We just came through the holiday season, followed by a blizzard, so naturally, I've been in the kitchen a lot (with the exception of 2 weeks of kitchen re-demo) cooking comfort food. There's just something, well . . . comforting about eating hot and heavier foods when it's cloudy, cold, snowy and blustery. Besides that, my mom was with us the last week and she is a "meat and potatoes" type of eater, and I was trying to not totally make her eat outside her comfort zone.
Now that we have a break in the weather, it's time to return to that ever-recurring New Year's goal of losing ten pounds. So here's where I'm going with this - my focus for the next month is going to be on cooking healthier meals, ones loaded with fruits, vegetables, lean meat and healthy fats. I will of course, cook some dishes from the cookbook, but I'm going to be trying some new dishes as well. So if you have any favorite healthy meals, please let me know, and I'll give them a try.
In our never ending battle with carbs, noodles of any kind are the enemy. It doesn't mean that we have to avoid all sorts of pasta dishes, rather it means we have to be a bit more creative. This delicious Pad Thai recipe (page 74-75) uses fresh zucchini in lieu of noodles, so make this dish and eat guilt free. Shrimp, red peppers, fresh bamboo shoots, scallions, peanuts and fresh cilantro make this dish something you'll want to eat often! (Fun fact: I bought the dish above in Tokyo. So it's Japanese, not Thai, but it's still pretty cool.)