Reconnect Recipe: Chicken Pad Thai [Follicular Phase]

Reconnect Recipes are created with the intention of helping us reconnect to vitality during each phase of the month

The follicular phase of our monthly cycle is the 7-10 days after menstruation. This is a time to begin again and set the foundation for an easeful cycle.

During this phase we’ll focus on eating lighter foods because our metabolism is a bit slower right now. The goal is to eat foods that support our hormone production and elimination (you want both to be happening seamlessly throughout your cycle), the change in metabolism throughout the month, and keep blood sugar stabilized.

This recipe is best made and consumed during the Follicular Phase:

Chicken Pad Thai

**Recipe Tip: Read this entire post before making the meal. There are many different ways to approach this recipe and you’ll want to plan out what will work best for you**

Main Ingredients:

• chicken

• broccoli

• carrots

• zoodles

• my pad thai sauce

How To:

CHICKEN - you can buy and prepare your chicken many ways and should do whatever works best for your schedule and preferences.

-> Here’s what I do:

I buy a whole, free-range, organic chicken and roast it in the oven for 1.5 hours. To do this I coat the chicken in extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Set the oven to 425 as it heats up and then turn it down to 350. Put the entire chicken in the oven for 45 minutes, take it out, flip it over, and keep roasting it for another 45 minutes.

Let the chicken cool, remove all of the meat from the bones and store in glass storage containers. Make broth with the bones. Fill a crockpot with water and a little apple cider vinegar and let the bones cook for 24-48 hours. Store your broth in the fridge and freezer depending on when you’re going to use it. **FYI - soups are wonderful to make during the menstrual phase so if you do this now then you’ll have homemade broth for that phase.

-> Other options:

buy chicken breasts and just cook the amount of chicken you’ll want for this meal

buy chicken that is already cooked and ready (I really like Wild Planet canned chicken - I use this in chicken salad)

Applegate has an easy grilled chicken option

If you don’t eat chicken you can use tempeh

BROCCOLI & CARROTS - You’ll want to chop these to your preferred size and steam OR sautee them.

ZOODLES - you can make zoodles, buy them frozen (from Trader Joe’s), or you can opt not to go through the trouble and just chop them and add them to the recipe when you would add zoodles.

If making zoodles, you can get a lot of the moisture out of them by roasting them in the oven for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet at 300 degrees.

MY PAD THAI SAUCE - this is my favorite sauce! Make extra and eat raw veggies with it during the ovulatory phase, which comes next in your cycle.

SAUCE INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup cashew butter (or any nut butter. You can also use sunflower seed butter or Tahini)

• 2 tablespoons lime juice

• 1 tablespoon coconut aminos (or tamari or soy sauce)

• 1/4 teaspoon powered ginger (or fresh ginger)

• 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar (or white vinegar)

• 1/4 cup coconut milk

Mix everything together in a blender or food processor

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

1. cook/prep your chicken

2. make the sauce

3. chop and steam/sautee your veggies & prep your zoodles

4. heat a large skillet on medium-high heat with coconut oil

   1. *optional: sautee 1/2 an onion and 2-3 garlic cloves in the oil

   2. add the chicken, then veggies, stir and heat

   3. add the sauce and mix everything together.

   4. *optional toppings: cashews, pumpkin seeds, scallions