Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Family and Food

This is the picture of my darling granddaughter, Kristin and her oh so handsome husband, Craig. Kristin is the mother of my adorable great grandson, Sullivan, of whom I have written, my adorable miracle child. Sullivan and his mom have been visiting in Southern California with my daughter, Nikki, and we were going to go and see them. Nikki lives about 2 1/2 hours from here, so every time Kris goes to see her mom, we drive in to spend a night and have fun playing with our sweet Sullivan.

Unfortunately, Nikki and Kristin both caught his cold and they had to go to urgent care. They found out it was strep throat, so we couldn't go because I would be sure to catch it. I was just sick about it, because he is such a favorite of mine. I am totally besotted with this child. He is just the best little boy, and will be celebrating his two year old birthday this month. She just posted a picture of him getting his first guitar from his Uncle Tyler, who I will be blogging about on the 4th Tuesday this month. I would love to be able to post this picture, but don't know how to transfer it from face book to here, so will have to wait for Dick to get home and hopefully do it for me. I will be doing a post on Kristin next month so you will learn more about this amazing woman.

This past week has been a bad one for me. I am still dizzy and am beginning to feel like this is going to be my "new normal". I'm surely not liking it much. It is worse at times, when great waves of nausea come over me and I get sick to my stomach as well. But, since I determined I wasn't going to be negative on my posts, I will say no more about this. Needless to say though, I am not feeling much up to doing this. I did want to post another wonderful recipe though, so will tell you a bit about it first:

I made this for the missionaries one time and one of the young men got a weird look on his face when he took his first bite. I asked him if anything was wrong and his response was, " Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I have ever tasted in my whole life!" Well, you can imagine how happy I was to hear that. Then he said, "I just HAVE to have the recipe for this!!" I told him I would be happy to make him a copy and I asked him if he was going to send it home so his mom could make it for him when he got home and he said, "Are you kidding? I'm going to make it myself next week!!" He actually did too, and was ever so happy, so I am hoping you all will make it and be ever so happy too. As always, I hope you will let me know how you liked it after you make it.

Darlene's Singapore Chicken Stew

l lb skinless boneless chicken breasts
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon hot chili flakes
1/2 teasoon Chinese five spice
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced fine
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced fine
1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk
1 can chicken broth
2 cups lightly packed washed baby spinach leaves (about 4 oz.)
1 1/2 cup frozen petite peas
2 Roma tomatoes(about 8 oz. total) rinsed, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup sliced, canned water chestnuts
1/4 cup thinly slisced green onions
1 Tablespoon lime juice
3 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Rinse chicken, pat dry and cut into 1" chunks. In a bowl mix flour, salt, chili flakes and five spice. Add chicken pieces and mix to coat.

Pour oil into 4 to 5 quart pan over medium high heat. Add chicken mixture, garlic and ginger. Stir frequently and cook for about 4 minutes. Add coconut milk and cook to blend flavors, about 8 minutes.

Stir in spinach, peas, tomatoes, water chestnuts, green onions and lime juice, and cook, stirring often until spinach is wilted, about 6 minutes. Sprincle with cilantro before serving from pan. Ladle into bowls and put a scoop of rice, that has been cooked separately, in the middle of each bowl. Serves 4.

I often double or triple the recipe as I love to have left overs and company.

Also, I sometimes cook the first two paragraphs before hand and then heat it up to just barely a boil and then continue on with the last paragraph calling for the spinach etc.

8 comments:

  1. Oh, sweet Darlene, I am so sorry to hear about the strep throat. Will be praying for their speedy recovery. Sorry you did not get to go visit that sweet little man and his mama. Still praying for you too and hope that dizziness goes away, it is hanging around much too long.

    Your stew sounds very delicious I will copy and paste the recipe and will give it a try sometime. Thank you for sharing. Hugs

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  2. I'm so sorry about your vertigo. That must be awful. Please don't ever think you are negative. I really want to hear the details. Do you know what is causing it?

    I love it when you give us recipes. I've tried nearly all of them. I do have a question though....is this quite spicy hot with the 1/2 t pepper flakes...or does it just blend in well? It truly does sound wonderful to me. Also, you mentioned ginger in the directions but you didn't say how much?

    I'm sorry you don't get to see Sullivan. How disappointing!

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  3. So sorry to hear about the strep throat. Hope they get better soon. xxx

    Can't wait to try your recipe!

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  4. Darlene, my Mom suffered with vertigo for a bit and I know she did a few things to help it. I'll talk to her and see what it was and then let you know...who knows, it might help! You don't have an ear infection do you? Just thinking about what would cause that. I worry when seniors get dizzy because it can cause falls, so be careful! I'm sorry you couldn't see Sullivan, I hope all the family is better soon. That recipe sure sounds wonderful and I'll just have to try it out myself. We have our annual chili cook off this Friday and I was just trying to think of another thing I could bring for the potluck..maybe this would work? Something new, different and tastey to boot! Have a good week!

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  5. I'm sorry you are having that crummy dizziness again. Be sure to get lots of rest, okay? I'll call you later today.

    Love you.
    =)

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  6. First of all, thanks for the recipe - it sounds delicious! Second - not that you have the same thing my mother does (she has chronic dizziness) but she did find some things that have helped her cope. Things like always making sure there is a wall nearby for her to occasionally touch so it keeps her balanced. She was able to find a physical therapist who helped her cope in these little ways, because it isn't going to go away for her. Hopefully yours isn't permanent - maybe a low grade infection? Go see a specialist if your regular doc can't figure it out. Hope you feel better VERY SOON!

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  7. It looks like you could have beaten the cooks in Singapore hands down (I have been there and tasted something like this) - must have been delicious.

    PS Thank you for the kind words! I'm feeling OK, but now you must take good care of yourself!

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  8. Darlene, I'm sorry that you couldn't visit your grandkid because of his strep throat and also that you have vertigo. It could be liquid in your ear. Let's hope that it nothing too serious that can be corrected. I hope that you are seeing a doctor for some tests.

    The recipe sound delicious. I should try it but need a few ingredients. Take care of yourself and be careful. Speedy recovery. Hugs. JB

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