Leftover Love

This past weekend I had ever intention of making a how-to video of Veronica’s recipe for cooking a whole chicken. My friend Daniel was over at my apartment for 4.5 hours trying to fix my laptop with no luck. While I had plenty of time to clean my office, kitchen, and living room, I still had no video of the chicken experiment. However, I will say this, it was easy! Super easy. The kind of easy where you’re sure you forgot something…and I nearly did. I almost forgot to add the olive oil to the poor chicky! Caught that one just in time and all was well.

What did I do with that chicken after it was all roasted up? Well, the first day I just had it as it was. Day Two I chowed down on a drumstick as a snack. I let it sit in my fridge until Day 4 (maybe pushing it? Even in a tightly sealed container?) and then realized I needed to get that bad boy eaten. I was running late in my evening plans after an extended evening at the dog park. I was hungry. I also wanted something a little sweet but with enough fat and flavor that I would really feel satisfied. My dad was the master of our kitchen when I was growing up. His most memorable meals were the ones where he was forced to get creative with leftovers. With that in mind, I took inventory of my fridge, asked Dad to watch over me from above and provide a little inspiration, and off I went with a pot and no plan.

I’m going to give you the “recipe” in just a second but let me get this out first. Some of your best meals will come out of thin air and you may never be able to reproduce them again. Accept it. Reproduction isn’t really the point, anyway. Feeding yourself and your family is the goal. Adding some personal style to that is just coconut “buttercream icing” on the paleo cake. What I’m trying to say is, don’t be afraid to throw a bunch of paleo goodness together and see what happens. Keep your ingredients the same but play around with different spices.  Get crazy at a comfortable pace. But in the end remember to KISS…Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Today's Last Minute Lunch

One Pot Chicken & Spaghetti Squash Curry

(for one, multiple for multiple people)

• Heat medium sized pot on medium to m/high heat
• Throw in some coconut oil
• Take a couple spoonfuls of spaghetti squash & throw in pot – I cooked mine when I was cooking the chicken
• Grab some of the chicken & pull off in bite-sized pieces. Throw in pot.
• Throw some broccoli in the pot
• Cut up half a bell pepper — mine was orange & I actually used kitchen shears to cut it up because I didn’t want to dirty a cutting board. Lazy or genius, you decide.
• Toss in a couple baby bella mushrooms. Again, cut into pieces with the shears.
• Stir.
• Add some coconut milk. I decided I wanted a soupier curry so I added enough to meet my soupy liking.
• Here’s where the flavor really comes into play: plop in some curry paste (brand recommendation below). However much you want to suit your own personal taste & tolerance for spice. I’m a 5th+ generation Texan. Therefore, bring on the heat!
• Simmer for a few minutes so everything is nice and hot and the flavor has time to seep into the food. If you’re really starving, just get the curry paste melted into the coconut milk. Have more time? Lower the temp a little and let simmer for 10 minutes. Bored waiting? Just eat when you’re ready!

How easy was that?

I did the same basic recipe for lunch today. (See image above.) Only, instead of the spaghetti squash I used chopped up cabbage. Oh, and this time my bell pepper was yellow. After it was all cooked I realize I should have used a red bell pepper so that I had some extra color to my dish. Easy lesson learned for next time!

My favorite red curry paste, Mae Ploy.

As for the curry paste, my favorite brand is Mae Ploy red curry paste from Thailand. The ingredients are: Dried red chili, garlic, lemongrass, salt, shallot, galangal, shrimp paste (shrimp), kaffir lime peel, pepper. No preservatives or colorant added. No sugar either. The 14oz container has lasted me about 5 months and it cost around maybe $5 or less? It’s available at HEB…well, the one at Parmer & McNeil anyway.