Tilling and Thai food...

After thinking about it, talking about it, buying and starting seeds, we finally broke ground on a garden spot on Saturday. This is our first vegetable garden, so we are trying to keep it simple for now. We are hoping to grow some corn, Roma tomatoes, Big Boy tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, basil, Thai basil, cilantro, oregano, jalapeños, habañeros and watermelons in the garden this year. So based on our estimations, we tilled up a square plot about twenty feet by twenty feet next to our young fruit orchard. We picked out as many grass clumps as we could, spread peat moss over the area and tilled it again. While we had the use of my brother-in-law's tiller, we went ahead and extended the blueberry bed to accommodate another three or four blueberry bushes in it.


Last year we planted three blueberry bushes and three semi-dwarf peach trees. It will probably be another year or two before we get any blueberries, but we are hoping to perhaps get a few peaches this year.


After all of this hard work, we whipped up a delicious dinner of Thai style curry chicken and angel hair pasta. It was generally based on a recipe for chiang mai curry noodles from quick and easy thai by Nancie McDermott.

First I started some water boiling in our large pasta pot. Then I added about 2 Tbs. olive oil to a hot wok, then I added four cloves worth of chopped garlic and two Tbs. of Thai red curry paste. I mashed the paste to mix it with the hot oil, then added the meat of two boneless chicken breasts, cut up into bite sized chunks. I browned the chicken for a few minutes, then I added 1¾ cups of chicken broth, one 13.5 oz. can of unsweetened coconut milk, 1 tsp. curry powder, 1 tsp. turmeric, 2 Tbs. soy sauce, 1 tsp. sugar and 1 tsp. salt. I brought it all up to a boil, then lowered the heat to a simmer and simmered it for 10 minutes.



Meanwhile, I boiled a box of angel hair pasta. When the pasta was done, I drained it. I then turned the heat off on the wok with the curry mixture and added the fresh squeezed juice of two limes to it. We put some pasta in our bowls, ladeled some chicken and curry sauce over the pasta, then topped it all off with some fresh chopped shallots, green onions and cilantro. It turned out delicious.


Next time I make this dish, I will probably add the shallots to the wok when I'm browning the chicken and cook them, as the raw shallots combined with the raw green onion was a little too oniony (is that a word?) for us and will probably taste better cooked. I also think I will add chopped tomato and some raisins to the toppings, to add some coolness and sweetness.

After all of this, our backs and legs were sore, our bellies were full and we were ready for rest.

I hope you all had a blessed weekend and took time to join with your friends and family in praising God. He is indeed worthy of praise!


Blessings from the holler, y'all!