Thai Green Curry Chicken

We recently went to a close friend's house for lunch..and we were in for a treat! It's so refreshing when I get to taste something that is different from the standard ingredients I fall into the habit of using. I liked the dish so much I went out and bought the ingredients that night so that I could make it again during the week! This recipe is also found on the back of the Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste jar...convenient huh? However it was tweaked slightly and I feel made the recipe even more savory. Feel free to compare for yourself. Another bonus for me is my husband who is NOT a cilantro fan, really liked it! Finally, a cilantro dish we can enjoy together!

What you need:

* 14 oz can ( or standard soup can size) of coconut milk

* 1 T Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste

* 2 skinless chicken breast grilled or sautéed and cut into bite-sized chunks (the recipe doesn't say cook ahead of time. but I think it adds more flavor to use already cooked...or mostly cooked chicken)

*1 T Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce (yup....really!...and no the result is NOT fishy)

* 1/2 cup frozen peas

* big handful of whole grape tomatoes

* chopped cilantro (some for rue some for garnish)

* 2 T brown sugar

* 1/3 cup chicken stock (if none on hand can always substitute this with chicken bouillon cubes and water)

* fresh peanuts grounded up in processor of your choice or bottom of a cup to crush them

* Jasmine rice..or other rice of your preference

In large saucepan simmer coconut milk with green curry paste over medium heat for 5 minutes. ( If you have never cooked with coconut milk before, it will thin out as cooked, so don't be turned off at first impressions!) Add the chicken that you have already precooked,  fish sauce, and brown sugar. Allow to simmer ten minutes stirring occasionally. Throw in grape tomatoes and tablespoon of chopped cilantro those last 5 minutes.

Serve over rice cooked according to directions. Garnish with chopped cilantro and ground peanuts. Yum!

Mango Lime Salsa

I wasn't a huge mango fan until our honeymoon is St. Lucia 5 years ago. We had it almost every morning with breakfast and it was the best I've had. At a recent potluck I went to, there was a delicious mango salsa app. I bought mangos the next day and used what I had on hand to replicate. The flavors were so great that I made it 4 times in 3 weeks. Unfortunately, my husband does not like cilantro, so I served it to some friends who came over for a play date, and the bowl was spotless when they left. The only thing better than eating good food is sharing it with others. Here it is by request:

what you need:

* 1 ripe mango diced. ( Not mushy but ripe enough that it's sweet yet still easy to dice.)

* 1 tomato diced.

* 1/2 red pepper chopped

* 1/4 red onion diced

* small handful of fresh cilatro chopped

* A few jarred jalepenos diced - I'm sure fresh would be great, watch out for the seeds with all the heat!

*The juice from a fresh squeezed lime.

* a dash of salt.

Toss together and serve with corn chips of your choice.