This is Mama Pea’s Thai Fried Quinoa. I didn’t change too much at all on the recipe and used her directions to share with you. I am working toward the resolution of improving my recipe writing abilities, but until then, Mama Pea is helping us out!

Un-Fried Thai Quinoa

slightly adapted from Peas and ThankYou

• 1 c. dry quinoa
• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1 c. vegetable broth, low/no sodium
• 1/3 c. chopped green onions
• 2 T. fresh minced ginger
• 1 T. fresh minced garlic
• 1 c. frozen peas
• 1 c. pineapple or 1 can, in 100% juice and drained
• 1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
• 1 T. lime juice
• 1 T. reduced sodium soy sauce
• Optional garnishes: lime wedges, peanuts, cilantro,

1. Place a saucepan over medium-high heat and add quinoa, stirring every minute or so until quinoa is toasted.

2. Combine coconut milk and vegetable broth and add to quinoa.

3. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.

4. Meanwhile, coat a large skillet with cooking spray or a light spritz of oil and place over medium-high heat. Add green onion, ginger and garlic and sauté for a minute or two.

5. Add peas, pineapple and cilantro and sauté for an additional minute.

6. Add quinoa to the skillet and cook until starting to slightly brown and crisp.

7. Finish with lime juice and soy sauce and add in scrambled tofu, if using.

If you want the step by step – Check our her blog!

See you at 5am for workout idea to change things up!

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The obvious answer is to make a warm, home cooked meal for your family and friends. Who cares that there are 3 naked and chilly baby dolls on the floor, and that 18 out of 20 puzzle pieces are scattered in the family room, or that I have at least 2 sets of sweaty workout clothes in my laundry basket. Dinner takes priority.

So I understand that Thai can sound intimidating, but that shouldn’t be the case. Thanks to the help of Trader Joes and a few other shortcuts, you can make a great Thai meal with only a few ingredients.

My advise would be to start with these 5 ingredients for your first Thai meal:

1. Trader Joe’s Thai Red Curry Sauce
2. Chicken, Cooked Lentils or Tofu
3. Brown Rice
4. Green Beans
5. Peanuts

Simply cook the chicken or simmer already cooked lentils in the Red Curry sauce and serve over brown rice and green beans. This meal can be done in 15 minutes and will get your head into cooking Thai.

Then, move on from there.

Buy some Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste and mix it together with some light coconut milk. Once it’s combined, you can add a little ginger, red pepper, brown sugar or any other ingredients – such as in this recipe I made a few weeks ago!

Thai peanut sauce:

• 3 cloves of fresh garlic, pressed
• 1 T. fresh ginger, pressed or minced
• 3 T. water
• 4 T. light sodium soy sauce
• 3 T. light coconut milk
• 4 T. peanut butter, all natural, no sodium, creamy
• 1/2 lime, juiced

I mixed all of this together but it was a little too liquidy and wasn’t the taste I was going for. It needed more.

So…

I took half of the Coconut Peanut sauce and mixed it with 3 tsp. of Red Curry paste.

Then I added a dash of chili powder and some ground red pepper.

The result was the perfect Thai Spicy Peanut Red Coconut Curry Sauce!

To garnish your Thai meals, use a little fresh cilantro or some peanuts – any variety will work!

Tonight’s recipe sticks with the Thai theme and comes from Mama Pea.

Thai Unfried Quinoa

What are your favorite Thai dishes to make? Any good recipes to share?

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Here are a few fun pictures from Thanksgiving at my grandmas’s house!

Anna wanting to help Papa with the turkey.

Corey taking Anna for a ride in the purse.

Her response, “more, peeese. more, peese”

More to come.

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Last night for dinner I wanted something fresh, light and crunchy. Since Thai is one of our favorite meals – I thought it would be a perfect back-to-the-grind-after-a-long-holiday-weekend meal.

Brady and I agreed that it was.

The meal had a few parts.

My rice cooker helped make the perfect brown rice. The lentils were cooked as the package says and left plain so I could cover them in sauce. The veggies were a mix of fresh red, yellow and orange peppers, asparagus, carrots, broccoli slaw, and water chestnuts. The veggies were lightly steamed. Then everything was covered in sauce.

For the sauce – I had a lot of ideas and so I combined them to make something new.

I started with a basic Thai peanut sauce:

• 3 cloves of fresh garlic, pressed
• 1 T. fresh ginger, pressed or minced
• 3 T. water
• 4 T. light sodium soy sauce
• 3 T. light coconut milk
• 4 T. peanut butter, all natural, no sodium, creamy
• 1/2 lime, juiced

I mixed all of this together but it was a little too liquidy and wasn’t the taste I was going for. It needed more.

So…

I took half of the Coconut Peanut sauce and mixed it with 3 tsp. of Red Curry paste.

Then I added a dash of chili powder and some ground red pepper.

The result was the perfect Thai Spicy Peanut Red Coconut Curry Sauce!

Got that?

Then, since I was making this dinner for more than just Brady and I. I made more sauce with remaining Coconut Peanut sauce and Red Curry paste.

I also simmered some chicken in the sauce for Brady.

My only complaint is that we don’t have leftovers!

Have a great day! I am off to teach class!

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Anyways, after that Anna and I came home because the air conditioner people were coming to fix our air conditioner for good. We had it temporarily fixed before. Such a pain! They were here all day – 12 – 5. So that meant we were stuck at home. We did a lot of playing and some dinner planning for the next week. I made a few things to put in the freezer for dinner while Anna and I are at the lake next week. Brady can just heat them up and eat! I will post those recipes this week.

Last night, we had Thai Red Curry Chicken and veggies. It was simple but good. I made quinoa to go with it.

Brady’s plate…

For my plate I just put curry sauce on the veggies and quinoa.

Make Ahead Meal: If you need to make dinner ahead of time so it is ready to eat when you get home…

1. Cook chicken in Red Curry sauce – I used Trader Joe’s.
2. Make quinoa.
3. Stir fry veggies so they are cooked the way you like them.
4. Then place everything into a glass dish – like shown above – and reheat it in the oven. Maybe 425 for a few minutes.
5. Everything has already been cooked so just heat it to your desire.

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