~Spicey Coconut Chicken Similar To Malaysian Rendang~

Generally Authentic Malaysian Rendang is done with Beef and Coconut :) and just a few other things (; heh

This is my version of a recipe that my fathers mother taught my mum when she lived in Malaysia! This by no means is a tradional version! Like i said this is my take! My mum has the recipe that was taught to her im pretty sure i have it in one of the books that she wrote for me BUT its not mine to hand out :) this is just as tasty and its alot quicker! Tradional Rendang is a recipe that takes along along time to prepare and cook :)

~Spicey Paste~

So i made up a nice spicey paste to start off with which consisted of chillies, shallots, lemon grass, ginger, garlic and a little bit of galangal root.

I mashed it up good REAL good until it was a smooth paste. This is when those 1 cup food processors actually come of good use! Or you can do it the old fashioned way with a mortar and pestle :)

~What to do with the Spicey Paste~

In a hot pan i throw in some sliced onions and garlic make sure the oil is nice and HOT then i added in my bite sized pieces of boneless skinless chicken pieces! To ensure my chicken is going to be spicey enough i added a couple of tablespoonfuls of chilli powder to the chicken! Once it was almost cooked i added a few tablespoonfuls of the spicey paste to the cooking chicken, make sure the heat isnt to high at this point as you wont want it to burn the paste and chicken! Once the chicken is nicely coated in the paste i added a cup of desiccated coconut to the chicken and paste. I let it cook for awhile at a simmering temp if it starts to get to thick and dry to the point its sticking to your pan, add a little bit of coconut milk BUT you dont want it to be runny/soupy this dish is thick! :)

It is pictured served with brown ric and sweet and spicey green beans! Recipe for that will come soon :)

Sorry for my lack of updating my blog post since Valentine's Day... But i have become sick again..i know i kow excuses excuses! :) Im hoping to kick this thing tho.. I am so over being ill...

~HAPPY VALENTINES DAY MY LOVELIES~

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT TODAY! THAT MY HUSBAND COULDNT HOLD OUT ANY LONGER HE JUST GAVE ME MY VALENTINES DAY PRESSIE!!!! AND AWWW MAN DID HE DO AN AWESOME JOB THIS YEAR?!?!

Sorry for the caps but i am super super super excited *INSERT SQUEELING HERE* The rest of the day is still a suprise which i dont know how much sleep im going to get laying here looking at my rings!

In the Begining :)

Its always meant to be :)

Dear Bestest Hubby in the world,

there was a time in our relantionship were we both hated Valentine's Day because we were so FAR away from each other....So many ppl said we wouldnt make it and that what we had was just something silly over the internet...BOY did we show them! 12years we have been together and 8 of those years we have been husband and wife! And i love you even more now then i did when i first stepped off the plane in detroit and met you face to face for the first time! Its been an amazing journey and we have so much more to come! I am so madly deeply crazy head over heels for ya baby! Your still the one!! Happy Valentine's Day baby!

xoxoKiraoxox

I will post recent pics of us 2morro after our day out!

~Something Tasty To Warm The Cockels Of Your Heart!~

Ok so the last few wks threw out all the sickness spreading threw our house.. I wasnt up to parr persay with the whole cooking thing... So the crockpot was my friend! Oh how i LOVE my new crockpot! I got it at the christmas sales real cheap and i have only used it a couple of times and from what i can tell it doesnt MATTER how or how long i let it cook the meal NEVER dries out!

So i ransacked the freezer and found a lovely chuck roast...I layed it out and let it defrost the night b4. So i heated up my old heavy skillet nice and HOT! Took the roast and rubbed it with olive oil then sprinkled it with garlic powder, then i seered it nicely on all sides and around the edges making sure it was well sealed! Then i placed it in the crockpot. At this point the pan had some crusty stuff in it so i added about hlf a cup of water to the hot skillet along with this i added a few tablespoonfuls of worcestershire sauce, a teaspoon of rosemary a couple of shakes of good ole onion powder and a lil more garlic to the watered down mixture in the skillet! I heated it up till it was boiling turned off the pan and poured it over the roast in the crockpot! Lid on and i set it for 8hours and left it alone for a few hours....

Next time i checked on the lovely smelling crockpot i added about 4 handfuls of fresh mushrooms i sliced up thinly and about 2 tablespoonfuls of homemade gravy mix!

I sliced up a few spuds(potatoes) red skin with their skins still on ofcourse :) and let it simmer away for the reminder time. Before the boys got home from work i added some frozen blanched carrots from the freezer!

Sliced up some home made bread toasted it and served a heaping pile of this scrummy yummy meat!

Boys were very impressed and LOVED it alot!

After eatting it for a few days i turned it into Beef and Noodles :) added some corn and served broccoli with it!

~Best Soup I EVA Made!~

OH MAN! This soup was bloody beautiful!

So filling and choccas full of good stuff!

Its amazing how your taste buds change as you get older :) never in my life would i have imagined putting hlf of the stuff i put into this soup :) Now with age i have grown to LOVE so many healthy just down right good for you stuff!

Whats in the soup?

Lamb

Onions

Garlic

Tomatoes

Chicken Stock

Baby Spinach

Kale

Carrots

Kelp

Rutabaga

Sweet Corn (from our local veggie stand! back in summer!)

Yellow Lentils

What a hearty Delish soup this turned out to be! I stewed the lamb for a while in onions and garlic and home canned tomatoes! This made for extremely tender meat! And then the rest went in and it simmered for a few hours!

Sorry for my lack of blogging lately...besides my son being sick i got really sick as well...Ive been on bed rest and today i am starting to fell much MUCH better thank goodness....

~Food Inc.~

Im just wondering how many of you out in bloggy land have taken the time to watch this eye opening movie?

I watched it with my bestie Angie when it first came out on Dvd! It wasnt as eye opening for us as we were aware of a good amount of what does happen, but non the less we did discover what they do to fillers in general...which is disgusting! In my personal opinion i would love for this Dvd to be played in every school so children are aware of exactly what they are putting into their bodies... While i was sorting threw a bag of magazines from my mother in law i came across a fantastic article that i shared with my guys over breakfast last friday...they were not to impressed that i read this to them while they were eatting there meat heavy breakfasts but still! It was in TIME magazine... Its called " The Real Cost of Cheap Food" please click the link and read it if you have a few mins!

~Spicey Fish & Hoisin Veggies~

So when we are sick in this house we usually have one or a few spicey dishes to kill off what ever it is we have :)

So sunday night i made really really REALLY spicey fish!

~Hoisin Veggies~

Hoisin sauce, cabbage, onions, garlic, ginger(fresh or minced), bok choy, mushrooms (any kind of veggies u want really it doesnt matter they will taste nummy by the end anyways!)

Oil and a wok!

cut everything up the way you want, slice your onions though :) YOU always slice your onions from top to bottom in asian cooking! Heat your oil in the wok, when hot enough toss in your onions garlic and ginger! Let em sizzle for a few mins then start adding your veggies everything is going to cook down alot so dont worry :) Depending how well you like hoisin sauce depends how much i would reccomend adding if you arent to sure just add 1-2 tablespoonfuls at first! REMEMBER you should always taste your cooking (sauces, veggies) to make sure it doesnt need something else! Cook your veggies and serve with your main meal!

~Spicey Fish~

Fish of your choice :) oil, onions, garlic, ginger, chillies(powder/minced/fresh your choice), coconut milk, salt.

Slice your onions, i used an electric skillet for this that way i could steam like the fish in the sauce while i was doing the veggies! Heat your oil in a pan make sure its good and HOT toss in the onions, ginger and garlic, sprinkle a lil salt over them to draw out the moisture in your onions. After a few mins add your desired amount of chillies to the mix i added about 4 full tablespoonfulls of really really HOT minced chillies! Add to your onions stir threw, when the chillies have sauted a little add your fillets of fish to the pan, cover the fish with the onions and chillies doesnt have to be perfect :) you just want the flavors to simmer into the fish nicely, pour your can of coconut milk over the top just enough so that the fish has a nice covering! Place the lid ontop and turn down to a nice low simmer and let it sit for awhile dont take the lid off you want the fish to cook all the way threw. I did not tunr my fillets over just for the sheer fact they were not THICK slices and they would fall apart thats why i cooked them in a steam like way with a lid on!

I served this fish with the hoisin veggies, brown rice, sliced cucumbers and fresh sliced pineapple!

~And the winners are....~

Sorry it took me so long to post the winners :)

Ok so i entered all the names of everyone, and how many entries into a spread sheet, i jumbled them up and then i went over to the random gizmo and got three numbers!

The first winner for the pamper yourself pack is;

Annie! Congrats Annie i will be contacting you shortly about details and what not!

Second winner is Brandy! Grats Brandy you won the recipe books! Be in touch shortly!

And the third winner of the home decor package is Na'Comi(aka Sassily yours)! Woohoo i shall be emailing you soon!

Grats to the winners! And THANK YOU EVERYONE who came by and entered! I will hpefully be doing a few more give-aways here in the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled!

ughhh....

Ok so no blogs from me since i posted my 100th....how slack of me hey? UGH so its 240pm on a Monday afternoon and i only JUST got my lazy arse outta bed....how awful is that?!?! Im sorry for not posting since my 100th...my son has been sick....and being the fact that i have a immune system of ZERO i catch whatever is going threw our house....why do you have a zero immune system im sure your wondering.....becuase of the medicine i take for my skin...I have Psoriasis for those of you who do not know me or recent followers :) ive had it for many many MANY years...at its worst i was 98% covered in it from head to toe and very pregnant and extremely MISERABLE! at its best i had a big fat ZERO plaques on my entire body! Thanks to a miracle drug called Remicade which was an infussion i would have once a month in the kemo centre...but i had to come off it due to the fact u cant take it with u when travelling....so i had to start trying out all the different types to see what would work for me....currently i am on Humira wich is some what working for me...i have a couple of stubborn plaques that just WONT go away but its better then totally covered in them! Anyway so yea im sick i just got up my son is home from school today snotting all over the place its lovely...so im about to get our medicines about and some soup on the stove then i will be back to count the enterys and pick some winners! Hope everyone had a fab wkend and no ones sick like us.....

~YAY 100 POSTS COUNTING THIS ONE! CAN YOU SAY GIVE-AWAY??~

YEP IM DOING A 100 POST GIVE AWAY! NOT JUST ONE........BUT THREE! WHAT DID SHE SAY??3???YUP I SAID *T-H-R-E-E* LOTS OF GOODIES! SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE! THIS GIVEWAY WILL BE OPEN TILL FEBRUARY 1ST! HOW CAN YOU WIN ONE OF THESE GIFTS? THERES 3 WAYS TO ENTER! FIRST WAY TO ENTER IS BY COMMENTING ABOUT WHICH RECIPE APPEALS TO YOU! YUP RIGHT DOWN THERE YOU SEE IT, SHOW ME SOME LOVE! THE SECOND WAY TO ENTER IS TO BLOG ABOUT MY GIVE AWAY COME BACK AND POST A LINK SHOWING ME THAT YOU BLOGGED ABOUT IT! AND THE THRID WAY TO ENTER IS BY BECOMING A FOLLOWER OF MY BLOG!

SO WHEN YOU DO ANY OF THESE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHICH YOU HAVE DONE!

AND YOU MUST LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AS PART OF EACH OF YOUR COMMENTS! AND THEN ON FEB 1ST I WILL USE THE RANDOM GIZMO OVER AT RANDOM.ORG AND IT WILL PICK 3 WINNERS! AND I WILL POST THE 3 NAMES THE GENERATOR PICKS OUT :) I WILL ALSO SEND YOU AN EMAIL IF YOU ARE SAID WINNERS!

SO THAT IS A GRAND TOTAL OF 3 ENTRYS TO WIN ONE OF THESE FUN GIFTS!

~YOU CAN ONLY WIN ONE GIFT PACKAGE~

GOOD LUCK LADIES HERE ARE THE PACKAGES YOU'VE BEEN WAITING TO SEE!

Gift package 1

"pamper yourself"

(most of these items were either gifted to me or came out of my gift tubs for last min gift giving!)

This package includes;

a travel sized bag of MarKay's TimeWise Cellu-Shape Contouring System.

A Novel called; Un-Bridaled written by Eileen Rendahl.

Look it up on google n see what its about :)

Matching Earrings and Necklace set

(Costume jewllery nothing fancy or expensive i dont think?)

Cute pair of Earrings

(Costume jewllery like above)

2 Full sized bottles of Avon Shower Gel (Sheer Rose)

And Body Spray



Small bar of soap and small bottle of whipped body lotion "passionate rose"

ALSO pictured are 2 small bottles of Victoria Secret perfumes;

Ooh La La is the shape of the heart one and the tall bottle is Pink.

All of this comes in a cute little basket!

Gift package 2

"Recipes"

In this package you will recieve 3 items

~one being a small box of chocolates (4 choccies in total)

~one Paula Deen Recipe Book

~on easy christmas recipe book

Gift package 3

"Home Decor Stuff"

2 Packages of Potpuri from Ikea

2 Urn like containers for decoration.

1 Christmas boxed candle set

2 lots of 4 nakpin holders

4 green /4 purple

5 printed cards for framing of lavander from Ikea