Pad Thai Wannabe

I can never get enough of Thai food; and my absolute favorite dish is Pad Thai. Now some places do it cheaply and instead of using authentic ingredients, will toss in (YUCK!) ketchup. Now I'm not claiming this is an EXACT replica, but it comes pretty close.
Making this as a split dishes requires 3 pots and pans (which is as low as I could make it)

Tangy Thai Peanut Sauce
In a magic bullet (yipee) or a food processor, combine the following and blend well.

• 1 garlic clove roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp of roughly chopped ginger
• 1/3 cup of Cashew butter or Peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp of Soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp of Rice Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp of lime juice
• 1 Tbsp of sambal (or chili sauce)
• 1 tsp of honey
• zest of one orange
• 1/4 cup of chopped coriander
  

Next, chop up all your veggies. I used whatever I could find in the fridge: Broccoli, Napa cabbage, snow peas, Chinese greens, celery and carrots. For the last two, I chopped them into matchsticks so they would mimic the noodle shape.

With the vegetables, I chopped up 1 Tbsp of ginger and garlic.

Pad Thai Wannabe

• 6-8 cups of chopped vegetables
• 1 Tbsp of ginger and garlic
• 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil
• a couple of handfuls of linguine, or fettucini noodles (or if you want, egg noodles or rice noodles)
• 1 chicken breast (seasoned with salt, pepper and bit of olive oil)
• 1 meatless chicken breast (President's Choice)

1. Bring water to boil in a large pot. Season with salt and add noodles. Cook for 10 minute
2. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, skillet or grill pan, cook meatless chicken (from frozen) for 5 minutes per side. Set aside on plate when done and slice into strips
3. In the same pan, cook Chicken on both sides until done (6-8 minutes per side). Set aside on another plate when done and slice into strips
4. In a wok or large skillet, heat up 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add ginger/garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add vegetables and cook until just tender (around 4 minutes). Remove veggies to a bowl.
5. If pasta is done, drain and reserve about 4 cups of pasta water
6. At this point, you have a large pot, a wok and a skillet. Use the skillet you cooked the chicken in for the "meat" dish and the wok for the vegetarian version (yeah, no cleanup!)
7. To pot/skillet, bring back chicken and add half of the Tangy Thai Peanut Sauce. It will be quite thick, so add 1 1/2 cups of pasta water. Add in half of pasta and veggies.
8. Blend until coated, added more pasta water if necessary.
9. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander and some crushed peanuts

ETA: This was soooooo good. I'm patting myself on the back. I'm glad I made extra mmmm leftovers.

My favorite split menu dish: Beef Stew

This was one of our favorite and first split meals that my husband and I made. This is one that I can help him chop up the veggies and then sit back and watch while he does the rest. EASY :)
It doesn't warrent an ingredient list or even instructions, but I can provide some tips.

1. To make life easier for my kitchen novice husband, we use a Club House packet of Beef Stew and basically follow the instructions.
2. While he is browning his beef in one dutch oven, I'll chop up onions, carrots, celerey and potatoes and split them equally into two bowls (one for me, one for him)
3. In my dutch oven, he will brown my veggie meatballs (I love the Oh Naturel from Schneiders)
4. At this point, you just follow the instructions on the package. I really don't know what else goes on since I'm usually in the living room painting my toe nails :)

Anywho, I usually throw in a Bay leaf and some barley while the stew simmers. And like all stews it ALWAYS tastes better on the second day. And no pics because... like I said, it tastes very good ;)

Help me! A vegetarian is coming to my house and I don't know what to do!

Okay, before heading for hills and collecting a basket of grass for us, let me say a little something. For some reason, when I'm invited to a dinner party and I mention I'm a vegetarian, a look of polite horror crosses their face. I didn't say I was allergic to air/water and your cat. I only don't want to eat a big chunky piece of meat.

A lot of people put undo stress on themselves, wondering "What on earth can I serve this person". Here is a list of things you probably, no... DEFINITELY shouldn't do.

1. Make extra salad. "That should be good enough right?" WRONG!
2. Pick the meat out of the dish. "They won't notice right?" WRONG!
3. They can eat the side dishes. "I made mashed potatoes and peas". Nice sentiment, but hardly palate pleasing.
4. "Some hippy sold me a tofu slab. I can just put that right on the plate". Not really wrong, but no fun either.

I'll use this weekend as an example of what you CAN do.

My inlaws came to vist and they, like my DH love their meat. I made a Beef Roast with a rich gravy. There is a great article about this in my favorite magazine Fine Cooking http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/articles/braising-is-quick-choose-right-cut.aspx?ac=ts&ra=fp.

The side dishes I chose to make is where you can be creative and more importantly, feed your vegetarian guest.

Some of these dishes have already appeared in my blog: Tomato and Zucchini gratin, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Braised Sugar Snap Peas and a Rapini and Cannellini toss. All great side dishes with lots of flavour and colour. Here is why:

1. Gratins. These are elegant simple dishes that can be made ahead of time. They present well, heat well and are excellent way of packing lots and lots of veggies for those who don't like it. Also, they can be a wonderful light main for lunch or in this case, a vegetarian
2. The ravioli was just something I had in the freezer from my last batch. Throw them in hot water, a quick butter cream sauce and we are done
3. The peas were easy to make. I braised them in a skillet with a little water. Braise until all the water has evaporated and toss in some good olive oil and a 1 tsp of Oregano
4. Rapini is loaded with vitamins and will keep that vibrant green for a while (unlike Broccoli which can turn a pale sad green with overcooking). Toss in some beans for protein and you've got yourself a classic Italian dish.

And most importantly, everyone is happy :)

Tools for the Split Kitchen

I've been living with my darling meat eater for almost 7 years now, and i've picked up a few tips and tricks to making the act of "dinner" easier.

Just because you have a meat eater and a vegetarian living together, doesn't mean you need separate pots and pans for everything. However, having multiple utensils is handy.

Here is a list of cooking tools are that handy to double up on.

Pots and Pans

• Medium sized sauce pan
• Large Dutch oven
• skillet or frying pan

Utensils

• Wooden spoons
• Ladles
• Spatula
• Tongs
• Pastry Brush

Miscellaneous

• Ramekins
• BBQ tools! (flipper, tongs, brush)

By having a couple of spares of these, you can make cooking a split meal easier and faster.