Yes, that's right, white plates. I have such lofty aspirations. Blue plates, though fun and appropriate for the decor I wanted in my house, just aren't the best thing for making food look appetizing, especially in pictures. So, ladies and gentleman (intentionally misspelled because I'm 99% sure hubby is the only man that reads this blog), tonight I give you the first picture of my dinner on a white plate. Of course, I picked the night when I made white rice that just blended right in, but I still think these plates will look better in the long run.
Also, as I am my mother's daughter, she didn't actually have to pay for the plates because she had a gift card obtained from filling a new prescription. Yay for free presents!
Anyway, back to the issue at hand, the actual dinner. After my last not-so-successful attempt at Thai-inspired food, I was a little leery about making this recipe. Thankfully I decided to go ahead and make it as I thought it was very tasty and hubby seemed to agree.
I have really started to love allrecipes.com. The best part of the site is the user reviews, which are helpful to let you know what to expect before you try to make something. Most of the reviews for this recipe were favorable, and many left suggestions on how to tweak the ingredients to make it even better.
I followed the advice of some of the reviewers, adding extra chicken stock and also more red pepper flakes. A lot more. The recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon and I probably threw in at least an extra teaspoon. Thai food is supposed to be spicy and I knew hubby wouldn't mind the extra heat.
For a side (in addition to the rice, which I somehow managed to make way stickier than normal and hubby did not approve) I decided to get some tortillas. That may sound like a strange accompaniment, but since hubby is always asking for bread I figured I needed to give him some sort of option. My inspiration came from BD's Mongolian BBQ, where they serve tortillas as well as rice. Since he always eats both with his stir-fry, I thought he might like them with this dish. He said they were okay, but naan would have been better. After he said that I wished I hadn't asked, since the rest of the meal I was craving a garlicky, crispy, delicious piece of the stuff. Mmm, naan...
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Estimated cost of meal
Chicken: $1.25
Chicken stock: $.50
Bell pepper: $1
Onion: $.50
Soy sauce: $.25
Spices: $.25
Peanut butter: $.25 (only used 1/2 cup)
Limes: $.50
Rice: $.70
Garnish: $.25
Total: $5.45
Former life total: Lunch @ Thai Place (yes that's really the name of one of our local Thai restaurants): $25
Leaner Life Savings: $19.55 or 78%!!!
2 comments:
I have that same Thai slow-cooker recipe hanging on my fridge waiting to try! Now that I know it's a winner with some naan...I'm gonna have to head to Trader Joe's ;-)
We're like joined at the neuron or something. When I took a picture of the birthday dinner that Dan cooked for me on my hand-me-down 1980's blue and white plates, I was like, "Yuck! I need white plates!"
I haven't made a purchase yet. But my mom and dad sent me birthday money.
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