Recovering and cooking up a storm!

Hi all! Surgery went REALLY well. They were thankfully able to remove just the lumbar portion of the hardware which made it a 1.5 hour surgery vs possibly 3-4! Thankfully the portion remaining is completely enclosed and secure. After an overnight in the hospital (which coincided with crazy snow/travel making getting a room an adventure), I came home to have my mama and sister take care for me for a week. The recovery in the last week is incredible! I'm decreasing pain medicine, energy level is up, and I'm starting to think about when I can go to work.
In the mean time, I've been cooking a lot. Since I first knew I was having surgery, I've been trying to eat lots of extra protein and veggies. In college I waitressed at a family owned thai restaurant and have a weakness for thai food. So I searched the internet and came across an awesome video of how to cook chicken thai fried rice, khao pad gai.

I have transcribed the recipe and added some hints. First off, prep EVERYTHING first.

The actual cooking takes less than 15 minutes. Also the drier the rice is the better. I've been using uncle ben's as it's what I have in the house. I cook the rice several hours before, but you could do the night before too. Jasmine might work way better.
Also the recipe calls for half chicken half shrimp, but I'm just using chicken as I have it on hand. I also am adding a second egg to up my protein levels.

Thai Fried Rice (Khao Pad Gai)

3 tbsp oil, 2 cloves garlic (chopped), 5 oz chicken cut in 1/4 inch slices (cut breast in half first to slice more easily), 5 oz shrimp
(peeled, cleaned), 1 med onion diced, 1 med carrot diced, 1 egg (whisked), 3 c rice, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tomato chopped, 2 stalks green onion sliced, 5 stems cilantro sliced, 1/2 lime, hot sauce to taste, cucumber slice for garnish

In wok or large fry pan, heat 2 tbsp oil on med-high to medium heat. Saute garlic for just a bit. Then add chicken breast and cook until white. Once that is cooked, add carrot and onion. Then add shrimp if used. Stir fry until shrimp is almost all the way done. Push all to sides. Add bit more of oil. Then cook egg. (scramble). Then stir all ingredients together. Add rice and mix in well to avoid clumps. Add fish sauce, then soy sauce, then sugar if desired.
These first steps should take ~10 minute. Then stir in green onion, tomato, and 1/2 cilantro. Top with lime and hot sauce if desired when serving.




If you do just one egg, and the recipe 1/2 chicken 1/2 shrimp with 6 servings this is the nutrition info.

Hope y'all like it!

EDITED TO ADD:
I can often get away with using 1/2 the oil which cuts 4 g of fat.