Thai-style chicken saute, originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

I am dubious of "quick" recipes but am also currently in a condition (i.e. super busy, super burnt out, super tired) where they appeal to me, so I had flagged this thai chicken saute from the current issue of Cooking Light both because it looked super easy and also like something Jeff would like.

I was right on both counts, even though I ignored 99% of Cooking Light's suggested shortcuts. I am not sure why one would use boil-in-bag rice prepared with no salt or fat, or why that would be a time saver, since regular rice takes 25 minutes. (The recipe promised it would only take 19, I figures the extra 6 minutes were worth not having to eat boil-in-bag rice.)

Once the rice was started, I managed to mince fresh garlic and grate up some fresh ginger and then cut up my own chicken tenders from whole breasts, instead of using precut tenders and bottled ginger and garlic. Not only did I do that, but I wasted a good few minutes cursing about not having a single onion in the house, another five minutes looking for some sort of clean tupperware to store the leftover coconut milk in, and then had to chop up a second batch of lime wedges after realizing I had chopped the first with the same knife and cutting board I had used on the chicken. (Pregnancy amnesia: also likely to give you salmonella, if you don't watch out, I guess.)

I did all that, and still had the saute ready just as the rice finished up. And it was very, very good- spicy and warm and a good addition to my stir-fry repertoire.