Pineapple and Peanut Butter and Zombies
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I don’t usually celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, as neither Peter and I have a drop of Irish blood in our bodies (well, certainly not I). I do like to make a loaf of Irish soda bread on occasion, and Peter has made corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day before. Note: When I say that Peter MADE the corned beef, I don’t mean he picked it up from the store, I mean he corned/brined the brisket himself. The beef sat in a bucket in our fridge for a week. I’m not joking.
This morning, I decided to try a slight variation on the usual:
That’s Saratoga PB, Crofter’s raspberry jam, and pineapple that, again, may or may not have come from the fruit and veggie lesson we gave yesterday, on top of oatmeal. Eaten while studying for today’s Food Service exam.
Peanut butter and pineapple is a combination not to be underestimated! Sweet, tart, salty, and creamy, all at the same time. Try it. I dare you.
Speaking of exams, I already received a grade for the Medical Nutrition Therapy test I took on Monday and I did really well! What a relief to see the grade before taking the Food Service test today – I went into it with confidence (it ended up being pretty easy). Before I went into the test, however, I felt like I did on this day. How is it possible that a school with so much land has so little parking?? I did a lot of creeping this morning.
I had to work late today so no Irish soda bread, but Peter did have a fun soup up his sleeve. (As an aside: A few of you have asked if we actually cook gourmet meals every day. I admit that we probably cook more fancy dishes than the average couple in their mid-twenties, but Peter will have to claim all the credit for that – he has more time and imagination. 🙂 We DO cook a lot – but we also have leftovers about half the week. We add new side veggies to make the dishes fresh and interesting.)
On the menu was a Malaysian noodle soup from this book. Peter started the soup base (a laksa paste) a few days ago because, well, he had time. The paste contained shallots, almonds, ginger, coriander (the seeds, of course), lime, fish sauce, chili sauce, sesame oil, and coconut milk. Let me tell you, the delicious smells wafting out of the kitchen while Peter cooks …
Today, he prepped the rest of the ingredients before I arrived home.
That’s butternut squash, sauteed chicken, rice noodles, scallions, zucchini matchsticks, and bean sprouts.
Tossing the squash in the coconut milk, chicken broth, and laksa paste soup base:
Serving the soup and squash on a bed of zucchini, scallions, chicken, noodles, and bean sprouts:
Served with milk, omega-3, and vitamin D:
Can you see the sweet potato forest through the cilantro trees?
Filling and fabulous! The broth was rich and creamy, but not at all heavy. We’ve cooked a lot of recipes in this cookbook and they’ve all been great, so I encourage you to check it out.
I finished with a dollop of Peter “deconstructed” cheesecake (i.e. it fell apart because I begged Peter to let me have some before it was completely cool. Oops.).
The cheesecake was guava-flavored, made with guava paste, but the guava taste wasn’t very strong. Does anyone have any suggestions for making fruit-flavored cheesecakes with plenty of flavor?
As a parting note: my sister C sent me this video yesterday, of a “trailer” for the soon-to-be-released prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (yes, you read that correctly). BEFORE YOU WATCH, a warning: the trailer has a lot of (fake) blood, so you may want to skip if you’re feeling a bit faint.
Sure makes you appreciate the classics of literature, doesn’t it?
Q: Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Do you cook/bake anything special?
Wow, Peter is hard core with his corned beef and cabbage!!! My husband loves that stuff, but alas, we didn’t eat any today.
This has been a not so fun Patty’s Day for this half-Irishman. Giving up meat for Lent makes my yearly corned beef an impossibility. For dinner I made myself a Greek salad sandwich instead (Tomato, lettuce, feta cheese, and some homemade olive tapenade). Not exactly your typical Irish feast. I did, however, get to have my Guinness so at least it wasn’t completely ruined.
Did you read the first Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? I have not read the Jane Austen because my manliness will not allow it, but if zombies were thrown in the mix, I might just be able to get through it.
I have not read the P&P and Zombies book, although it is sitting on my bookshelf (with the cover hidden because, boy, is it gory). I’ll let you know how it is if I read it 🙂
May I have a fruit and veggie cup, please? 🙂 That soup looks fantastic, so many vibrant, nutritious, and exotic ingredients! And I’m crazy for cilantro 🙂
Agh, I really wish they would leave the classics alone. It’s great that these altered versions are introducing a new audience to such wonderful books, but are we really so jaded and afflicted with ADD that we need monsters, constant pounding action, and cheap thrills to voluntarily read something that might otherwise be deemed stuffy or boring…okay, rant over, I’m very biased 🙂
Congrats on your test!
Sure, Lucy, I’ll send one over the border to you 😛
Go ahead and rant all you want! Personally, my favorite novel is Pride and Prejudice, just like every other girl out there 🙂
Way to go on the test!! 🙂
Andrew and I don’t really celebrate too much. We were just sayin how we’ve never really gone out to celebrate. He usually drinks guiness and I usually eat something spinach flavored and that’s about as festive as we get! 😉 Your soup looks WONDERFUL! Love the cilantro trees! 🙂
The beef was in the fridge for a WEEK?! haha, Peter is so hardcore in the kitchen, reminds me of my boyfriend! That’s awesome!
Laksa is soooooo good. I only discovered it when I was in Singapore in 07 and I have not yet been able to emulate it well. Yours looks great though!
Haha, they should meet!
i’ve never heard of guava paste before!
Wow, I’m so impressed wth Peter making his own corned beef!
ohmigosh. LAKSA. I used to eat that every single day for lunch in Singapore. With a plate of rice crepes. Ah, so good!
What about mango cheesecake?
Mmm, haven’t tried that one. I’ll try to get Peter to make it 😉
I don’t really celebrate it either. It appears to me to just be an excuse to get drunk on a random day of the week or pinch your classmates in second grade. I prefer to get drunk and pinch people whenever I feel the need 😀
Good for you, Christie! 😛
I’m convinced that there’s nothing that peanut butter doesn’t go well with.
hate to break it to you, but you do have some irish blood in you.
Wha…?
I’m a little depressed I didn’t get corned beef and cabbage yesterday, not gunna lie! My husband vetoed the meal – lame!
We had a green beer, that’s about it!
yes i have to say i dont think ive tried pb and pineapple together before. although, i do like pb with pretty much ANYTHING so thanks for the tip!! 🙂
I am not Irish either but I think it’s such a fun holiday to celebrate!
That soup looks amazing!! Glad to hear you did well on your MNT test!
Pineapple is probably my favourite fruit, competing with bananas, raspberries and watermelon ahhahah I love my fruit! Veggies not so much I’m afraid! Peanut butter tastes a little too strong for me, it’s not very popular over here anyway, but I bought a jar once to try it and ate it mostly with honey. 🙂
I like St Patrick’s day! Though I am nowhere near Irish and I only learned of the holiday about 4-5 years ago, I love the idea of the luckiest people in the world celebrating! I hope celebrating it will rub off some luck on me too!! 🙂 Couldn’t do anything this year though… assignments 🙁
I prefer the classic Austen too. I love how she can make amazing books out of practically non-existent plots. So giving the book a plot practically ruins the magic… 🙁
Hi Jessie!! Thanks so much for stopping by, I’m so glad you did because I looove your blog! Can’t wait to try that butternut squash soup. Good luck with the dietetics program, are you in a coordinated program? I’m almost finished with my internship, just a few more weeks! Good luck to you and aloha!
Thanks for the Friday Firsts! I have to admit I have never tried pineapple and peanut butter!
Also, I only have made plain cheesecake, well once I made peanut butter – I usually just do the fruit on top!