On Our Table This Week

I thought I'd do a post each week showing you what's on our table. I forget how differently we eat and  that some of you might like to see what we're eating. Maybe some of you would even like to try it out yourself. 

On our table this week.....

Kaaw Kook Kabii (Stir Fried Rice with trimmings mixed in.)

The cast of characters are: raw green mago, egg omelet, long snake beans, cucumbers, and sweet chicken. I left out the picture of our brown rice that we stir fried in shrimp paste. However, I don't even think America has shrimp paste so you can use what ever you have.... put some oil in a pot, add your cooked rice (you want it a little on the dry side), then add fish sauce or soy sauce.

You can cut out things that you don't have and add things you do have. 

First,  1. stir fry your rice

          2. slice up chicken, rub it down with sweet soy sauce and dark soy sauce. cook in some sesame 

              oil until brown. 

          3. cut all your veggies... (mangos, cucumbers, green beans)

          4. make an egg omelet by cracking a few eggs in a bowl. add some light soy sauce, some Knorr 

              chicken powder, black pepper, add oil to the skillet. you want the bottom covered with oil. 

              cook it until the edges begin to brown, then flip it. slice the egg in thin strips 

Once all of your ingredients are in separate bowels, you add your rice to your place then begin to top the rice with different toppings. YUM!

Kaaw Kook Kapii

This is my stir friend chicken with broccoli. YUMMY!! A  family favorite.

Cast of characters: 3 chicken breast, 1 head broccoli, hoisen sauce, black soy sauce, oil garlic, ginger sesame oil, Knorr chicken powder and sugar

cut your chicken up in pieces
dice your garlic
cut broccoli in pieces
rub the chicken down in a 1 Tbls of Knorr chicken seasoning powder
heat 3 Tbls sesame oil and sauté garlic and ginger for about 1 min. add the chicken
after a few minutes add broccoli. sauté
then begin to add your sauces, 2Tbls hoisen sauce, 1 Tbls of black soy sauce, and about 2 tsp sugar.

Saute until chicken is done and broccoli is the desire tenderness. Don't overdo the broccoli.

This is an absolute family favorite! Try it and tell me what you think.

Love,
Amber

Fire Pit

Here's the fire pit that Clinton made last year. We. Love. It. 

It's super hot in Thailand but November through February are cooler and are much cooler in the evenings (74F). For us that's cool. haha  So we've been having bon fires a lot. The kids love it. We eat dinner outside on the porch and sometimes we roast wieners or make banana boats or roast marsh mellows. 

Sometimes we don't do anything but enjoy it. It's all about creating family moments and making memories for the kids. 

This picture is hysterical to me!! The fire was so hot that Bang decided to roast his wiener from behind the wall! We were rolling!!!

Here's Colton's idea of how to roast a wiener. : )

Baby Chan with his big beautiful brown eyes.

Daddy's holding a sick baby Cayden. He had fever and was throwing up. Not too fun for him!

We had banana boats. A super fun idea I found on the Pioneer Woman website.

You cut the banana peel and through the banana just enough to stuff it with all kinds of goodness. I laid out chocolate chips, marshmallows, coconut, and Reese's Pieces.

After you stuff them you wrap them in foil and set them in the fire for all the goodness to melt and make an incredible gooey concoction!! YUM!

I just noticed the Paracetamol on the table............ AND I took the picture from the back side of the table. LOL

What can I say, I have six kids and they're ALL boys. My brain doesn't work like it used to. ; )

What do you like to do for family nights?

Try Banana Boats and tell me how you like them!

Love,
Amber

On Our Table This Week

Food is a huge part of my day. It's amazing the amount of time a missionary mamma spends in the kitchen! What takes others no time to make takes us an hour or two. I've recently been trying to streamline and make some quicker meals that are both healthy and good! 

We're all on a health kick.  Trying to get into shape and loose some weight. Clinton's lost 11lbs, I've lost 9.5lbs and Chase has put on some serious muscle mass. Bang has even joined in and is trying to gain some weight and eat healthier.

We're trying really hard to eat "clean" Focusing on fruits and veggies and foods that are good for you. We've made a few simple changes like eating brown rice, no sweets except once a week, no pork, nothing fried, and very little beef. Our main diet consists of veggies and chicken. 

Once a week we have a "splurge night" where we eat a fattening meal and a dessert. 

Hey! You gotta be realistic! 

Some of the things on our table this week.

First we have some Baked Eggplant with Red Sauce. YUM! 

I used 1/2 cup parmesan and 1/2 cup bread crumbs, and a little pepper. I dipped the eggplant in an egg wash then dredged them in the crumb mixture. Baked them until golden. Cant' remember how long that was. 

We took our food outside and had a picnic in the front yard. It was a gorgeous afternoon. 

The sauce was super simple.
Red Sauce
1 can of whole tomatoes, two cans crushed tomatoes, 1/2 cup parmesan, with some sautéed onion and garlic, salt, pepper and Italian seasonings. Let it simmer for 25min.

Tuesday night we had Grilled Chicken with Pasta and a Tomato Cream Sauce! YUM!!
My Tomato Cream Sauce came from The Pioneer Woman recipe. You can find this recipe here.
This is one of my FAVORITE quick go to recipes when I don't know what to cook because you can do all kinds of stuff with it. You can have chicken, shrimp, or have it plain.

Grilled Chicken with Italian Seasoning

The Chocolate Chip cookie below was for a Friday night "splurge" night. I found this recipe on Pintrest and it's WONDERFUL!!!! You mix all the ingredients in one bowl. You can find the recipe here
Did I mention how much I love my iron skillet!!! LOVE. IT.

I LOVE Pesto!! Especially homemade Pesto. I decided to use this Pesto on one of our Pizza's. A huge hit.

(The pizzas were from before we gave up pork)
The recipe for my dough is also from Pioneer Woman. You'll soon find that many of my recipes come from her site! There ALL wonderful. Pizza Dough This pizza was from a few months back but I wanted to share it with you. Homemade Pizza is so quick and inexpensive to feed our large family. We have it at least twice a month. There's SOOO many ways you can change pizza!!

Pesto Pizza with Ham and Tomatoes

 This one is half Bar B Que Pizza and half ham and cheese. I wasn't quiet sure how everyone would liek the Bar B Que one so I made half. IT WAS A FAVORITE!!! It's acutally left over Pulled Pork. Colton loved it so much he requested it for his Birthday Dinner! So that's what we had for his birthday.

My Pulled Pork Recipe is:
Cook your pork in  slow cooker with some chicken broth. After it's fork tender pull it all apart, drain some of the juice then add 3C Catsup, 6T brown sugar, 1tsp Worcestershire Sauce, 1tsp Tabasco Sauce. Let it simmer for a few min. Really good the second day.

Sad to say.... but we no longer eat pork. I decided about 3 months ago that I wasn't going to eat pork and I shared it with the family at dinner one night. After reading some things I just decided I was going to make a break from it. I'm really trying to give up beef too. Well, the funny thing is, the WHOLE FAMILY (all those living in our house) decided to give it up too. So we no longer eat pork. I know. I know. It's delicious!!! I agree!! But I must follow my conscience. ;)

Pulled Pork Pizza

Granola! This is an absolute staple at our house!! I try to have it on hand ALL THE TIME! The whole family loves it and it's SOOO good for you!!!! I put all kinds of things in my granola: cranberries, walnuts, almonds, flax seeds, wheat germ, honey.... So so good!!

Here's the recipe:
8c rolled oats
1/4c sunflower oil
1/4c butter
1tsp salt
3/4c honey
1/4c apple juice
3/4c brown sugar
3tsp Vanilla
1 1/2c cereal (any kind of crunchy cereal: Rice Krispies, crushed Corn Flakes)
1c wheat germ
1c nuts
1/2c cranberries
1/2c chocolate chips

Mix the oats with the salt oil and butter. Let them toast on 325 for about 15 mins. Then pour them in a bowl. Set aside. Mix honey, apple juice, brown sugar and heat in the microwave until dissolved. Pour the mixture over the oats, then add the rest of the ingredients. You can mix and match what you add.

Variations:
Raisins
Pecans
White Chocolate Chips
M&M

look at those plump cranberries

This is what we had today! If you make this, your family will love you!!! 

Chicken Curry with Pineapple served over Brown Rice

I call it a health revolution because that's really what it is!! If any of you know us well, you know the Garsees have NEVER been into "healthy" eating. We've always been the kind of family that "eats what tastes good" I mean my husband thinks Lays Potato Chips are a food group. And Coke.....he loves this stuff. Chase Tanner could have lived his entire existence on fried food. And ALL OF US, looooooove SUGAR. 

But while Chase was in Mexico he started working out and made a few eating changes, and because I REALLY need to loose weight Clinton jumped on board. When the whole family's on board it makes it a lot easier! So I began to go a little further and stretched all of us but we FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!! I have SO much more energy!!! It's amazing!

When I made the switch to brown rice several months ago, I wasn't really sure how the family would respond but everyone loves it except Joseph! Bless his little southern Thai heart...he hates it!! 

It's nutty and hearty! I love to crunch it between my teeth. Yummy!! 

Chicken Curry with Pineapple

Do you love my bowls in the back ground?!? I got them today at a tent on the side of the road. I got these plates that the rice is on for 30 baht or $1 and the bowls for 60 baht or $2!

One of my weaknesses is table ware. I love dishes!!! I love pretty bowls and plates and serving dishes. I love to entertain.... cooking and having people over is one of my favorite things!

Okay, I just totally went off on a rabbit trail.....hahaha. but I REALLY love my dishes! Do you?

I'd love for your to share some quick healthy recipes with me. Any suggestions?

Have a good day!

Love,
Amber