What’s for Dinner

 I’ve tried some new recipes recently – it is always nice to add some healthy variety to our weekly menu.

Beef Stroganoff with Zucchini Pasta – the other night, Hubby requested slow-cooker Beef Stroganoff for dinner. The recipe is ridiculously simple – season beef with salt and pepper, sear on all sides (optional step), and cook in a slow-cooker on high for 6 hours with Cream of Mushroom soup, chili flakes, garlic powder and onion powder. Serve with pasta (Hubby prefers farfalle/bow-tie pasta – though most people use egg noodles). This is a great comfort food – but it’s carb-heavy. So I substituted zucchini pasta in my portion (recipe here). I’ve used spaghetti squash as pasta before – but I much preferred my zucchini noodles – way less effort – and very satisfying too.

Chicken and Shredded Cabbage Salad – This is the first recipe I’ve made from the Low-Fat No-Fat Thai & South-East Asian Cookbook (only $7 at Winners!). The components are simple: finely sliced Napa cabbage, mint, grated carrot and shredded chicken dressed with a lime, fish sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, chili and shallot dressing. I didn’t need any specialty ingredients – I found everything at my grocery store – yet the dish had a very authentic Thai flavour to it. There was a lot of prep work with all the slicing and shredding, but it was worth the effort – the dish was super-tasty and very filling. I’ve bookmarked several more recipes in this book, and can’t wait to try them out!