A "Hot" Night with Erin...

Today I dropped off my sweet little dog at the vet to have a tumor removed from his paw.  Jasper is 11 years old, so this was a big decision for me to make!! 

Poor Jasper!

To get my mind off things, I went for a run at Heritage Ranch, came home and ate some of the delicious left-overs from last night!  Erin came over with a bottle of Cupcake and we had a spicy thai meal, complete with Stuffed Peppers with Thai Curry Rice and Mushrooms (adapted from this month's Food & Wine Magazine) and my version of the green mango salad you get at Thai Express fast food chain.  The stuffed peppers turned out great but super spicy and ended up being a major undertaking on time - for sure don't bust this recipe out on a weeknight but for sure make for someone who's awesome (like Erin)!

Stuffed Pepper with Green Mango Salad

The green mango salad, on the other hand, was easy peasy:

Green Mango Salad (a la Thai Express)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup sugar (could easily replace regular sugar with agave or honey)
2 green mangos, peeled and julienned
2 large carrots, peeled and julienned
1 jalapeno - chopped finely - if you don't like too spicy, then take out the seeds and membrane first, otherwise keep and burn your mouth off!
handful each of cilantro, mint leaves and thai basil, washed and coarsly chopped

Method:
In a glass bowl, combine the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar until sugar is dissolved.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.  Leave at room temp for about 20minutes so that the flavours can "marry" then drain and discard the excess juice. 

So this afternoon, as I wait for my pup to get out of surgery, I think I am going to try Lindsey's Coconut Mango muffins to cheer me up!!