January 22, 2012: Thai Style Green Beans Recipe

At my house we eat a lot of Asian food and I’m always looking for new and creative side dishes. Thai food, in particular, is a favorite of mine so when I across a recipe for a “Wing Bean Salad”, I took the items I had on hand to turn it into this side dish perfect to go with any type of Asian food main dish.

Thai Style Green Beans served with pork stir fry and brown rice cooked in chicken broth.

Thai Style Green Beans

1 cup fresh green beans

1 shallot, minced

½ cup coconut milk

1 T. lime juice

1 T. peanut butter

2 t. fish sauce

2 t. Asian chili sauce

Pinch of brown sugar

1 can water chestnuts, drained

Clean green beans and snap into 2 – 3 pieces each. Place the coconut milk in a saucepan and add green beans and shallots. Cook over medium low until beans are softened, about 15 – 20 minutes (or less time for crisper beans).

Meanwhile, combine lime juice, peanut butter, fish sacue, chile sauce and brown sugar. When beans are done to your preference, add the sauce and the water chestnuts. Heat through.

Serves 3 – 4

January 9, 2012: Honey Nut Cereal Bars Recipe

Here’s a recipe I devised use several others as a base. I wanted something somewhat nutritious to serve to my women’s Bible study group as well as have a bit left over that I could contribute to the kids in the Good News Club (an after school program to teach kids about the Bible and Christianity), for which my pastor and his wife are teachers. I used what I had on hand to come up with this yummy recipe.

Honey Nut Cereal Bars fresh out of the oven and waiting to be cut.

Honey Nut Cereal Bars

¼ cup peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

2 T. vegetable oil

2 T. vanilla extract

2 T. plain Greek yogurt

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup sweetened coconut

¼ cup roasted sunflower seeds

½ cup pomegranate flavored craisins (or any flavor of your choice)

½ cup blueberry flavored craisins (or any flavor of your choice)

2 cups rolled oats

2 cups honey nut Cheerios

In a large mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, honey, and vegetable oil. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, or until the peanut butter is softened enough to easily blend with the other ingredients. Add vanilla and yogurt and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and stir together just until combined. Press into bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool completely and stand for several hours before cutting into bars and serving.

Makes 32 bars with about 100 calories in each bar, 3.3 grams total fat and 29.6 mg sodium (as calculated on SparkRecipes.com).

November 3, 2011: M&M Crunch Bars Recipe

This is an easy recipe I made for a dessert at my son’s Halloween party. It was a big hit – there wasn’t a crumb leftover! Rather than making the traditional Rice Krispies bars you might be used to, try this recipe for a chocolate and peanut butter infusion.

M&M Crunch Bars

3 T. butter

3 T. creamy peanut butter

30 large marshmallows (or one 7-ounce jar marshmallow crème)

6 cups Cap’n Crunch cereal

1 cup M&Ms

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the peanut butter and marshmallows and cook, stirring constantly, until marshmallows melt. Stir in cereal and M&Ms. With greased fingers, spread into a greased 13x9” pan. Cool; cut into squares.

Tip: If you want these bars to look extra festive, sort the M&Ms into colors; for instance you can use just orange and brown for Halloween, or green, orange, and brown for Thanksgiving, red and white for Valentine’s Day, etc.

March 24, 2011: Pad Thai with Peanut Sauce Recipe

I don’t know about you but I love Thai food. The ingredients taste so fresh (perfect for spring!) and the combination of slightly sweet, slightly hot, and always spicy is mouthwatering. Although I prefer Pad Thai noodles with chicken satay, I’ve also served this dish with roasted chicken, grilled skewers (as pictured here) and fish. For a main dish, add a protein, such as shrimp. And if you have leftover peanut sauce, it’s great as a dipping sauce for chicken nuggets or as a salad dressing.

I first had Pad Thai made from a boxed mix I bought at the grocery. As I usually do, I thought it couldn’t be too hard to make them from scratch and it would surely be cheaper (that’s an understatement – the box costs about 60 percent more than the made-from-scratch version). I think the homemade version is way more flavorful, as well. Try this recipe and decide for yourself.

Pad Thai Noodles

1 package rice noodles
1 T. Sesame oil
1 ¼ cup bean sprouts (fresh or canned) – reserve a few for garnish
2 eggs
3 – 4 scallions, sliced thinly on the diagonal – reserve a few for garnish
¼ cup chopped peanuts

Soak the noodles in hot water while you are slicing the vegetables and preparing the sauce, about 15 minutes.

Peanut Sauce:

1 cup coconut milk
1 T. red chili sauce
1 t. curry powder
1 t. Asian fish sauce
½ cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth, depending on preference)
1/3 cup chicken stock
¼ cup brown sugar
1 T. fresh lime juice (substitute lemon juice if necessary)
1 t. salt

Add all ingredients to a saucepan and simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes or until thickened.

To Make the Noodles:

Using a wok or large skillet, heat the sesame oil to 325 degrees. Add the bean sprouts and green onions and cook for about 1 minute. Add the drained noodles and stir together. Make a well in the middle of the wok by pushing the noodle mixture to the sides. Drop in the two eggs and scramble with a spatula. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fold the eggs into the noodles and add about ½ cup of the peanut sauce. The noodles should be sticky, but not overly saucy; add more sauce if necessary.

To serve, mound the noodles on a plate and sprinkle with the reserved bean sprouts, scallions, and chopped peanuts.