Aha, so that's the trick! I do have a rice cooker so i have to see if it let's me put it on warm without actually "cooking". If not, then I'll just soak it. I've been trying to make brown rice for like a year now and it never comes out perfect I measure the water for white rice with my finger too, but the index finger and it always comes out fine. Is the middle finger just for the brown rice or you use it for white rice as well?

MelissaI wrote:

Aha, so that's the trick! I do have a rice cooker so i have to see if it let's me put it on warm without actually "cooking". If not, then I'll just soak it. I've been trying to make brown rice for like a year now and it never comes out perfect I measure the water for white rice with my finger too, but the index finger and it always comes out fine. Is the middle finger just for the brown rice or you use it for white rice as well?

I measure the water for white and brown rice the same.

Here's a favorite Thai recipe that is more neutral. I hope you have access to fish sauce or Nam Pla.

Thai Basil and Chile Chicken

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce or Nam Pla
2 tablespoon peanut oil
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips or 1" cube
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 scallions (green onions) cut into 1/2" length
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 thai chile or1/2 jalapeno (or however hot you like it), minced
1 cup coarse chopped Thai basil, or purple basil (or Italian basil)
Steamed rice to serve

1- In a bowl, combine lime juice with soy, sugar and fish sauce.
2- Heat 1 tbsp of peanut oil in a large skillet or wok; add chicken and garlic and stir fry for a few minutes until almost cooked through; transfer to a plate
3- Add remaining tbsp oil and scallions and stir fry for a couple minutes; add tomatoes and chile and stiry fry for another a few more minutes
4- Add chicken and lime juice and simmer 30 seconds and remove from heat
5- Stir in basil and serve over rice

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving (without rice):
250 calories
7 g of fat (1.4 mg saturated fat)
28 g of protein
9 g of carbohydrates

This was one of my personal chef customer's favorite....thought you might like it too.

I'll send a Korean BBQ beef recipe next....

Korean BBQ marinade:

1 c soy
1 c sugar (or 3/4 c if you want to cut back on the sugar)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1/4 c green onions, minced
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 c red wine
2-3 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
1-2 lbs cross cut beef rib (flanken ribs, or lean beef sliced to 1/4" thick)

Marinate beef overnight, turning occassionally; Grill or bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until cooked through to your preference.

I usually will not cut back on the sugar because you toss the marinade and a lot of the sugar is tossed out with it.

You could even use this marinade for chicken!

I got this one from a Korean friend's mom back home in Hawaii

Thanks for the recipes, they look good! Don't get too fancy on the asian sauces and seasonings though! Since we moved to Charleston I haven't found a good Asian store that is in a safe part of town so I'm limited to what I have already from when we lived in FL. There's a big asian store here but it's in a very bad part of town and I'm not going to risk my life or safety for some asian food! If I need asian stuff it'll have to wait until we go out of town or if I can order it online.

That Thai Chicken sounds AWESOME!

I wasn't sure what you had access to...I see a lot of the stuff now in regular grocery stores, but I don't know what grocery store you have near you.

MelissaI wrote:

That Thai Chicken sounds AWESOME!

It was a favorite of one of my clients! (I used to personal chef on the side...)

cmanding wrote:

MelissaI wrote:

That Thai Chicken sounds AWESOME!

It was a favorite of one of my clients! (I used to personal chef on the side...)

So when will we see you on "Hell's Kitchen?"



I mentioned once to Beth about trying out for that (in a joking way) she said Gorden Ramsey is to much of a SOB for her to contend with.

Here4thePics wrote:

cmanding wrote:

MelissaI wrote:

That Thai Chicken sounds AWESOME!

It was a favorite of one of my clients! (I used to personal chef on the side...)

So when will we see you on "Hell's Kitchen?"



I mentioned once to Beth about trying out for that (in a joking way) she said Gorden Ramsey is to much of a SOB for her to contend with.

I saw that show only once, and I have to agree he's a big SOB...

I started a gourmet dinner club last summer, and that was fun. But there was one girl that didn't quite catch the concept, and didn't know how to tell her Cornflake Chicken was exactly gourmet...

cmanding wrote:

But there was one girl that didn't quite catch the concept, and didn't know how to tell her Cornflake Chicken was exactly gourmet...

Huskyluv wrote:

Thanks guys!

You're right Jenn, even a sandwich would be better than what I eat now. lol When you say add a protein, do you mean something like chicken breast? I normally load my salads down with ranch dressing, potato strings, croutons, bacon bits, cubed ham, and cheese. I figured that made the salad no longer healthy so that I should cut back to just the dressing. Are you catching just how bad my eating habits are yet?

Claudia and Melissa, I'm really picky about foods and the only salad dressings that I like are ranch and caeser. And I do NOT like the "lite" or fat free versions either...trust me, if I don't like it I won't eat it. But I have stopped pouring the salad dressing over my salad and instead put my dressing in a little bowl on the side and just barely dip the lettuce in the dressing. It cuts my dressing consumption WAY down as I just put enough to get a little bit of taste. My salads just consist of romaine lettuce, carrots and ranch dressing currently. So would you say that ranch or caeser dressing is healthier?

ok Val, do you like Italian dressing? wish bone makes what i think to be the BEST FF Italian dressing. lay off the bacon bits, potato strings, go light on the croutons and ham (very salty), "white" cheese is better then yellow.
you can add chicken, tuna, salmon, or a fish you like, tofu, egg or cottage cheese. get some spinach leaf in there, and tomato and peppers

jbealer wrote:

Huskyluv wrote:

Thanks guys!

You're right Jenn, even a sandwich would be better than what I eat now. lol When you say add a protein, do you mean something like chicken breast? I normally load my salads down with ranch dressing, potato strings, croutons, bacon bits, cubed ham, and cheese. I figured that made the salad no longer healthy so that I should cut back to just the dressing. Are you catching just how bad my eating habits are yet?

Claudia and Melissa, I'm really picky about foods and the only salad dressings that I like are ranch and caeser. And I do NOT like the "lite" or fat free versions either...trust me, if I don't like it I won't eat it. But I have stopped pouring the salad dressing over my salad and instead put my dressing in a little bowl on the side and just barely dip the lettuce in the dressing. It cuts my dressing consumption WAY down as I just put enough to get a little bit of taste. My salads just consist of romaine lettuce, carrots and ranch dressing currently. So would you say that ranch or caeser dressing is healthier?

ok Val, do you like Italian dressing? wish bone makes what i think to be the BEST FF Italian dressing. lay off the bacon bits, potato strings, go light on the croutons and ham (very salty), "white" cheese is better then yellow.
you can add chicken, tuna, salmon, or a fish you like, tofu, egg or cottage cheese. get some spinach leaf in there, and tomato and peppers

I'm VERY picky too. Put it this way I HATE tomatoes! I don't think that's normal..LOL! Jen, yep! Wishbone's FF italian is awesome! I even marinate chicken breast in it!

MelissaI wrote:

I'm VERY picky too. Put it this way I HATE tomatoes! I don't think that's normal..LOL! Jen, yep! Wishbone's FF italian is awesome! I even marinate chicken breast in it!

i marinate EVERYTHING in the dressing

well we will add you to the Tomato hater list!
Melissa
Ken
Eddy

all 3 of you are WEIRD

Mushrooms are good too! But I know mushrooms aren't everyone's fave....

@ Jen!! Woohooo other people who hate tomatoes!!! People look at me like i'm crazy when I say that. Especially when I love ketchup marinara sauce!

Claudia, I LOVE MUSHROOMS! YUMMMY!

tomatoes and i have a love affair! mushrooms i could definitely do without, lol

Sorry Jenn, unfortunately I do not like italian dressing...very picky! lol

I also don't like tomato or mushrooms! I don't like ANY nuts either. I also do not like any pie whatsoever...yeah, everyone thinks I'm weird!

Okay so I'm having lightly seasoned rice with chicken breast for lunch whether you all like it or not! So tell me, is that a "healthy" option in your opinions?

It's so weird I know more about dog nutrition than human nutrition!

I had planned to do some exercise this morning...seriously, I did! But I was contacted by the head of our crime watch group (I am an active member of our community crime watch organization) about an incident that took place the other day. So I decided to do an extra round around our entire community. So I took Dakota with me as I walked the various neighborhoods collecting the information that was requested by our organizer. After my rounds and talking to neighbors it was too late to get my workout in. Here's hoping I can do my workout tomorrow morning. But at least it was for a good cause that my plans were interrupted. Anything to catch the bad guys!

While I was out on foot patrol with Dakota he caught and killed a mole. He never ceases to amaze me with his hunting skills. So proud of my boy!

So my chicken breast and peas that I just had for lunch doesn't sound too appealing, huh? LOL!

Huskyluv wrote:

...Okay so I'm having lightly seasoned rice with chicken breast for lunch whether you all like it or not! So tell me, is that a "healthy" option in your opinions?

White rice? It's ok...Healthier options for rice would be wild rice or brown rice.....chicken breast, yes, unless it's fried

MelissaI wrote:

So my chicken breast and peas that I just had for lunch doesn't sound too appealing, huh? LOL!

That does sound yummy! And I am hungry again already. DInner tonight is garlic and cheese sausages on buns with onion and green bell pepper. Not sure yet what to make for a side. Oh I'm so hungry!

cmanding wrote:

White rice? It's ok...Healthier options for rice would be wild rice or brown rice.....chicken breast, yes, unless it's fried

Yes, japanese white rice it's my favorite. I don't hardly ever fry any of my food anymore so nothing fried here. Although I have been craving some fried lumpia lately. If only I had an asian store I could buy lumpia wrappers from! Darn this horrible place with no asian stores!

i have cottage cheese and pineapple again for lunch and i have that chicken bake waiting for me at home made 4 batches of it and this is my last one so i might do mahi mahi tomorrow night for dinner. i also love to put a TON of veggies in foil with lemon and seasoning (miss dash or any with out added salt and things) and fold it up on the top rack of the grill as the fish is cooking and its sooooo good!!!

i LOVE lumpia! (well, how can i not?? after all, i am filipino!)

i too love japanese white rice or sticky rice as some would say. i had a hard time making the switch to brown rice....i tried mixing it with white rice, adding more water, etc. but it just wasn't the sticky white rice i was used to. then mom came to visit and for her, she had to switch to brown rice (she wasn't going to give up rice, because us filipino's staple is rice!), and she had made herself brown rice. i took a taste, and thought, 'wow! i could eat that! it's sticky!. then she told me the secret is to soak the brown rice overnight! ah ha! now i eat brown rice more than white rice...

now i want lumpia!

Ok, what's lumpia? Sorry, I'm the Cuban chic here..LOL! You girls like it so much that i'd love to know what it is and try it too! =)

It's the Filipino version of Eggroll.
The lumpia wrapper is typically thinner and crispier than the eggroll, and it usually has ground beef as the filling. The veggies in the lumpia will vary and can include any of the following: green beans, cabbage, onions, and bean sprouts.

Thai and Vietnamese has their version of the eggroll which typically will be pork, and sometimes will be a rice paper wrapper instead.