02.14.10

A holiday named for the patron saint of love and friendship is a pretty good day to slow life down a little and celebrate exactly that.  

 And, what better way to start such a day than with heart-shaped pancakes, right?

Especially, if homemade raspberry jam is involved...

 

 We really enjoy cooking together, and decided to spend our evening together trying some completely new dishes, rather than standing in a long line of hungry couples at the restaurant.  We stocked up on the sauces and spices common in Thai food, and tried our hand at a couple of dishes (with our own alterations of course)

Main Dish: Stir-Fried Crispy Duck Moose

1 package of tenderloin moose steaks

2 Tbsp flour

4 Tbsp oil

1 bunch green onions, cut in 2" strips

2.5 cups shredded cabbage

8 oz. water chestnuts (if you like 'em)

1/2 cup unsalted cashew nuts

1 cucumber, cut in strips

3 Tbsp plum sauce

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

salt and pepper

Fry the meat first in oil until golden and crisp, remove.  Add the onions to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.  Stir in the cabbage and cook 5 minutes more.  Return meat to the pan with the water chestnuts, cashews and cucumber.  Stir-fry 2 minutes, then add plum sauce and soy sauce and season it all to taste.  Heat everything together for 2 minutes.  Garnish with more green onions and serve!

  

 Side Dish: Asian Lettuce Cups Salad

romaine lettuce (large uncut leaves if you want fancy cups)

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

3.5 oz baby corn

2 green onions

1 cup beansprouts

2 Tbsp chopped roasted peanuts

Dressing:

2 Tbsp smooth peanut butter

3 Tbsp lime juice

3 Tbsp coconut milk

2 tsp Thai fish sauce

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/4 tsp Thai red curry paste

Wash lettuce and arrange on serving plate(s) .  Cut carrots and celery into fine matchsticks.  Slice corn and onions diagonally.  Toss prepared vegetables together with beansprouts; arrange over lettuce.  For dressing, place all ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake well until thoroughly mixed.  Spoon dressing evenly over salad(s) and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.  Serve immediately.

  

 Reviews:  The stir-fry was to die for!  The kind of yummy that makes you take your time eating it just so you can savor all the flavor of each bite.  The salad was...different.  Imagine eating your veggies with sweetened peanut butter.  It grew on us after the first few bites though, and we polished it off!

We watched a movie and then planned to make Mango Coconut Smoothies for dessert:

2 large, ripe mangoes

1 Tbsp powdered sugar

2 1/4 cups coconut milk

5 ice cubes

shredded, toasted coconut to serve on top

Coarsely chop the mangoes and place in a blender or food processor with the powdered sugar and blend until completely smooth.  Add coconut milk and ice and blend again until frothy.  Pour into 4 tall glasses and sprinkle with coconut.

Why are there no pictures of these yummy-sounding smoothies??  Well, in my efforts to make sure we had all the oddball ingredients, I forgot that we didn't have any ice cubes!  So, being 5 ice cubes short of our fancy dessert drinks, we decided to experiment with a childhood favorite for both of us. 

  

 Honey grahams and frosting!  Except this time, Andy had the grand idea of adding peanut butter to the mix...hmmm-hmmm good.

  Hooray for a good excuse to spend quality time together!

(the ice cubes are forming as I type, so we'll be trying the smoothies tonight)