Green Chicken Curry

As a warning, Mike did not like this dish. I, however, thought it was delicious. It's Indian, so if you like Indian, you'll like this! I served it with naan bread below.

You will need:
1 bunch cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped, 1 1/2 cups
1 bunch fresh mint, leaves, coarsely chopped, 1 1/2 cups (I only used 1/2 cup because we don't really like mint, and added more cilantro)
1 red onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic
1 1/2-inch piece ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup water, plus 1 1/4 cups
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced (I used one onion instead)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (a little less then a pound)
1/2 teaspoon malt vinegar
1/4 cup greek plain fat free yogurt
Cooked basmati rice or warm naan bread, for serving

Add the cilantro, mint, red onion, garlic, ginger, and salt, and pepper, to taste, to a food processor or blender.

Puree on high until smooth. With the processor running, add about 1/4 cup water, and blend until the mixture is the consistency of a thick paste, a.k.a. “masala”. Set aside.

In a large pot or deep skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the shallot and cook, stirring often, until golden brown.

Add the spices and cook for 30 seconds. Pour the masala mixture into skillet and cook, stirring often until it deepens in color and aroma. You’ll know it’s ready when it looks shiny, little droplets of oil will appear on the surface, and the masala will hold together as a cohesive mass.

Add the chicken, coating every piece in the masala and stirring often. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, so that the masala really adheres to the chicken. Add about 1 1/4 cups water, just enough to cover the chicken, and the vinegar. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken is tender and sauce has thickened slightly, about 20 to 25 minutes. (I had trouble with the sauce thickening, the water wouldn't mix with the masala. I took the chicken out add added a mixture of cold water and corn starch. I stirred until it boiled, and then stirred for another minute. The sauce turned out great).

Remove the pan from heat and stir in the yogurt. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed. Transfer the mixture to a serving dish and serve over rice or with warm naan bread.

 adapted from http://thenovicechefblog.com

Naan

This bread is delicious. If you use fast rising yeast, it only needs 20 min. to rise. Tonight I made it with Green Chicken Curry (which will be posted as well). I double this recipe because it is so good.

You will need:
1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup greek fat free plain yogurt
1 large egg
olive oil for cooking (you can use butter if you prefer)

In a large bowl, stir together the water, yeast and sugar and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.

Stir in the flour, salt, oil, yogurt and egg and stir, then knead until you have a soft, pliable dough. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled in size; about an hour.

Divide the dough into 6-8 pieces and on a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece into a thin circle or oval.

Cook each naan in a nice hot skillet drizzled with oil (just a teeny tiny bit–you’re not frying it) until blistered and cooked, flipping as necessary. (When the surface has big blisters and is golden on the bottom, flip it over and cook until golden on the other side.

 Makes about 8 naan.

Taken from http://thenovicechefblog.com

Biryani and a Book

I've been reading 'Stone Into Schools' by Greg Mortensen, and when I saw this recipe for this Afghani biryani, I knew it'd be the perfect meal to go along with my book. If you haven't read this book yet, you really should. It's very insightful and deeply touching on top of it all. You'll walk away with a better understanding of the circumstances and culture in Afghanistan/Pakistan and a greater appreciation for the people out there. Awesome book. And, the meal was awesome, too. And not even that hard to make. I wish I would have had time to maybe make a little side salad or something. I think that would have made it truly perfect, but at any rate, this will be a perfect meal for a coolish fall day, in my opinion. Give it a try!

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons of oil
1 yellow onion - chopped
2 cups of chicken/beef/lamb - cubed (I used chicken)
2 cups of water
1 tsp of salt
11/2 tsp of cumin
11/2 tsp of cinnamon
11/2 tsp of cardamom (if you don't know what this is, you should get it - it's the bestest spice in the world and it will go with any dish that calls for cinnamon, and make that dish that much better)

3-4 carrots thinly sliced
1 cup of raisins
1/4 cup of oil
1 tsp of sugar
2 cups of basmati rice

Directions:

1. Sautee onions in oil until fairly dark. Add the cubed chicken and brown lightly. Then add the water, salt and spices to that. Give it a good stir, and then cover it and let it simmer until the chicken is nice and tender ( I let it cook for about 30 minutes).
2. Heat up your 1/4 cup of oil and then fry the carrots in it, together with the sugar until lightly browned/kind of tender. Remove the carrots, and put in the raisins. Sautee them until they swell a bit, and then add them to the carrots.
3. Check on your chicken. If it's done, remove the chicken/drain it, but save the juice!
4. Boil the rice in the juice you saved. I did this in a rice cooker, and just made sure I added enough juice to match the liquid I needed for 2 cups of rice (I ended up not having enough juice and adding some water, which the recipe calls for anyway). Once the rice is done mix it up with your meat, carrots and raisins.
5. Put your whole mix into a baking dish. Cover it with foil and bake it for 30-60 minutes at 345 degrees. You may want to add a little more water to the baking dish so nothing dries out.

Optional: I added cashews to my mix before I baked it, which fit really nicely with the whole dish.

Corn and Poblano Chowder

Voila, the result of my fist chowder. I have to say it was a rather traumatic experience including burning the food - twice, cutting my finger pretty badly, and splattering myself with chowder, and then burning myself as a result. But, if you skip all those incidents when you make this, you will have a very delicious chowder. The recipe may look a bit intimidating, but I really think it's not that time consuming or hard to make. The worst part is probably that you can't really leave the soup unattended for too long.

My main recommendation for this dish would be to chop everything that needs to be chopped BEFORE you start cooking! I think that was my downfall. And I wouldn't leave the soup unattended for too long. I left it for 10 minutes or so without stirring, and it burned pretty bad. Anyway, here goes:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of butter
2 medium sized onions - chopped
4 cloves of fresh garlic - minced
3 chili peppers - chopped finely, seeds and stems removed
5 tablespoons of flour

4 cups of frozen corn (you'll need about one big bag of frozen corn total
2 cups of vegetable broth

3 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups of cream
4 cups of cubed red potatoes (about 1/2-inch cubes, about 5 average size potatoes)
2 poblano peppers - chopped, seeds and stems removed
11/2 cups of diced carrots (about 3 big carrots)
11/2 cups of sliced celery (about 3 big ribs)
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups of corn

Directions:

1. Make sure you have all your veggies chopped, minced, whatever.
2. Blend 4 cups of corn with 2 cups of broth - make sure it's really well blended, so it's pretty much a smooth, thick liquid. Let it sit. You'll add it to your chowder later on.
3. Melt your butter, sautee onions, garlic, and chili peppers with it. Don't chop other veggies while doing it because you'll burn your onions, which will turn your chowder into a brown mess...
4. Slowly add your flour to your onion mix once everything is sauteed well. Mix everything well, and sautee the whole mix for a few minutes.
5. Now slowly stir in the remaining broth. Make sure you keep stirring while you do that so you don't get any lumps. Once you have it all in there and smooth, add your corn puree stuff. Mix in well, and bring it to a full simmer for a few minutes, then add the cream.
6. Now you'll add the potatoes and poblano peppers, and stir/simmer for 5 mintues, then add the carrots and celery, stir and simmer for 5 minutes, and then add the corn, and stir simmer for about 5 more minutes.
7. Once everything is in, you just want to stir the chowder regularly so nothing burns, and taste the potatoes to make sure nothing overcooks. Once the potatoes are tender enough you're ready to eat.

Cabbage Casserole

And one more...because I'm on a roll tonight. This is what we had for dinner. I think it's pretty tasty.

This is pretty much the only way I like cabbage. Nice, soft, and smothered in tomato sauce. I got this recipe from my Grandma while I lived with her, who got it from her friend. So, I guess you could call it a grandma recipe, one that's all healthy, like those recipes with lots of beans.

Shred 1/2 head cabbage into an 11x13 pan

Brown 1 cube margarine, 1/2 onion and hamburger in a skillet. You decide how much hamburger. I used 1 lb.

When all that is nicely browned put it over the cabbage.

Then over all that pour 1-1/2 cups of boiling water and 2 cans of tomato sauce. You can use regular tomato sauce or go for one of those seasoned varieties, those would be good too.

Cover the pan with foil and bake at 375 for 1 hour. That's it. After waiting an hour for it to cook, you'll be nice and hungry too. =)

Spinach Salad

Now here's something really yummy and tasty! This was first shared at a recipe club and I have loved it ever since. Maybe you even already have the recipe. I made it today for lunch and have already eaten half of it or more.

1 bag baby spinach

1/4 c. pine nuts

1/3 c. craisins

1/3 lb. cooked, crumbled bacon

Dressing - (use only 1/3 of the dressing if you are mixing it directly with the entire salad.)

1/4 c. sugar

2 TBS green onion

1/4 c. salad oil

1/3 c. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dry mustard

Apple Almond Granola Bars

This is for those of you who love granola.

1 c. Apple Almond Granola (I'm sure you can use any granola you have...I just happen to have a bag of this from Grandpa's Cellar in CA.)

1 c. oats

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. flaked coconut

1/2 c. chopped nuts

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. raisins
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine the apple almond granola, oats, flour, coconut, nuts, raisins and brown sugar. In a smaller bowl, combine the egg, honey, butter and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients, stirring until all is moistened. Spread in a well buttered 12 x 9 inch cake pan. Bake until light brown on the edges. Cut in squares and serve.

That's the recipe from bag of granola I have from Grandpa's Cellar. I cooked it at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and it seemed done to me. In all honesty, I think next time I'll use some other granola and take out the raisins and add chocolate chips and peanut butter.

Grilled Quesadillas

In case you've been wondering what I've been snacking on lately...I know, you're just itching to know...it's grilled quesadillas. You probably already know how to make them yourself. So, just for fun, here are the directions ... and pictures!

1. Get out your ingredients. Tonight mine happen to be flour tortillas, cheddar cheese, salsa and sour cream.

2. Put your tortilla on a warmed up frying pan and add lots of cheese.

3. Put your topper tortilla on. Flip when it's getting nice and brown and crunchy on the bottom.

When the other side is finished cooking, take it out of the pan and put it on your plate. (You needed that last direction didn't you...)

4. Spread salsa and sour cream on top. You can also put it inside, but for some odd reason I prefer mine on the outside, then the sour cream doesn't go all saucy.

And then, after you make yours, don't forget to make another one...because your husband is sure to want one too. I added spinach on his and put his salsa on the side. Just like he likes it. yum yum.

Chickpea Salad

Here is another recipe that I love. It's also healthy, fairly inexpensive, and easy to make.

Ingredients:

1-2 cans of Chickpeas
2 cans of tuna
1 nice fresh big bunch of parsley
3-4 tomatoes
1 small red onion (or bigger if you like red onions)
olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Get out a big bowl. Open your chickpeas and tuna, drain all of them well and toss it in the bowl.
2. Chop up your parsley and add it to the bowl.
3. Chop your tomatoes and red onion and add it to the bowl.
4. Add some olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (it usually needs a fair amount of salt, but taste first and then add more)

Toss it all up, and you're done. You can also add some chopped cucumbers if you like.

Mexican Lentil Stew

I don't know what to say about this dish. It's healthy, it's cheap, and it's easy. I can't say I love it, but every time I eat it, I end up surprised that I do enjoy it. The main reason why I'm posting this recipe is because this is one of Sophia's favorite dishes. She'll seriously eat easily 3 bowls full of this stuff. I figure if one child likes it, it just may be a hit with other kids.

Ingredients:

1 cup dry red lentils (I use whatever lentils I have on hand)
2 cups water
1 T olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 T minced garlic (or less, but I like a lot of garlic)
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chile powder
1 can diced tomatoes (sometimes I add more, or just add plain tomato sauce - not pasta sauce though)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp. green Tobasco sauce
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (you can do less lime, but I often use more - it's really what makes this dish any good in my opinion)
1/2 - 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Boil lentils in 2 cups of water, until they're somewhat tender.
2. In another pot, sautee onions, garlic and celery until mostly tender, then add all the spices.
3. Now add to the onion stuff the broth and tomatoes as well as lentils (which should basically have no liquid left in the pot). Oh, and don't forget the tobasco.
4. Cook on low heat (simmer) until everything is tender. Chop up your cilantro in the mean time, and squeeze our limes. Add the cilantro and lime juice when the stew is ready to eat.

We often add a spoon of sour cream and some grated cheddar cheese on top of our bowls, which I think is delicious, but it's good either way.

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Orange-Butter Sauce

Well, I can't turn down a challenge, right? So, here is a picture of the ravioli we made a week ago. All from scratch.

For the dough, you can just look up any pasta recipe. I don't have much advice. Our ravioli were a little tough after cooking, which, after some reading, I think is due to the dough being a bit too dry. I guess you really want to make sure to keep it moist enough and not add too much flour. Other than that the dough worked out well. We used our little kiddie IKEA cups to 'cut out' circles to make into ravioli. Sophia helped with that and loved it.

And here is the recipe we used for the filling:

9oz winter squash puree ( I used the frozen stuff in a box from Meijers)
1 oz grated Parmesan
3 tbsp hazelnut flour (I couldn't find hazelnut, or hazelnut flour, so I used 3 tbsp of chopped pecans)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tsp fresh sage leaves (I think I may have used a little more than that)

If you use frozen squash, make sure it's fully thawed and squeezed out before you use it. Put all the other ingredients in a food processor (blender) and mix well. Then stir it into your squash puree. This will be your ravioli filling. I doubled the filling, and it makes plenty of food.

For the sauce you'll need:

juice of two large oranges
2 oz butter
a pinch of ground mace
salt and pepper to taste.
1 tsp potato starch

You melt the butter, and stir in the juice as well as your starch. I don't know what mace is, so I didn't use it. Stir the sauce well throughout. It should thicken some. Mine got pretty thick.

Anyway, so...as I said, the ravioli ended up a bit tough, but the filling with the sauce was actually really tasty I thought. However, be warned - it was very rich, and quite sweet somehow. The sauce is also way more buttery than it's orangey. If you add any sides/veggies I would highly recommend something light, not sweet, and inconspicuous flavors (maybe green beans or zucchini?).

And so you'll know what you can expect from me this week: I'm planning on making a corn & poblano chowder, as well as an Afghani Biryani. Both looked superdelicious on foodgawker. I'll post pictures and recipes if they turn out well.

A Challenge

This week I'm issuing a challenge- take a picture and post the recipe to at least one meal that you've made during the week. I'll say we begin the challenge tomorrow and go through next Saturday. And make sure this blog is on your blog roll to see all the new recipes coming in.

I also think it would be cool to post when you've tried something and how it worked for you.

Potato wedges

A slightly modified version of the recipe I got from Emily Hansen.

Several potatoes, sliced into wedges
Olive oil
Seasonings (chili powder, BK seasoning or seasoned salt, etc)
Mayo
BBQ sauce

Oil cookie sheet
Mix a couple of Tbl of oil with seasonings (I did 20 shakes of BK and 10 or so of chili powder)
Arrange on cookie sheet
Bake at 400 for 30 min
Mix mayo and BBQ sauce for dipping

Ranch coleslaw

Bag of coleslaw
1/4-1/2 c Ranch dressing
A few slices of crumbled bacon

Mix and serve

BBQ Pork

This was Troy's birthday dinner this year and I must say it's pretty awesome.

5 lb pork shoulder/butt roast

1/4 c water

salt

pepper

40 oz BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)

Season meat with salt and pepper

Place in large crock pot with water

Cook on high for 1 hour

Turn to low and cook 7-9 hours

Remove roast and discard fat and juices

Shred pork and add BBQ sauce

Cook on low 1 hour

Top with coleslaw