kicking sesame rice noodles

this recipe has three parts, first marinate and cook the chicken, next make the dressing and prepare your vegetables, lastly cook your noodles. put it all together and you have a delicious light summer salad.


Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Ingredients for marinade:
1 Tbsp. peanut oil
2 Tbsp. gluten free soy sauce
1 Tbsp. chinese black vinegar
2 Tsp. sesame oil
4 cloves garlic , pressed
1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
Directions for chicken:
Place ingredients in a glass dish and mix, add chicken breasts, cover, refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. remove from marinade and grill on hot barbecue until an instant read thermometer reads 165 when inserted into breast. slice into thin slices.

Ingredients for kicking sesame dressing-
8 cloves of garlic,pressed
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
4 Tbsp. Chinese sesame paste (or peanut butter)
5 Tbsp. sesame oil
5 Tbsp. gluten free soy sauce
1/4 cup sake
1 1/2 Tbsp. Chinese black vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp sucanat
3 Tbsp. water

process in food processor or blender until smooth.



Ingredients for noodle salad:
1/2 pound flat rice noodles, cooked and rinsed under cold water and tossed with a little sesame oil
2 english cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded and grated or julienned
1 red bell pepper, cored and sliced
1 1/2 cups bean sprouts, rinsed
1 1/2 cups of your cooked chicken breasts, sliced
3 tablespoons green onions, sliced
Spicy sesame dressing to taste

Directions:

1. arrange the noodles in individual bowls
2. toss cucumbers, red peppers and bean sprouts and arrange on top of noodles
3. add some sliced chicken, the green onion and top with kicking sesame dressing to taste.

Sweet Pea salad with Chili Lime tiger prawns and garlic/lime baby potatoes

salad adapted from this recipe
we always make extra for leftovers. There is plenty of extra salad dressing here, will keep well for 4 days in fridge. Prawns are big, 10 of them could easily serve 3 or even 4 people.

Sweet Pea Salad with Chili Lime Shrimp-
Ingredients:
10 Tiger prawns
6 bamboo skewers soaked in water for 1 hour

Shrimp Marinade-
Ingredients:
2 limes - the juice of
1 Tbsp. Rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. sucanat
1/4 cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. hot red chilli, finely chopped
1/4 cup peanut oil

Sweet Pea Salad-
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar peas, washed
1 1/3 cups mixed baby greens, washed and dried
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 yellow pepper sliced thin

Dressing:
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. ginger, peeled and minced
2 large shallots, minced
1/4 cup Rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. honey
1/2 cup extra virgin Olive oil
2 limes, juice of
1 Tbsp. tamari soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
1. combine marinade ingredients for prawns. Place prawns in a lidded container, pour marinade over prawns, seal and refrigerate for 30 minutes
2. Preheat barbecue to high and oil grill
3. remove prawns from marinade, discard the used marinade and place 3 prawns on doubled up skewers
4. season with salt and pepper
5. oil the grill and barbecue the prawns for about 1 1/2 minutes per side (or until cooked through)
6. serve with Sweet Pea Salad (see directions below) and garlic/lime baby potatoes (see below)

Sweet Pea salad directions-
1. place sweet peas, baby greens and peppers in a large bowl
Dressing-
1. combine ginger, shallots, vinegar, honey, olive oil, lime juice, red pepper flakes and tamari soy sauce in a bowl.
2. whisk vigorously while slowly adding the sesame oil.
3. salt and pepper to taste
4. pour two Tbsp. dressing (or to taste) over salad ingredients, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top and serve with Chili Lime prawns

Garlic/ Lime baby potatoes (you will want to make these before you barbecue the prawns, they will stay nice and hot in the foil packet)

Ingredients:
1 lb. organic baby potatoes
1 large organic carrot, sliced
1/2 red onion, chopped
3. Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne pepper
1 lime, juice of
3 cloves of garlic, pressed

Directions:
1.Partially cook potatoes on high for 5 minutes in microwave, or partially boil them.
2. combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. lay out a large piece of foil and spoon the potato mixture into the foil. wrap tightly to form a packet.
3.Barbecue on high for about 15 minutes( or until cooked through and browned). turning frequently.

Chili Citrus Shish Kabobs

Chili - Citrus Chicken:

1 orange, zested and juiced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 lime, zested and juiced
4 cloves garlic, pressed
4 small hot chillies chopped fine
1/4 cup tamari gluten free soy sauce
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

Lemon- garlic shrimp:

3 cloves garlic , pressed
2 shallots, minced
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp. fresh thyme
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. chili pepper flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Vegetables For Kabobs:

red and yellow bell peppers
red onion
cherry tomatoes
mushrooms
zuchinni
baby potatoes, boiled until cooked through

Balsamic basting vinaigrette for vegetables:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
soak bamboo skewers in water for one hour before charring

Directions:

1. Using a whisk, stir together all of the chili citrus chicken ingredients (except the chicken) in a bowl. Add the chicken to the mixture and coat. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.

2. Using a whisk, stir together all of the lemon garlic shrimp ingredients (except the shrimp) in a bowl. Add the shrimp to the mixture and coat. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.

3. Cut the vegetables into slightly larger than bite sized pieces.

4. Puree balsamic basting vinaigrette ingredients in a blender for 30 seconds.

5. arrange meat and vegetable pieces onto skewers according to your own wants. (I wanted more shrimp and Ken wanted more chicken). It really works best to skewer each type of meat and veggies separately so that you can control the cooking times. Obviously chicken cooks Waaay faster than shrimp. :)

Grill the kabobs on high on the barbecue for about 10 to 15 minutes, turning 1/4 rotation every 2 to 3 minutes, or until the chicken reads 165 with your instant read thermometer inserted. (baste vegetables once each side)

serve with brown rice and chutney.

adapted from this recipe

Curried Chicken rolls with Thai Sweet basil

so good. so delicious! It's on my fav list now.
serve as is or add some diced hot red peppers for a little kick if you can stand it.
Adapted from this amazing book

Ingredients:
24 gluten free organic corn tortillas
3 Tbsp. macadamia nut oil
2 leeks, trimmed, cleaned and cut into thin 1 1/2 inch strips
5 carrots, peeled and julienned
2 turnips, peeled and julienned
2 1/2 Tbsp. Chinese sake

Home-made curry powder ingredients: blend together into a paste
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
8 cloves garlic- crushed
1/4 cup of very finely chopped fresh ginger
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground tumeric
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1 pound boneless , skinless, chicken breasts, cut into 1/6 inch slices

Coconut sauce- blend together-
1 cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. sucanat

1 cup fresh sweet basil leaves, coarsely chopped.

Directions:
1. wrap corn tortillas in foil in packets of 6 and warm in the oven at 300°F

2. heat a wok or heavy skillet over med/high heat. add 1 1/2 Tbsp. of oil and heat 30 seconds. Add the leeks and stir fry for 1 minute (until softened). Add the carrots, turnips, and rice sake, and toss lightly, cover, turn heat down to med. and cook for 2 minutes (until vegetables are tender). transfer the vegetables to a bowl ,cover, and set aside.

3. Reheat the wok, add remaining oil, heat 30 seconds, add the home-ground curry powder and cook for 20 seconds, or until very fragrant. Add the chicken, turn up the heat to high, and stir-fry until the meat loses it's pink color and the slices separate. Add the coconut sauce and cook for about 10 minutes, until the mixture thickens. Add the leek mixture and chopped basil, toss lightly, and transfer to a platter. To eat, spoon some of the curry mixture onto a tortilla and wrap it up.

Kiwifruit

The Kiwi Fruit- Twice the vitamin C of Oranges; amazing antioxidant properties; excellent magnesium, fiber, and potassium. It's a super fruit and I just had it for dessert. :) Happy weekend folks!