Whole30: Tom Kha Gai

Holy Cow, I'm on Day 26!!!! I can harldy believe that I have made it this far into the Whole30. My will is strong, my stomach is smaller, and I'm hungry! Only 4 more days to go.

I started to clean out my fridge today and go rid of all the paleo left overs that I am never going to eat. *WARNING*: This may disturb you. I threw away an 3 week old chicken neck from my first night on this diet which I planned on making into a stock or broth. Spoiler: I never did and it was SO DISGUSTING!!!! Clean out your fridge, people.

So, now that I'm halfway into my 4th and last week of the Whole30, I wanted to make something special and delicious. If you're like me then you LOVE Thai food and have been having serious withdrawals during the last 26 days. So, I decided to try and make my favorite Thai dish:

Tom Kha Gai or Chicken Galangal Soup!



Every restaurant has their own way of making this dish. Even when my husband and I went to Thailand we didn't always love how this soup was made. When done right this soup can curl your toes, however if done wrong it can be very disappointing in so many ways. I've had Tom Kha Gai that is too acidic or too bland and it's so sad. I made this once before and the recipe told me to add juice from 4 limes! It was so limey and terrible. So, I decided to consult the experts this time and used a little home printed cookbook my husband picked up from our local Asian market in Provo.

This is the original recipe by Kanakum Lawson:

Coconut Soup

2 cups water
1 cup coconut milk
1 stalk lemon grass (remove top 1/3 and slice the rest into 1.5 inch sections)
2-3 slices galangal (Thai ginger)
1/2 cup straw mushrooms
3 Thai chili peppers
1 chicken breast, sliced
1 lime
2 Tbsp fish sauce
3-4 Kaffir lime leaves (remove central stem)
3 sprigs cilantro
1/2 cup baby corn

Boil coconut milk, water, galangal, and lemongrass in a pot on medium to low heat. Reduce to simmer and stir frequently otherwise coconut milk can curdle. Add chicken, kaffir lime leaves, and fish sauce. Let simmer for a few minutes and then add mushrooms and corn. Bring back to a boil and turn off heat. In serving bowls, add crushed chili pepper and squeeze 1/3 lime into each bowl. Add cilantro for garnish.

I followed this recipe, however if you've gotten to know me at all you'll know that I can't help but add my own touches to other people's recipes. First, we have to make it compliant, which means no baby corn and using paleo fish sauce (without sugar). Everything else is perfeclty acceptable.

Also, I really wanted to make my soup hearty so that I didn't feel hungry two seconds after eating it. So, I added potatoes and bamboo slices which are two of my favorite ingredients that can come in this dish. I also doubled the recipe because I wanted to eat it for days.

So, there I was, following the recipe. It smelled awesome, a perfect mix of coconut and lemongrass. I had added all my ingredients and it was time for the moment of truth: The Taste Test. I took a spoonfull, brought it to my lips AND... it tasted terrible! It was completely bland. What was I going to do? Had I ruined the recipe by adding so many things to it? So, I had to fix it. I looked different recipes up online, added a few different things, and this is how it turned out:

Mikyn's Galangal Soup

4 cups water
2 cans coconut milk
5 pieces galangal
1" piece of ginger, peeled
2 stalks lemongrass, top removed and rest cut into 1/5" pieces
3 Tbsp fish sauce
4 chicken tenders, boneless, skinless, chopped into bite sizes
3 yukon gold potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces
1 can bamboo slices
1 can straw mushrooms
1 chicken bouillon cube
*1 Thai chili pepper, seeds removed
4 Kaffir lime leaves, middle stems removed
2 limes, juiced
1 Tbsp onion powder
3 sprigs cilantro
1/2 onion, chopped (optional)

I really wanted to bring that savory, hearty flavor to the soup without masking the lemon/lime flavor which is why I added some chicken bouillon and onion powder. The lime juice really amped up the citrus flavor and brought the soup from blah to awesome!

Here's how I would have cooked it if I'd started with this recipe in the first place:

Bring water, coconut milk, galangal, lemongrass, and ginger to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes, stirring frequently. Add fish sauce, chicken bouillon, onion powder, lime leaves, chicken, and potatoes. Simmer for another ten minutes. Add lime juice, mushrooms, bamboo slices, cilantro and Thai chili. Bring back to a boil for a few minutes. Serve with some fresh cilantro.

Adding these extra ingredients made the soup really good. I'm not sure why the original recipe didn't turn out well, it was probably some sort of error on my part, however I'm giving my new recipe a big SUCCESS!

Note about ingredients:

You should be able to find everything you need for this recipe at your local Asian market which will carry galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and thai chilis. Do not eat any of these ingredients, they are simply for flavor.

*Warning: Thai chili's are very hot and you only need one to spice an entire pot of soup. Handle them carefully. Remove the seeds and wash your hands, making sure you don't touch your face or eyes before you do.

Whole30: Paleo Burger

Week 4 of the Whole30! I'm so close, yet so far away.

Sorry, I kind of skipped blogging during my third week. Once people find out you don't have a job you start getting calls to babysit every few days. I'm a pretty hot commodity right now.

It seems like every week of my Whole30 I've had a different favorite recipe, so I wanted to go back in time and share my Week 3 favorite with you all. It's quick, easy, and delicious. It's the Paleo Burger!



Meat

I start out by frying up a patty of ground beef (you could use any ground meat). First, I mix a little ghee into the meat before I form it into patties. Then I season with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder; just a little sprinkle of each on each side. Lastly, I slap it in a heated pan and cook for a few minutes on each side. I like burgers to be a little pink in the middle. You should be left with lots of juices in the pan.

Toppings

Choose which veggies you like on your burgers. Personally, I grilled some onions in the leftover hamburger juices, then added some avocado. Tomato would have been good too, if I'd had any.

Don't forget the egg! An egg cooked over easy will really add some great moisture to this burger. One of the things I've struggled with most on the Whole30 is not being able to add sauces unless I make special paleo version myself. However, a nice runny egg yolk is a simple and natural way to add moisture to any dish.

If you don't like eggs, leave it off! No problem.

Now, you have all your components, time to put them together. Cut up some lettuce and put it on the plate first, then add your burger patty, the egg, and any veggies on top. You've got your burger, but you're not quite done!

Ranch Sauce

Like I said, you need a yummy sauce to top off your burger, and this ranch recipe I found on the Whole30 recipe website is really delicious.

Here is the recipe:

2/3 cup light olive oil
1 egg
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp granulated garlic (or 1/4 tsp garlic salt)
1 Tbsp herbs (dried or fresh)
2 Tbsp coconut cream

Place everything except oil and coconut cream in a food processor then slowly drizzle in oil while food processor is running. Then add the cream.

I did this a little differently and I really liked the results:

1. I put all the ingredients except coconut cream inside my magic bullet and it blended just fine.
2. The only herbs I used was fresh dill and it was delicious.
3. I left out the coconut cream altogether.

Done my way the sauce is very thin and not as thick and dressing like as ranch normally is. It also mixes so deliciously with the juices from your burger. I made it twice and it turned out great both times, so I know it's not a fluke.

Now that you have your sauce, drizzle it on top of your burger and enjoy! Your paleo burger is complete and completely delicious.

I'm giving this recipe a huge SUCESS because it got me through many days of cravings and many nights of ice cream dreams.

Whole30: Thai Basil Chicken

Hahahahahaha oh man! Good one, Kate! We almost believed you.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm feeling great right now! I went to the gym last night and ran for 20 minutes straight which, if you know me, is quite the feat; I am not a runner. But ever since last night I have felt really good. I feel skinny and not in the "I haven't eaten for days and I'm starving" way. In a good way. #Day12

BUT come on! I can think of at least 20 things right now that taste just about as good as feeling skinny feels, if not better. Have you been on pinterest lately? There are about one million recipes that I'm dying to scarf down right now and if it weren't for the Whole30 I would do it. Kate, your argument is invalid.

Now, if Kate Moss has said "Feeling healthy and good about yourself is worth not stuffing your face with treats every day" that may have been a legitimate argument. Not as catchy, but more true.

Anyway, you probably came here for a recipe. So here it goes:

I found this recipe for Thai Basil Chicken on the (you guessed it) Whole30 website! It's by @wholefork. If you're like me then you love Thai Food, which can be a hard food genre to swing on the Whole30. So, I was excited to give this recipe a try.

Thai Basil Chicken

1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 onion, chopped
4 oz boneless chicken chopped into bites (Again, left overs from Butterflied Chicken)
1/8 cup coconut aminos
1/2 red or orange bell pepper chopped (gross)
1/2 yellow zucchini shredded
Handful of carrot shreds
Handful of fresh basil

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic until they turn translucent. Add chicken and aminos and cook until chicken turns white, stirring every 2 min. Add veggies and mix with chicken and sauce. When veggies have softened to your liking add fresh basil and stir a few times until basil slightly wilts. Salt and pepper to taste.

I left this recipe pretty much how it was (besides the bell pepper) since I didn't really know how it should turn out. I guessed that the carrot and zuccini were supposed to act as noodles. Wishful thinking.

Instead of explaining what went wrong I'll just show you.

This is what @wholefork says the dish is supposed to look like:



Now, I know that my pictures aren't exactly professional, but let's take a look at what my dish looked like:



Do you see any discrepancies? The differences don't end there (I assume, since I've never tried her dish). Basically, it tasted terrible. I have some thoughts on why: The chicken I used didn't really taste good in the first place which kind of ruined the dish. I also may have overcooked the vegetables which made them slightly mushy instead of noodle-like. It wasn't great.

However, I was able to eat most of what I made by putting Ginger Sauce on it. This sauce saves a lot of things, apparently.

I'm giving this recipe a big *FAIL because not even basil could save it.

*I attribute all failures to my shortcomings, not to the recipes themselves.