Found a ZTejas Mexican place. They started up in Austin @Alisa
Z Queso
chipotle adobo, pico de gallo
Navajo Taco
open-faced taco on a puffy tortilla, chicken tinga, fajita pepper mix sautéed with cilantro pesto, fried spinach, black beans, seasonal rice, cilantro pesto, sour cream, pico degallo, cotija
what a beautiful mess.
Chicken cordon bleu
Chicken pot pie
Eggstasy
First a lovely cappuccino
Roasted Veggie Skillet
broccoli, no mushrooms, onions, green peppers, kale, tomatoes, cheese over easy eggs and a marble rye
People! I have quite a bit of taste today and some major smells! Smells aren’t food but household things. Yay for today!
Coconut lime chicken.
For years I did this. Took bag of frozen breasts out of freezer. 4lbs or 7lbs not sure. Put in a big pan one layer. I used white wine but chicken bouillon would be fine or any other liquid, you could use little bit of orange juice w water or whatever, I put olive oil on top of breasts, lots of garlic powder, white pepper, paprika, whatever herbs I had or wanted. Sometimes lots of green olives. Put foil on top. Put in a 375 or 400F oven. Went for a walk and presto I had cooked chicken ready to eat and use during the week however.
Not sure on the time anymore. Check at 45 min. I’m thinking an hour and 15 min.
The beauty was 5 min to put together and I could go walk. My own made up recipe.
I always used instant read meat thermometer for chicken and would get it to 160. Maybe 170. It’s on the thermometer.
More eons ago I would put rice in the bottom of the big pan. Raw bacon on top of that. Chicken breasts on top of that. Cream of mushroom soup and some water. That was big crowd pleaser. Baked also covered in the oven. This recipe you could find on the internet.
Time to start clearing out the pantry before we move. Using up a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes to make a nice marinara sauce. With whole wheat spaghetti and zucchini.
Super boring - but I just boil/poach chicken breast, shred it, and have it in the frig to add to my “bowl food” lunches (with quinoa or rice or noodles, other veg - raw or roasted, etc). It’s easy to season any which way with various dressings, tho’ right now I’m a fan of the maple tahini dressing (from oh she glows cookbook).
And the chicken-y water that the chicken breasts boil in? I pour it the dog girl’s food after it cools down. She prefers it to regular water. 
Recipe? Say i had a coconut, a lime, and a chicken on my counter. Now what. 
Yes @AyBee I was wondering the same thing. …… I guess the next day the Dr was going to say add the chicken to the lime and the coconut.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Chicken – I used thighs here but boneless skinless chicken breasts work well too. The chicken breasts simmer in the sauce for about 20 minutes, or if you’re using boneless chicken thighs reduce the cooking time to around 10-15 minutes. Simmer the sauce for 15 minutes or so before adding the chicken - you are essentially poaching the chicken in it.
Onion, Garlic, & Ginger – These 3 make up quite a bit of the savory backdrop of flavor in this sauce. And the ginger is especially important as it pairs so well with the coconut and lime.
Chili – This one is optional, but really should be mandatory. Choose your favourite fresh chilli and slice thinly.
Fish Sauce – this adds a lot of depth to this sauce and gives this dish its characteristic ‘Thai’ flavor. There really isn’t a proper substitute for fish sauce.
Lime – I use both the zest in the sauce and some freshly squeezed lime juice added at the end for perfect lime flavor. I recommend using a microplane grater because you end up with super fine zest that fairly melts into the sauce.
Coconut Milk – You want to go with full-fat coconut milk here for the fullest flavor. And if you want to go all out, try coconut cream!
Coriander (cilantro) / Thai Basil – these are my favouritest favourite fresh herbs and in combination are seriously good. Proper Thai basil can be difficult to get sometimes and there isn’t really a substitute for the flavour. If you can only find one or the other the dish still works out nicely.
Step 1: Start by prepping all the ingredients listed. Dice the onion, mince the garlic & ginger, slice the chili, and zest the lime.
Step 2: When everything is prepped, heat a large fry pan (10-12″) over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot but not smoking, add some oil and sear your chicken until well browned on each side.
Step 3: When the chicken breasts are brown on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside. Add a bit of oil to the pan along with the onion, garlic, and ginger. Sauté over medium heat until golden brown and softened.
Step 4: Add the coconut milk, semi-optional chili, and lime zest to the skillet. Stir to combine scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan before adding the browned chicken breasts.
Step 5: Bring the coconut sauce to a simmer and and cook the chicken for 8-10 minutes before turning the chicken and cooking another 6-10 minutes or until the chicken is just done in the center.
Step 6: When the chicken is done cooking, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the fish sauce and fresh lime juice - season to taste with salt if you fell it needs it, but fish sauce salty so be careful. Garnish with a little of your fresh herbs if you have any left and serve with a lime wedge in case you want an extra hit of fresh zing.
Eggs, cucumber, tomato and a beautiful overcast day…
@AyBee I may try that sometime… I use lime juice, lime zest, and ginger a lot, lust after coconut milk and hardly ever have it, even though I have some “in house” … thanks for writing up such a nice recipe.
Mmmmmm the smells alone from it…
Bon appetit everyone
Food is life
Wasn’t all my own work.
I found a recipe close enough and used that as a base to write on.
As always, make the flavour your own and if you love big bold flavours add more of everything you love.
Ooo yum! Thanks so much for sharing this.
We are in alignment re: “semi-optional chili”! (lol). Love me some fish sauce. The thai basil may be hard to find up here, but there will for sure be a small clamshell pkg of tired-looking regular basil, having endured the trek from mexico to celebrate easter in snowy 
Gonna try this on the weekend. Will post a pic, prob of my empty bowl. 
Don’t bother with the regular basil if it’s all you can find. The flavour profile is so different that you are better off leaving it out and just using the coriander (cilantro).
We now grow the Thai (holy) basil as it’s either a pain in the arse to get or stupid expensive for what you get… and we like to use a lot. That’s one of defining features of proper Thai food for me - their incredible generosity with the fresh herbs.
Save your money and leave that sad clamshell packet on the shelf.
Not sure what the hell is in my oats today wifey has these frozen bags of smoothie fixens she doesn’t like 
So I’m mixing it in my oats.
Unabashedly envious over here!
I’ll take your word and leave the regular basil at the supermarket, (beside the cardboard-y cantaloupe and aging overwintered root veggies). This dish might have to wait until I can get to the grocers in the city.
A question, though - has anyone ever tried those LED or other indoor-type year-round herb garden thingies? (Can’t do indoor window sill here because it’s frozen and dark for months, lol.) Thumbs up or down?
Check in the plant garden thread if not enough response here. I never have used light. I have grown basil in water in little glasses from “cuttings”. It roots easily. I know that’s not a year round solution for you.
( I also grow it outside and have grown Thai basil before)
