Thai Basil Chicken

Around lunch time today, I had the desire to cook. I've had my eye on Thai Basil Chicken recipe for a couple of weeks so I decided to give it a shot for lunch. I got the recipe off of anniechun.com. I had never heard of that brand, until I bought their udon noodles at Costco (which is what I used in this recipe). So, here it is...

• 2 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1 tsp chopped chili (optional for those who like it spicy) **I used a little bit of sriracha**
• 1 cup chicken, cut into 1/4 inch strips
• 3-4 TBSP Annie Chun’s Pad Thai Sauce **I just used the Target brand of Thai Peanut Sauce**
• 1 cup broccoli florets or green beans **Green beans are my favorite so I used those**
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 1 cup loosely packed basil leaves
• Udon noodles **The recipe did not call for noodles, but trust me, it was a good addition!**

1. Heat oil in pan. 
2. Add garlic, chili, noodles, and chicken and stir fry until the chicken is cooked **I boiled the chicken breasts ahead of time, which I would recommend (that way your noodles don't get dry)**
3. Stir in sauce
4. Add broccoli, scallions and basil and mix until heated through. 

I love anything and everything with basil. I don't normally associate basil with asian food, but it really complemented the peanut sauce well. 

As you see in the picture above, I also made some cucumber honey lemonade. During Marie's bachelorette party we went to Postino (a delicious restaurant/wine bar here in Phoenix). Everyone else was drinking fancy drinks with alcohol and since I was pregnant, I obviously couldn't. The waitress recommended their cucumber honey lemonade for me. It really didn't sound too exciting when she mentioned it, but I ordered it anyone. I was so glad I did -- the cucumber flavor was so refreshing! It is pretty pricey for a glass of it there ($3/glass, no refills), so I decided to look for a recipe online. You can find anything on google. 

Here is the link: http://abitofbeesknees.blogspot.com/2012/02/true-food-cucumber-honey-lemonade.html

If you decide to make some, here are my suggestions:

-Boil the honey with a little bit of water. It will help it dissolve and there will be less "clumps" of honey at the bottom of the pitcher

-I doubled the recipe so I just put it into a pitcher instead of individual glasses as the recipe suggests

-We only have a citrus juicer (which I used for the lemons). We didn't have a juicer for the cucumbers so I just peeled the cucumber, sliced it, and stuck it in the blender with the amount of water that the recipe calls for. It did the trick....there were zero cucumber chunks, it was completely liquid. 

The recipes/cooking experiments will go out the window next when I start back to work and school. Until May anyway...which is when I am done with school.