Thai Chicken Meatballs and My Awkward Interaction With the Meat Guy

What up, y'all?

I'd like to think that at some point in my life, I'll outgrow my ability to occasionally be super awkward. At almost 26.5 years of age, I'm not sure it's happening soon. Case in point: I found a recipe from my new favorite food blog ("The Garlic Diaries") and went to my local grocery store to get the ingreds. I head to the meat department where I ask the young man behind the counter for a pound of ground chicken. At this point, I should have just stayed quiet or re-watched Kim's Snapchat story (I'll always love ya, Tay...but dang, girl). Instead I made that b**** famous small talk:

Me: "It's weird, I didn't even know ground chicken was a thing"
Meat Guy (his superhero name): "Yeah"
Me: (SHANNON, LEARN TO HUSH): "Yeah, haha, I guess you could grind up anything you want and sell it and we wouldn't even know.
Meat Guy: *Blank stare*

I'm blaming "Criminal Minds" for my ability to turn what would be a horrific crime into casual conversation.

Anyways, yes, ground chicken is a thing and if you like Thai food (and who doesn't?? My roommate it turns out :/) you'll love these little bad boys.

It's "21 Day Fix" approved and you know that ish is my jam.

Chicken Meatballs with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce (From "The Garlic Diaries")

Serves: 4 (4 meatballs per serving...and btw 1 red, 1 blue, 1/4 yellow, and 1/2 teaspoon for my 21 Day Fix babies)

(Hahahaha, it makes me laugh how bad my food pics are. Hey, it's taken on an iPhone, and I was hungry, and honestly I don't give a hoot)

Ingredients:

1lb of ground chicken
1 egg
1/2 cup whole-wheat panko
1 teaspoon salt
Some black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh, grated ginger
1 clove garlic, grated
3 green onions (the green and white parts)
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock (I got a low-sodium kind)
1/4 cup unsweetened original almond milk
2 teaspoons olive oil
Basil

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mush the chicken, egg, salt, pepper, and panko all together
3. Make meatballs outta that mixture (For 21DF purposes, I made 16 since 4 is one serving). Bake them for ten minutes, take them out and flip 'em around, and then bake for 5 more minutes.
4. Heat the olive oil in a skillet
5. Add the garlic, onions, and ginger and cook them for a few minutes
6. Add the curry paste and mix it all up
7. Add the coconut milk and chicken stock and stir
8. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir it every so often until it thickens
9.Turn off the heat and add the almond milk
10. Season with salt and pepper, if needed
11. Add the meatballs and stir them around so they get saucy
12. Chop some basil and toss it on the meatballs


SO GOOOOOOOD. Enjoy, homies.