Bruceiversary

This was originally posted January 11th, the night of the ridiculous snow.

I find that a lot of times, I enjoy making food as much as I enjoy eating it. Especially when I'm making food with someone else, which I've been making a point to do.
My dear friend Krystal and I had been eyeing this recipe for weeks, but had not found an occasion that seemed worthy. Until we realized that the 2nd annual Bruciversary was fast approaching.

Bruceiversary, you ask? Let me 'splain.

This is Bruce Bogtrotter

Adorable, yes?

YES.

Two years ago, Krystal decided that she absolutely MUST have a cat. So we went to animal friends, where she saw Bruce's beautiful face (at the time he was being called something atrocious like Ferrari or Fernando or some such nonsense). She asked to see the cat with the chubby cheeks and the animal friends staff said "No No No, you don't want THAT one" and proceeded to bombard her with a procession of wholly uninteresting felines. We were about to leave cat-less when a volunteered surrendered to our request to meet Bruce. She fell in love instantly.

So we wanted to celebrate two happy years of Bruce-dom. And what better way to celebrate than

Coconut Curry Soup

It's spicy and warm and full of vegetables. We followed it with a dessert of mango chunks to balance the heat.

 Here ya go:

Coconut-Curry Chicken soup

directly from Cooking Light

• 4  cups  water
• 3  cups  fresh spinach leaves
• 1/2  pound  snow peas, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
• 1  (5 3/4-ounce) package pad thai noodles (wide rice stick noodles)
• 1  tablespoon  canola oil
• 1/4  cup  thinly sliced shallots
• 2  teaspoons  red curry paste
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  curry powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground turmeric
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground coriander
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 6  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1  (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
• 2 1/2  cups  shredded cooked chicken breast (about 1 pound)
• 1/2  cup  chopped green onions
• 2  tablespoons  sugar
• 2  tablespoons  fish sauce
• 1/2  cup  chopped fresh cilantro
• 4  small hot red chiles, seeded and chopped, or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 7  lime wedges

Preparation

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add spinach and peas to pan; cook for 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan with a slotted spoon; place in a large bowl. Add noodles to pan; cook 3 minutes. Drain; add noodles to spinach mixture in bowl.
2. Heat canola oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and the next 5 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth to pan, and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken, onions, sugar, and fish sauce to pan; cook for 2 minutes. Pour chicken mixture over noodle mixture in bowl. Stir in cilantro and chiles. Serve with lime wedges.