Where did she go?

"This is great Mum! Thanks!"

Yep. It's worrying when your teenager daughter utters this at the dinner table. You want to be flattered and accept the compliment as genuine, but you are naturally somewhat floored, since, as I mentioned, this compliment comes from your teenage daughter - the one whose major achievement in life may well be to bring home the gold, should eye-rolling ever become an olympic sport. And its purpose clearly wasn't to serve as transparent lure into a false sense of maternal security, only to be followed by "Mum.... Can I have....?" Therefore I am forced to conclude that the only possible explanation is that my daughter has been kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a (possibly) human copy - physically alike in every way, and yet emotionally much more mature, less moody, and...well... nice at the dinner table.

The meal that caused this puzzling outburst was the slow-cooker gem below - clipped from Family Circle, a magazine I am still somewhat in denial about subscribing to (I feel I must be at least 20 years younger than their target demographic...surely?!), but which does contain some great recipes, and which, to be fair, they did offer me for $5 per year, so it seemed rude not to subscribe. Plus the ads for hormone replacement and adult diapers will surely come in handy one day... just a very distant  day, if I have anything to do with it!

I tweaked the recipe somewhat, to ensure that there were enough veggies in there that I didn't need to worry about providing sides, beyond a heaping mound of quinoa (or rice, if you prefer).

Green Curry Chicken and Potatoes
Serves 6
Adapted from Family Circle

2.5 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs, each cut in half
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
2 lbs small potatoes, cut into 1" pieces
1 can (13.5oz) light coconut milk
5 TBSP green curry paste
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP sugar
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cups green beans, chopped into 1" lengths
1/2 cup cilantro (coriander leaves), coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Thai basil (regular basil will do), coarsely chopped
1 TBSP lime juice
lime wedges and quinoa/rice to serve

1. Coat slow cooker stoneware with oil spray.
2. Place chicken, onion and potatoes in slow cooker. Mix together the coconut milk, 3 TBSP curry paste, soy sauce and sugar and pour the mixture over the chicken and vegetables.
3. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours. Then taste for spiciness and add up to 2TBSP more of the curry paste. Stir in the red pepper and green beans, and then cook for a further half hour, until the pepper and beans are tender.
4. Stir in cilantro and lime juice.
5. Serve in bowls over rice/quinoa, sprinkled with basil, and with lime wedges to squeeze over the top.