Make It Tonight!
By Kathleen Daelemans for Prevention magazine

The Menu:
Pad Thai
Tangerine Granita

Prevention magazine doesn't always have enough room to print the full version of the recipes and articles I turn in. So each month, after the recipes have appeared in their magazines and have been posted live at Prevention.com, I'll post the extended versions here.

In addition to more photographs of the recipes and mise en place, you'll have access to all of the copy; the tricks and tips, the shortcuts and shopping tips that didn't "make the cut."

Quick & Light Pad Thai
By Kathleen Daelemans

When I'm in San Francisco, I head straight to Swatdee on 24th Street in Noe Valley for the best Thai food in the city. It's a family run restaurant that's been around for twenty years. I always order the same thing; Pad Thai (meaning Thai Fry) for supper with a starter of their famous Larb Salad – sautéed ground beef, sweet red onions, crushed toasted rice, lemon grass and mint served over lettuce leaves. To Di(et) For!

Dinner at Swatdee always meant dessert down the street at Double Rainbow (one of the Bay Area's best ice cream shops). My mid-twenties were about working hard and getting ahead in my career and unconsciously maintaining a size 22. I had no awareness of what "good health" meant and I was in total denial of my weight problem.

My career goals are still the same but especially after losing friends and relatives to cancer, my life is all about maintaining good health and staying in cahoots with my skinny jeans. Google "calories in Pad Thai" and prepare to scribble down digits in the high hundreds for a single serving!

Whip up this version of Quick and Light Pad Thai and you'll have room for a generous serving of Tangerine Granita.

On Cooking Rice Noodles... Soaking them in cold water for 40-50 minutes will get the job done. Alternatively, place them in a shallow dish and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 20 minutes. My favorite method: place noodles in a shallow dish, add just enough water to barely cover the noodles and cook in the microwave, uncovered for 3-4 minutes or until cooked through. Let stand in the water until you're ready to use them.

The skinny on fresh versus bottled versus lime-juice from concentrate; they all have their virtues. In this recipe, only fresh will do. Squeeze it yourself or if you can afford the splurge, buy fresh squeezed. When limes are labeled for quick sale, I buy up a dozen or so, juice them all at once and freeze them in one quarter cup increments for easy use.

Prep before service. In the restaurant business we prep absolutely everything possible before the doors open and the tickets start rolling in. When I'm cooking at home, I find it a lot harder to throw in the kitchen towel and order carry out when I've committed to the process by getting ahead on the prep.

A night ahead or the morning of... Prepare the sauce by whisking together the lime juice, water, fish sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, cayenne and one teaspoon dark sesame oil. Store in a container with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator.

Set up the sauté station. Place the noodles and peanuts inside the pan you'll cook the Pad Thai in; a 12-inch, non-stick skillet or any kind of wok will do. Add a pair of tongs, and a heat proof spoonula or wooden spoon (to stir the garlic, tofu, egg and green onion with).

Ingredients

8	ounces rice stick noodles

	Juice of two limes (about 1/2 cup fresh lime juice) plus one lime quartered, for garnish
2/3	cup water
1/4	cup fish sauce
2	Tablespoons rice vinegar
2	Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2	teaspoon cayenne
1	teaspoon dark sesame oil

1	teaspoon dark sesame oil
2	cloves garlic, finely minced
4	firm tofu, thinly sliced or cubed
1/2	cup thinly sliced scallions, (white and green is okay)
1	egg plus two egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2	pound ground chicken
4	cups bean sprouts
1	cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
	T-1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

	Cook rice noodles according to package instructions. Set aside.
	Prepare the sauce. In a small non-reactive bowl whisk together lime juice, water, fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, cayenne, and one teaspoon of the oil. Set aside.
	Place wok or 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the garlic and tofu and cook, turning once until garlic is fragrant and tofu is a light golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.
	When the garlic and tofu are light golden brown, add green onions to the pan and let cook 1-2 minutes or until just wilted. Pour the egg over the garlic and tofu. Do not stir until the egg has set up and is just barely cooked. Stir gently. Using a spatula, gently push this mixture to the side of the pan.
	Add ground chicken to the pan and cook 3-4 minutes or until done. Add the bean sprouts and gently stir until all ingredients are just barely combined.
	Stir in noodles and sauce and simmer just until the sauce tightens up and clings to the noodles, about 4-5 minutes.
	Serve immediately, garnishing each plate with a lime wedge, 2 teaspoons chopped peanuts and a generous small-handful of cilantro leaves.

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Tangerine Granita
By Kathleen Daelemans

Make it Tonight if you want to enjoy it tomorrow for dessert. This is definitely a make-it-ahead or make-it-this-morning kind of recipe.

Squeeze... The only reason I used Honey Tangerines is because they were really sweet the week I tested this first. I went on to make this with fancy oranges, juicing oranges, blood oranges, Meyer Lemons, white grapefruit, pink grapefruit and many times, I make it with juice I can't drink fast enough!

Oh My Darling Clementine... If I had to pick they're my favorite!

Ingredients

4	cups of citrus juice
3	Tablespoons of Sugar, more or less to taste
1/4	teaspoon salt (optional but delicious)

	Clean and wash the tangerines and the lime. Cut in half and using a juicer, hand reamer or fork, extract as much juice as possible into a four cup measuring cup Stir in sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is of desired sweetness. Add salt, stir until dissolved.
	Pour mixture into any flat pan or dish that will fit in your freezer.
	Cover with plastic, and freeze for one hour. Stir the mixture with a fork, breaking up the portions that have become solid, cover and return to the freezer. Stir every 30 minutes until the mixture is evenly icy and granular, about 2 hours more.

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