Katie's Thai Almond Chicken & Veggie Stir-Fry (Healthy, Low-Carb/Paleo/Keto, VAALT)

Marcus and I recently went to a pot-luck and the hostess enjoyed our dish so much, she asked for the recipe. I wrote her an email, and of course it ended up being more detailed & info-heavy than I initially planned, so Marcus thought the email/recipe deserved to be on my blog.

Hey,

Sorry it’s taken me a few days! I knew putting this email together would take a little time since I almost always modify recipes based on our eating style, Marcus’s expertise and the VAALT* diet (Marcus's creation) of course!

VAALT is an acronym: Vegan, Anti-inflamatory, Animal Low Temperature 
Everything must be organic or better on the VAALT diet.

Here’s the note: Marcus (& I) would rather you spend time filling out your 4-day summary than making this recipe so we can help you get over your health issues - however, I did tell you I’d send this to you, and maybe your hubby will make it!!

Here are the two recipes that I used as research for my dish. I tried to include all notes below on how I modified them… Once I have a team (including an assistant), these modified recipes will go into our book or website, but for now, I’m still getting all that together!

Thai Peanut (Almond) Chicken
http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2014/04/crockpot-thai-peanut-chicken-recipe.html

You know we use all organic so keep in mind that’s implied for all the recipes! All degrees are in Fahrenheit. 

I doubled the Thai Peanut (ALMOND) sauce for this recipe because I used 2 packages of TJ Organic free range chicken legs… which I think was about 5-6 pounds.

We bought this crock pot http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33462-Portable-6-Quart/dp/B009RKIPW4 because it uses relatively little energy (I think on “warm” lowest setting stays at a great temperature, usually below 150°, and it pulls 4 amps/25 volts; it takes less energy in summer when temperature is warm). I had to research in reviews to find one that works for our purposes. Some don’t have the warm setting & low is too hot for us (usually 180°+). We check temp periodically when we cook meat & keep our meat at 135-150° to ensure bacteria is killed but we don’t oxidize fats or denature the proteins, or glycate the sugar/fat/protein. We use the same crock pot, on warm, to make plain broth out of prather bones (with 1-2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar). It takes 24 hours for first batch, then we take out half, add water & make probably 1-1.5 gallons of broth out of 1 bag (1-2 pounds) of prater bones. It’s incredible! My hair & nails are stronger than they have ever been & I’m sleeping better, feeling fantastic and I think it’s because of the low carb diet (Marcus’s VAALT diet) and bone broth! We drink about 1-2 cups per day with 1-2 teaspoons of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos.

Back to Thai Almond recipe!

1 large red bell pepper, 1 large onion, sliced & laid at bottom of our crock pot. 
Wash chicken legs & lay out on top of pepper & onion.
Pour Almond sauce on top. I followed the recipe above from familyfreshmeals but substituted 
ALMOND BUTTER or Almond Meal
Maple Syrup for Honey: And HALFED the sugar because I’m low-carb, and used maple syrup instead of honey - when you cook honey it turns into a high fructose source (kills enzymes & insulin), and it is very hard on the liver, whereas maple sugar has lower glucose ratio… hence we usually sub Maple Syrup when cooking. The caveat about honey - because the hive is warm, honey does handle some heat, but not ever above 120-125° depending on the type of honey.
Bragg’s liquid Aminos instead of soy sauce 
I think I used about 1/4 less Aminos than they called for cuz the sauce tasted right & cuz it’s easy to add salt, hard to take away). 
Lime Juice: I like it with lime, but lemon works fine too. 
Have made it 2xs. 1st time with Maranatha Organic Roasted Almond Butter (MORAB purchased for $6 at Grocery Outlet). It turned out delicious! BUT, cooked nuts aren’t great for liver issues. 2nd time I didn’t have MORAB, so I used some organic almond meal that I ground up to make into a finer almost-butter (if I were patient or had a vitamix or felt like using our green star, it would’ve turned into butter better but I was impatient!). Anyway, the recipe you tried had almond meal in it, not almond butter, but finely ground (I ground in our blender). It also used lemon since I didn’t have limes at home.

So that’s the first part of the recipe. I cooked it for about 24 hours in the crock pot and the temperature reading was averaging 145°. The sides & bottom of crock pot get warmer (I think around 185-200° which isn’t great) but the chicken stays low temp because it’s insulated by sauce & veg.

Once chicken is finished it falls off the bone! I take out the drumsticks & put them in storage as is or pull meat off bone & serve with some of the sauce (it also makes a great thai pizza but that’s only for my high-carb meal of which I get 1 per week). There’s lots of sauce, so I usually jar the sauce separate from the chicken.

2nd part of recipe.
Veggie Thai Peanut (Almond) Stir Fry
http://hurrythefoodup.com/easy-vegetable-stir-fry-with-creamy-peanut-sauce/

I followed this recipe VERY loosely… And I’ve made a ton of different stir fries (my favorites are panang or red curry but I haven’t found a good curry paste that’s organic, and sometimes curries can get too high carb… Let me know if you find one; I’ve made curry paste from scratch but have so-far been unimpressed.)
I sauted in our wok with coconut oil (which we ran out of so I used sustainable organic palm oil in the recipe you tasted):
1/4-1/2 cup oil
1 large Onion
thumb-sized piece of Ginger Root (peeled & chopped finely)
2 cloves Garlic
1 medium carrot
2 zucchini
Broccoli & Cauliflower (didn’t have any, but would add them if I did as I love both in veggie stir-fry dishes)
1 package Flax Tempeh (berryvale has this), cut in cubes.
2-3 stalks celery
3-4 chopped large crimini mushrooms (all we had, would’ve used more we both love mushrooms)

Once all that’s sautéed, I added in the almond sauce leftover from above chicken & cooked it all together to integrate flavors. I think that’s everything, but I might’ve forgotten something. Honestly, it’s a bit of a creative process for me, so… it’s a bit open. I think I added some organic dried cayenne powder & organic chili powder for spice - obviously that can be modified for preference.

Warning: My recipes with carbs with not help with weight loss, it could help GAIN weight and mass. I eat the vast majority of my foods now (2 months) with zero to little added carbs - so I omit rice, noodles, bread or chips - I’m at about 30 NET carbs per day & I feel better than ever & have lost some pounds and fat so that’s good too as I had gained about ten pounds over the last year. I hope you can get on a program that helps you be as healthy & beautiful as you are & deserve to be!

XO
Katie

My Favorite Things...Arrabiata Recipe - Fresh, Organic, Vegan or Primal

ARRABIATA (SPICY TOMATO SAUCE)

This is one of My Favorite Things! I order Arrabiata's when I eat at Italian restaurants as it's a vegan option with a bit more spice (literally) than a standard red sauce. For interested parties, my diet these days is mostly primal (See book We Want To Live by Aajonus Vonderplanitz) - i.e. vegan cooked food over 100°, sushi, raw dairy, raw or just barely seared meats - always from Amish or similar farmers who treat their animals very nicely (grass-fed bison & beef, no antibiotics or pesticides in food) and practice very clean and humane (old school) butchering and about 90% organic (a gal's gotta eat out sometimes).

Anyway, I created this Arrabiata recipe with my boyfriend, Marcus. We took the model of an Arrabiata from different chefs and restaurants and modified it for our tastes and primal diet. It’s very easy to make it vegan, just omit the raw cream & parmesan. Also, all the ingredients are fresh, unless you used dried pasta, and it only takes about an hour to cook, 30 if you peel tomatoes beforehand (1.5-2 hours with prep).

ALL INGREDIENTS SHOULD BE ORGANIC! (the only exception is hot peppers, which you can't always find organic, but are small crops and usually not GMOs or pesticide heavy)

Feeds 3-4 people, depending on appetites and portion-size

• coconut oil (white, approx 2-3 Tbls)*
• 1 onion - medium-sized white or yellow, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
  
• 1 hot pepper- seeds & all, chopped fine (we like red chilli peppers, but jalapeno, habanero or others will work too - if you like it spicy, use 2-3 hot peppers)
• 2-3 lbs tomatoes - roma or similar, diced; optional: 20 grape tomatoes (adds sweetness)
  
• 1 red bell pepper
• fresh basil, chopped
• fresh oregano, chopped
• pasta, spaghetti squash, or potatoes
• optional: raw heavy cream; raw Parmesan cheese

We rarely use recipes, so all amounts are estimates. Use your best judgment and modify to suit your tastes. Also, we like to use either a stainless steel (e.g. stainless steel wok), cast-iron, ceramic (Le creuset or similar) or glass pots to make this. The non-stick are reported to be toxic, so we avoid using them. You may need to use more coconut oil, but that’s ok. Better to have more healthful oil than potentially toxic pans.

Saute onion and garlic in coconut oil for a few minutes on medium-high heat. Add hot pepper. Once onions are just beginning to caramelize, add tomatoes and red-bell pepper. Stir every few minutes. May take about 30mins to an hour to cook down water from tomatoes so it looks more sauce-like. About half-way through cooking the sauce, put a large pot of water on the stove to make pasta (quinoa pasta has good protein & is gluten-free, rice pasta is also gluten free, but we like to mix wheat & unbleached white pasta because we like the taste/consistency). If making spaghetti squash, or a baked potato, bake based on size and preference. Do not put oil or salt in the pasta water. Oil prevents the sauce from absorbing into the pasta. Just mix the pasta consistently when it’s in the simmering water.

Once the sauce has cooked down, add the fresh oregano and basil and cook for another 5-10 minutes. But leave some fresh basil to present on the finished dish. Serve over potatoes, squash, or organic pasta of your choice.

After the sauce and pasta are done, mix amount of pasta & sauce that you're going to serve, and separate it into serving bowls. If you want the primal version with raw cream, you must let the pasta/sauce mixture COOL to about 95-100 degrees. You can tell it’s the right temperature because when you stick your finger in it, it will be slightly hotter than your body temperature and it will be no problem for you to leave your finger in the pasta for more than 30 seconds.

Once the pasta/sauce is cooled, add 1-2 tablespoons of raw cream per person being served. (If you are using squash or potatoes, make sure the sauce, squash or potatoes are cooled the same way - with the 30-second finger test, and mix the cream with the sauce before putting over squash or potatoes.) Salt only to taste. (If you are concerned about salt in your diet, please substitute with some sort of hot sauce or use organic onion powder).

Optional: raw shredded parmesan cheese and/or basil to present the dish.

This is our favorite pasta dish. It's delicious. Just so you know, if you are a raw, primal food person and you’re craving carbs, this is a good dish to satisfy that because it regulates your free radical hormones. But only if you use the cream. Otherwise, the vegan version is just healthy. We hope you enjoy.

*coconut oil - we recommend using coconut oil for cooking because it handles heat well. Coconut, palm, and macadamia oil are the only oils that don’t go rancid at high temperatures, so we use coconut oil as it’s stable at high temperatures. Also, your organic, raw coconut oil should be pure white (racist, I know, but it's true). If the oil is cream or beige-colored, it's no good.

Let us know how it goes. Please leave comments!!

More Interesting Katie Strand World Posts

• My Favorite Things...Arrabiata Recipe - Fresh, Organic, Vegan or Primal
  
• My Favorite Shows on Television...or how David Duchovney & Jesus are likely Good in Bed
  
• The Hawaiian Islands and Washington D.C.’s sand-paper circle-jerk about Health Care
  
• My Buddha has Termites...A Lesson in Infinite Joy
• The One-Date-Wonders!
• I had to learn SIGN LANGUAGE when I moved to Los Angeles
• Guys can make a game out of anything
• Hello? The power of CONNECTING and how technology has changed
• Popping the question is better than porn!
• Bravo, Stephen Colbert & Co! and your Olympic Vancouverage
• Songwriting is like SEX
• Born To Run by Christopher McDougall - Inspiring a inspiring all of us to be more in the FLOW
• A moment of silence for all the plastic surgery ca...
• Ricky Gervais should be the new Simon on American Idol
• Muscle SURPRISE! The key to physical, mental & emotional fitness
• I think my boyfriend's a snake...
• Release... Sweat & Power
• MY FAVORITE THINGS! - Vibram's Five Fingers
• Dick Morris... How do you sleep at night?
• Rusty DePass, Gorillas, and Obama, oh my!
• Michael Jackson - Troubled Genius

New Music
&
Posts
at
Katie Strand Music

• Going To California
  
• Come Back
• Home