Sunday, April 28, 2013

Coconut Lime Chicken with Thai Garnishes

You must all try this chicken recipe.  I've made it once as written, but since then, I've switched to skinless or boneless, skinless chicken breasts (easier!), and I always add a ton more veggies onto the garnishes plate (radishes, salad mix, sliced raw zucchini, flaked coconut) to make it both healthier and to make the chicken go further.  I love to slice the chicken thinly and heap it in the middle of my largest serving platter and make rows of each of the other garnishes next to it.  (So pretty!  So delicious!  So fresh!)  Since I've been hearing reports of a shortage of exclamation points in the country, I think I'd better stop here before I use up my year's supply.  But seriously--you have to try this!

Popsicles

Last summer, we were more than a little obsessed with homemade popsicles around here.  Now that spring weather has finally shown up, we're back in the mode.  Here are some of our favorites:

Fruit-sicles
4 cups fresh fruit (honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, or strawberries are the ones we've tested)
2 tbsp. sugar (if the strawberries are super sour, you might need a touch more)
juice of one lime or half a lemon

Blend like crazy and fill the popsicle molds.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pops
2 cups milk (I used 1-3/4 cups skim plus 1/4 cup half-and-half to make it delicious)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
chocolate chips

Blend the first four ingredients in the blender.  Put 1 tsp. chocolate chips in the bottom of every popsicle mold and fill with the milk mixture.  Freeze.  (Seriously, these taste just like chocolate chip cookie dough, except cold and refreshing and nearly guilt free.)

Dreamsicles
1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 tbsp. sugar
2 cups plain yogurt

Blend up.  Fill molds.  Freeze.

Pudding Pops
1 small instant pudding mix
3 cups milk

Blend.  Freeze.

Plus, anytime I make a smoothie, I pour the extra into the popsicle molds and freeze it.  This year, I'm going to not use the plastic sticks that came with the mold, but use wooden sticks instead.  That way, when the popsicles are frozen, I can unmold them, put them in plastic bags, and always have a stash in the freezer.