Pruning & Thai Chicken Curry

       
Everyone who knows Miss MoneyPenny knows that  she is terrified of pruning and for good reason.  I have pruned 30 feet of rambling rose down to a single stick.  Didn't kill it, oddly enough.  And I pruned a lovely and smelly yellow rose back to its root stock which turned out to be a three petal model that was pink.  So I usually make my neighbor (a.k.a. The Yard Barber) do it.  The problem with that is I have to wait until he gets around to it and he doesn't take kindly to my advice on the subject.  

What to do!?  I've been reading up on the subject and I'm starting to understand why I've had problems in the past.  It's witchcraft, is why!!  Who on earth can make heads or tails from the above diagram??  And why would you want it to look like that strange little thing on the left??  

Anyway, what I've gotten from my reading is that pruning is needed for the health and blooming of a plant or tree, not to mention keeping it to size.  Margaret Roach, in her new book The Backyard Parables, says if you don't do anything else, at least do the the three "Ds", which means that you prune out anything that is dead, damaged or diseased.  Sounds simple enough that maybe I can do this and leave the more advanced pruning to the experts.  What do you think??

Now that I've got the pruning out of the way, let's talk curry.  I love curries!!  Doesn't everyone??  I've been trying to find a recipe for curry using green curry paste because that is what I have and I finally found one from Weight Watchers, of all things.  I took their recipe and improved on it by adding vegetables and cooked chicken.  It turned out to be a winner, tasting just as good as the Thai restaurant, maybe better.

These items are the base of the curry:

These are the veggies that I used because they were in my fridge.  You can easily vary it by using what you have on hand.  I sliced them very thin.

The chicken:

Whisk the coconut milk, green onions and curry paste until smooth.

Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until done.  Serve over rice with cilantro.

 The ingredients:

1 can coconut milk
2 cups chicken broth
2 T green curry paste
1 T fish sauce
2 t brown sugar, packed
4 green onions
1 red bell pepper
5 mushrooms
8 ounces cooked chicken

Cooked rice
Cilantro

You will thank me for this dish as it really hit the spot on a cold winter day.