Red Thai Curry Shrimp

I originally saw this recipe on Gina's Skinny Taste, a blog that I have really enjoyed eating from. I have always loved spicy food, but thought curry was not for me. This wasn't really an educated decision, as I had never really had curry, but more of an observation-like decision. Every Wednesday, in the hospital cafeteria, a visiting restaurant comes bearing Indian food. The people all around me look delighted with their curry,(basically two blobs of rice, with goo over it.) but I can't help but likening the plates, to a set of B-cups with baby vomit drowning them. That's what it looks like anyway, so I can't say initially I was like, "Mmmmmm."

I was enticed by the ingredient list being relatively small, and knowing that I had frozen, peeled/deveined shrimp on hand helped  a great deal. I also had a can of light coconut milk in my pantry from who knows what whim, and a good stock of fish sauce. We really like Vietnamese food at our house and fish sauce is a staple. The only ingredient I thought might give me some trouble in this rural town, was the Thai Red Curry Paste. To my surprise, Food Town, our local grocer carried it.

(They also have fish sauce which is vital to this dish. It is cheap, keeps really well, is super stinky plain, and changes Woo dishes to Woo! Hoo! dishes. Pick some up.)

As I was making this the Boyz kept coming into the kitchen to sneak shrimp. By the time dinner was ready, we were mostly full, but sucked the rest down anyway. We will definitely keep this one in our quick weeknight dishes line-up.

Being the sauce girl that I am, the first time I made it, I didn't think there was enough sauce. The second time I made it, I doubled the sauce and it was perfect. The recipe shows the sauce doubled. We also served it over coconut quinoa with cilantro, instead of Jasmine rice. Just adapt to your own taste.

       Red Thai Curry Shrimp (adapted from Gina's Skinny Taste)

• 1 tsp oil
• 4 scallions,(green onions), chopped
• 2 Tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 cans light coconut milk
• 1 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped  

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil on medium-high. Add onions and red curry and saute one minute. Add shrimp and garlic, salt and pepper to taste,  and cook about 2-3 minutes. Add coconut milk, fish sauce and mix well. Simmer about 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is cooked through. Remove from heat, mix in cilantro.

You can serve this over Jasmine rice, but we made some Coconut Quinoa to bed this plate, and it was delicious, and had the added benefits of Quinoa. I bought my Quinoa at Costco and it came prewashed and ready to cook. Instructions on cooking the Quinoa are right on the bag, but I use my rice cooker and it works out just fine. For the recipe, I added 2 cups Quinoa, and 1 cup each of Chicken Broth and Light Coconut Milk, and a Tbsp of Minced Garlic to my rice cooker. I added the other half a bunch of cilantro to the Quinoa when it was done. Viola.

The Dealio

One of my babies recently had a diabetes scare. I will spare you the details, but sufficeth it to say, it scares the shizz out of me. In my spare time, I hang around our local ER and provide drugs and a warm caring heart to many patients. A considerable amount of those patients also have diabetes, which may or may not be what their drama is about that day. However, in the last couple of months, while we have been monitoring Sticks, (my baby), and his condition, I have had the opportunity to quiz several physicians on their opinion.

One horrifying response offered, that it wouldn't be so bad on my little guy, since the insulins' that are made these'a days are so good you just bolus for what you want to eat. There is no need to even change the diet................. I felt like bolusing the Moron, right in the face. That is clearly a mantra, several diabetics have adopted, and then end up blind, or amputated, or at least having to spend several hours of their day, encompassed in my warmth at the ER. Super!

After spending a few weeks freaked out about Sticks, I decided to learn from his 6 years of wisdom, put away my panic, and just adapt. He seamlessly converted to checking his own sugars, putting on a brave face for blood draws, and making better decisions about what kind of snacks to eat, and if he can do it, I will be damned if I can't.

Our family has always teetered on the edge of healthiness. My kids for sure, have developed a taste for vegetables, and have quite an international palette. The problem lies more with the Baby Daddy, and me. We choke down a vegetable or two, only if the Heathens are watching, or if it comes disguised in cheese or sauce. We just prefer meat, bread, dairy, and sauce, and that diet is just not good enough now.

When I decided to overhaul our attitude about food, I immediately turned to the Internet for some ideas, advice, and tasty recipes. It seems like there are few sites that fit what I am looking for. I am not a sugar hater, nor do I want to start making all my clothes out of hemp. I certainly don't want to embark on a Kale Cruise, or give up the hormones I have come to love from my dairy. I am not about being militant, I just want to make better decisions. I have been surprised almost daily, about how delicious some of the dishes are, that I previously had discounted or dismissed as health slop.

The recipes and tips that I post, will have been very helpful to me. You may find it all common knowledge. A few things that I have found to work for me are all about adaptation. I rarely follow a recipe exactly as it is posted. The wonderful thing about cooking your own food, is that you can alter things to make them as healthy or as unhealthy as you want. Their are light and fat free versions of almost everything these days. Although it does alter the taste, I have found that you can easily add flavor without adding fat. Also, don't discount a recipe because it has an ingredient or two that you find unpalatable, make substitutions or remove them altogether.

One of my biggest problems has been my prejudice against vegetables, and some foreign foods. If something doesn't look absolutely delicious, I don't even want to give it a try. I am discovering now, that I may have really missed out on some great dishes that didn't look appealing but once I tried them, I was hooked. Brussel sprouts are delicious cooked the right way.  Brussel sprouts sitting in the store, look like little cabbages, and I really only like shredded cabbage on fish tacos, so there is no reason to even try them...