Thanks Grandma!

I've never been the kind of person to post pictures of food I've made, but that's because I've never been good at making food. I recently told this to my mom, who told her mom, who then bought me a Betty Crocker Cookbook. This has been the greatest edition to my kitchen. Since I don't know how to make a lot of different dishes it's nice to have a cookbook to flip through for ideas. Looking for recipes on the internet is alright if you know exactly what you are looking for, but since I rarely do I'd much rather sit down with a real book to figure it out. I must be getting old because my aversion to technology seems to be increasing.

Anyway, I came home from an all day ESL Tutoring training and was really hungry. I decided I wanted to make something non-traditional, something I have never made, and something spicy and delicious. Having never cooked an Asian dish in my life (and also having the majority of the ingredients in my kitchen) I decided to give the Spicy Chipotle-Peanut Noodle Bowl recipe a try. I had to make a few adjustments though since I didn't have all the ingredients.



Lanni's Spicy Chipotle-Peanut Rice Plate (or Bowl if you prefer)

1/4 cup peanut butter (I'm a Peter Pan extra crunchy kind of girl)
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (from 7-oz can), seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce (from the can!)
1/8 cut chopped fresh cilantro
1 medium size chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups water
1 medium carrot, cut in julienne strips
1/2 medium bell pepper, cut in julienne strips (the recipe called for red but I only had a green one)
1 cup rice

1. In small bowl mix peanut butter, apple juice, soy sauce, chilies and adobo sauce together until smooth. Stir in cilantro.

2. In saucepan, heat water to boiling. Add carrots and bell pepper; cook 1 minute. Remove carrots and bell pepper from water with slotted spoon. Add rice to water; cook as directed.

3. Meanwhile in skillet cook chicken over olive oil till cooked. Add peanut butter mixture and cook on low heat until rice is finished.

4. Pour chicken and peanut butter sauce on top of rice. Top with carrots and bell pepper.

The verdict? Spicy and delicious!