)
• low sodium chicken broth
• 3 red potatoes
• Chili pepper flakes
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Nanomi Togarashi Assorted Chili Pepper (http://www.amazon.com/Nanami-Togarashi-Assorted-Chili-Pepper/dp/B0002YGSA0)
• White pepper
• water

 

Slice eggplant into small chunks. Put in a bowl and add salt. Let sit to sweat. 10-15 minutes.

Heat a pan and add coconut oil. Chop the garlic and half the onion into small pieces.  Put in pan and let cook until fragrant. Chop the potatoes into smaller pieces (not too small though), add to the pan. Toss with the onions and garlic and stir. Cover for a minute, then stir adding in enough water to cover the bottom of the pan with about a cenitmeter of water. Cover and cook for 3 minutes.

Add eggplant to pan and stir. Cover. Meanwhile, add 2 tablespoons coconut powder to 2 cups of warm water and mix (I just wanted a touch of the coconut flavor so its a little more dilute than the package instructions). Add this in and covered the pan again.

Cut the long green beans into 2-3 inch long parts. Slice okra horizontally to create chunky pieces. Cut the other half of the onion into chunks. Add these in to the pan, add enough chicken broth to cover. Cut chicken into chunks (can you tell I am all about chunks? haha) then season them with garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper, and nanami togarashi assorted chili pepper. Add in to pan. Add some chili pepper flakes as well if you want to add some spice. Cook for 20 minutes until okra and green beans are softened and chicken is cooken. Then eat!!!