Our $5 a day challenge is now done and I want to thank everyone for their really thoughtful comments and all of the encouragement we received during our week. It was a really valuable exercise for us all and I think each of us walked away having learned something. But ... now it's back to reality, and the reality is that I have to feed my family. Every day. Three times a day. Seven days a week. No matter how much I love to cook, making dinner is never the most exciting part of my day, as I try to put something everyone will eat and enjoy on the table in time for us to often get back out the door for whatever sport/meeting/work shift that has to happen after dinner, I am thinking fast, fresh and tasty ... but I'm not one to use packages or mixes ... so my task can get a bit tricky!
Since our challenge, I've also decided that we can cut our grocery bill a bit, and that we really need to eat from our pantry and freezer more than we do. We buy a quarter of beef, a side of pork and a lamb each year, and we are also part of a year round CSA that includes meat in our baskets each week.
So with that in mind, I had a peek in the freezer this morning and found a pound of ground pork. We went grocery shopping yesterday and picked up fresh fruit and a few herbs and veggies (plus all the ones I have from my basket), so I was well stocked to throw something together tonight. One of my very favourite cookbooks lately is Gwyneth Paltrow's "It's All Good". It's got a bit of a kooky preamble, but the recipes hold up, are usually quite quick to prepare and are super healthful. If you're trying to cut down on your gluten or any other processed foods, this is a great book to add to your collection. One of our favourites is her recipe for "Chicken Burgers, Thai Style". It calls for ground chicken and usually I head out and buy a pound ... but not today! I'm eating from the pantry! Ground pork is a great substitute for ground chicken and so I got to work. The results were delicious, nutritious and gobbled down without complaint!
Pork Burgers, Thai Style
*recipe inspiration from It's All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow
1 pound ground pork (or chicken, or you could try beef as these flavours would work there as well)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced in a garlic press
1/2 cup cilantro, really finely minced
finely chopped onion ... you could do a couple of green onions, I used wild leeks (because it's what I had), red onion, or white cooking onion, maybe about 1/4 cup of those ones, or shallots
2 teaspoons fish sauce (if this isn't in your pantry, you need to add it. It's a great addition... just don't smell it. It doesn't taste like it smells). If you need to avoid fish sauce (it often says that it contains shellfish) or don't have it, you could use soy sauce here instead
1/2 tsp each salt & pepper (this, of course is approximate. I use a grinder and never have the energy to grind a whole 1/2 tsp!)
spice to taste: I used a couple of teaspoons of sweet chilli sauce tonight, but you could use sriracha or just red pepper flakes or a fresh thai chilli finely chopped. It depends on how spicy the people in your house like things (I go easy on the spice in the food and add it later for myself)
Oil: you can use any oil here to rub on the outside of the patties before cooking (I use sesame oil, but plain veg oil or olive oil is just fine)
* some people tell me that their little people won't eat food with "green flecks" in it ... one way to get around this would be to puree the onion, cilantro and garlic with a little oil so that they are all incorporated before mixing together.
Mix all of this together in a bowl. Don't mix too much or it will turn to mush! Form into patties (we do 4 ... but if you had little ones you might want to make smaller patties for them, and just more of them). At this point you can place them on a plate in the fridge until you are ready to cook them. Rub the outside with oil before cooking.
If you have a grill pan, heat it and cook the patties, turning once (gently ... there's no egg etc in these to bind them together, but they do hold their shape really well I find). You could sear them in a frying pan if you don't have a grill pan and I imagine they would also work in the oven (put on parchment paper before baking). If you wanted to do them on the BBQ I think that you would want a BBQ grill to put them on so that if they did break apart or stick, they'd be contained.
I don't serve these with buns, but you could ... making a thai mayo (mayo and sriracha sauce) would be great with them. I also think that these would work well as meatballs, and I think I'll try that another time as well.
Tonight I made a noodle dish with rice noodles tossed in a dressing of soy sauce, hoisin, sesame oil and a bit of fish sauce, then I added in some julienned cucumber and carrot and some chopped cilantro and basil (mint is a nice addition as well). Some stir fried broccoli or green beans would be great on the side as well. (I made a broccoli salad ... it didn't really go with the theme, but was yummy).
Since our challenge, I've also decided that we can cut our grocery bill a bit, and that we really need to eat from our pantry and freezer more than we do. We buy a quarter of beef, a side of pork and a lamb each year, and we are also part of a year round CSA that includes meat in our baskets each week.
So with that in mind, I had a peek in the freezer this morning and found a pound of ground pork. We went grocery shopping yesterday and picked up fresh fruit and a few herbs and veggies (plus all the ones I have from my basket), so I was well stocked to throw something together tonight. One of my very favourite cookbooks lately is Gwyneth Paltrow's "It's All Good". It's got a bit of a kooky preamble, but the recipes hold up, are usually quite quick to prepare and are super healthful. If you're trying to cut down on your gluten or any other processed foods, this is a great book to add to your collection. One of our favourites is her recipe for "Chicken Burgers, Thai Style". It calls for ground chicken and usually I head out and buy a pound ... but not today! I'm eating from the pantry! Ground pork is a great substitute for ground chicken and so I got to work. The results were delicious, nutritious and gobbled down without complaint!
Pork Burgers, Thai Style
*recipe inspiration from It's All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow
1 pound ground pork (or chicken, or you could try beef as these flavours would work there as well)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced in a garlic press
1/2 cup cilantro, really finely minced
finely chopped onion ... you could do a couple of green onions, I used wild leeks (because it's what I had), red onion, or white cooking onion, maybe about 1/4 cup of those ones, or shallots
2 teaspoons fish sauce (if this isn't in your pantry, you need to add it. It's a great addition... just don't smell it. It doesn't taste like it smells). If you need to avoid fish sauce (it often says that it contains shellfish) or don't have it, you could use soy sauce here instead
1/2 tsp each salt & pepper (this, of course is approximate. I use a grinder and never have the energy to grind a whole 1/2 tsp!)
spice to taste: I used a couple of teaspoons of sweet chilli sauce tonight, but you could use sriracha or just red pepper flakes or a fresh thai chilli finely chopped. It depends on how spicy the people in your house like things (I go easy on the spice in the food and add it later for myself)
Oil: you can use any oil here to rub on the outside of the patties before cooking (I use sesame oil, but plain veg oil or olive oil is just fine)
* some people tell me that their little people won't eat food with "green flecks" in it ... one way to get around this would be to puree the onion, cilantro and garlic with a little oil so that they are all incorporated before mixing together.
Mix all of this together in a bowl. Don't mix too much or it will turn to mush! Form into patties (we do 4 ... but if you had little ones you might want to make smaller patties for them, and just more of them). At this point you can place them on a plate in the fridge until you are ready to cook them. Rub the outside with oil before cooking.
If you have a grill pan, heat it and cook the patties, turning once (gently ... there's no egg etc in these to bind them together, but they do hold their shape really well I find). You could sear them in a frying pan if you don't have a grill pan and I imagine they would also work in the oven (put on parchment paper before baking). If you wanted to do them on the BBQ I think that you would want a BBQ grill to put them on so that if they did break apart or stick, they'd be contained.
I don't serve these with buns, but you could ... making a thai mayo (mayo and sriracha sauce) would be great with them. I also think that these would work well as meatballs, and I think I'll try that another time as well.
Tonight I made a noodle dish with rice noodles tossed in a dressing of soy sauce, hoisin, sesame oil and a bit of fish sauce, then I added in some julienned cucumber and carrot and some chopped cilantro and basil (mint is a nice addition as well). Some stir fried broccoli or green beans would be great on the side as well. (I made a broccoli salad ... it didn't really go with the theme, but was yummy).