Coconut Chicken Curry

Sometimes I'm not sure why I try to make Indian food at home, it never meets my expectations. At first I thought it was decent tasting, but the more I ate it, the more I realized I didn't like it. I can't figure out what it's missing, but maybe you'll enjoy it. I made mine stove top instead of the slow cooker, but even on the left overs after the flavors had time to seep, I wasn't too impressed.

Recipe from Tasty Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

* 1 kilogram Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Cut Into Large Cubes
* 1 whole Onion, Peeled And Halved
* 4 cloves Garlic, Peeled
* 1 whole Small Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Quartered
1 red pepper
* 1 can (6 ounces Can) Tomato Paste
* 1 can (about 400ml Can) Coconut Milk
* 1-½ teaspoon Salt
* 1 Tablespoon Curry Powder
* I Teaspoon Ground Ginger
* 1 Tablespoon Garam Masala (Indian Spice Mix)
* 2 whole Dry Red Chili Peppers (optional For Extra Heat))
* 2 Tablespoons Water
* 1-½ Tablespoon Cornstarch
* 1 bunch Coriander (optional, For Decoration)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place chicken cubes inside the slow cooker.

2. Place the rest of the ingredients (except chili peppers, cornstarch, water and coriander) in a food processor bowl and process together until the mix is smooth(ish). Pour sauce mix on top of the chicken, mix well, add hot peppers if using any, then close the lid. Cook on low for 6 hours.

3. An hour before serving, mix together water and cornstarch until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Add to the chicken curry and mix well. Place the lid back on for the rest of the cooking time.

4. Serve on top of steaming white rice, something wonderfully aromatic like jasmine or basmati rice. Decorate with lots of chopped coriander. Inhale. So good!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins/Cookies

When I saw this recipe, I immediately thought, "oh chocolate and cherries, I must try this!" To be honest, I was quite disappointed in this recipe. First, the title call it a muffin, so I was expecting a muffin texture. Instead, they are definitely closer to a cookie. Second, I thought there were too many ingredients and not enough batter. Mind you, I used dried cherries and I may have used too much, but I didn't think so. Overall, these were only mediocre. My mom and friend liked them though, so if the recipe sounds good to you, I'd still give it a try.

Recipe adapted from Cooking, originally Weldon Russell's recipe

INGREDIENTS
1.5 cups self-rising flour - 6.4 ounces
1/2 cup white whole wheat - 2 ounces
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 cup ground almonds - 0.84 ounces
1/3 cup packed brown sugar - 2.5 ounces
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 cup chocolate chips - I used dark chocolate, I'd recommend about 3/4 cup
1 cup bottled or canned red cherries, pitted and drained - I used 1 cup of dried cherries, I'd recommend only 1/2-3/4 cup

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 6-cup large muffin pan.* Sift the flour and allspice into a large bowl. Stir in the almonds, sugar, egg, butter, buttermilk, chocolate, and cherries. Mix lightly with a fork until just combined.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool further.

Serve warm or cool.

*These were not a muffing consistency for me at all. If I'd make them again, I'd just use a cookie sheet.

Broccoli-Spinach-Poatato Soup with Cheddar

To be honest, I couldn't get past the color of the soup to determine if I liked the taste or not. I know I shouldn't have been surprised by the bright green color with the ingredients, but it just didn't look right. I sent the leftovers with my family. They too said they couldn't get over the color to actually give it a try.

I found this recipe in a cook book called Almost from Scratch, p. 71, by Andrew Schloss. My adaptations are in italics.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped onions, frozen or fresh
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic, jarred or fresh
1 large container (32 ounces) chicken broth
1 box (10 ounces) frozen broccoli (I used 14 ounce bag)
1 box (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach
3/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes (I used one of the pre-cut steam in microwave bags of potatos)
(1/2 cup milk)
3 ounces (3/4 cup) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp dried basil

DIRECTIONS

Melt the butter in a large, heavy saucepan. Add the onions and saute until tender. Stir in the garlic and broth, and bring to a simmer.

Add the broccoli and simmer until almost tender, about 4 minutes. Add the spinach and simmer for another 3 minutes. Puree in a food processor until smooth, return to the saucepan, and bring to a simmer.

Stir in the potato flakes and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until the soup thickens slight. Remove from the heat to very low, add the cheese, and stir until melted. Do not allow the soup to boil.

Cinnamon French Toast

Sometime around Christmas when I was post call, I stopped by Cracker Barrel and ordered the cinnamon french toast. I think it was some of the best french toast ever. It was smothered in cinnamon and drizzled with icing. Unfortunately, Cracker Barrel isn't serving it right now. Since I've been craving it, I decided to make some french toast yesterday. This was the first time I've every followed a formal recipe for french toast, and maybe the last time. I realized I need the egg yolks, it brings it all together, plus I think I put in too much nutmeg. I'll just stick with cinnamon next time. I used whole grain white bread, poor choice! If you're going to splurge with the french toast, splurge with white bread too! I feel bad for saying I'll never make this recipe again, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. Some may enjoy, but not me.

Oh, and yes, I made my normal french toast this morning with white bread and now I'm almost satisfied.

Recipe from Southern Food

INGREDIENTS
* 1 egg
* 2 egg whites
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* dash nutmeg
* bread

Preparation:
In a shallow bowl, whisk egg and egg white until foamy. Whisk in milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Heat butter in heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Dip 4 slices of bread in the egg mixture, turning to coat thoroughly. Let excess drip back into bowl.

Place coated bread slices in hot skillet. Cook, turning, until both sides are nicely browned, about 2 minutes each side.

Transfer to a warm plate and keep warm in oven. Repeat with remaining bread and egg mixture.

Diet Red Velvet Cupcakes

I've never really tried Red Velvet cake before and wanted to give it a try. I found a diet version and said, "what the heck." Yeah. I don't know why I ever thought a diet cupcake could taste good. Even with my addition of an extra 1/4 cup of sugar in the batter and extra confectioner sugar in the icing I wasn't satisfied. I've been using whole wheat flour in my muffins, but this was the first time I tried it in a cake mix. Definitely a no no! I feel like the cupcakes are too mealy and I think it's because of the whole wheat flour. Either way, I attempted to make chocolate Easter eggs to decorate the icing, so I still wanted to take a picture and blog about them.

Since I never plan to make these again, I won't write up the recipe. However, it can be found on Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes.

Update: I shared these with my classmates today and they said they liked them, so it might just be my taste buds.

Chocolate Chip Macadamia Bread

Earlier this month I decided I want to try at least one recipe a month out of a cookbook. (I get most of mine off food blogs or magazines).

This weekend I made The Mixer Bible's Chocolate Chip Macadamia Bread. Since the recipe is from a published cook book, I'm not going to post it here.

First off, I had another baking fail. I used the designated pan size, cooking time, and oven temperature, but yet again it was undercooked. I tried cooking it some more, but that didn't work, yet again. I'm really hoping this isn't a start to a trend of baking fails.

Taste wise, it was OK. I think it would bake better as chocolate chip muffins than a bread. I added the macadamia nuts, but I didn't think the flavors complemented each other well. I've really only had macadamia nuts in white chocolate chip cookies. While, that wasn't the flavor I was expecting, the nuts still seemed a little odd in the bread.

Why such a crappy picture? I used my cell phone. Since it was such a horrible baking fail, I felt no need to pull out my SLR and try to get a good shot.

I'm hoping my next baking adventure is more successful!

Butternut Squash Cake

This is the first time I made a cake with squash, but we do it with carrots and pumpkin all of the time, so why not squash? It was only ok. I know this will sound weird, but the cake reminds me of Famous Dave's corn muffins. I think it's a little too dense for a cake, but that's just me. This was also the first time I made brown sugar icing. Honestly, I think it tasted very similar to marshmallow. It complemented the cake, but was so so sticky! It also took lots of mixing. I swear I mixed the icing at least 20 minutes to get the egg whites to peak. Overall, I'm glad I tried this cake, but I'm not adding it to my list of go-to recipes.


Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup mashed, cooked butternut squash
* 1 teaspoon maple flavoring (I used vanilla extract)
* 3 cups cake flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 cup chopped walnuts (omitted)

* BROWN SUGAR FROSTING:
* 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
* 3 egg whites
* 6 tablespoons water
* 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add squash and maple flavoring; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in walnuts. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
3. For frosting, combine the brown sugar, egg whites, water, cream of tartar and salt in a heavy saucepan. With a portable mixer, beat on low speed for 1 minute. Continue beating over low heat until a thermometer reads 160 degrees F, about 8-10 minutes.
4. Pour frosting into a large mixing bowl; add vanilla. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3 (more like 20 for me) minutes. Spread between layers and over top and sides of cake.

Acorn Squash and Apple Soup

I've been in a soup mood lately and since I've never cooked with acorn squash before, I decided to give this recipe a try. It's only ehh...honestly I think it taste more liked warmed apple sauce with a couple extra flavors thrown in. I doubt I'll make it again. I mixed some plain yogurt in with the soup and I think it definitely made it taste better. I might shred some chicken and add that to give me some more protein, plus I think it'll complement the apple flavoring.

Ingredients
2 medium acorn squash seeded & halved
1 quart Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock (Store was out of stock, so I used broth)
3 each green apples peeled and diced
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 1/3 cups apple cider
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root peeled & grated
1 1/3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
White pepper to taste / Yogurt or sour cream & chives (garnish)

Directions
Bake squash about 45 minutes at 350°. Allow to cool; cut in half, remove seeds and core. Combine stock, apples and onion in stockpot or dutch oven. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Add squash pulp, apple cider, lemon juice and ginger. Cover and simmer until ingredients are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Season with pepper if desired. Puree soup in batches in blender or processor (I used my new immersion blender, loved it!). Ladle into bowls. Garnish with yogurt or sour cream and chives.

Kitchen Basics Recipe

Chick Fil A BBQ Sauce?

Not quite. One of the many things I miss from Baltimore is Chick-Fil-A. Omaha has one, but it's only open to Mutual of Omaha employees :( One of the many things I love about Chick-Fil-A is the barbecue sauce. A google search led me to a recipe by Todd Wilbur, the guy famous for imitation recipes. I think this recipe resembles the honey roasted BBQ that comes with the chicken sandwich, rather than the red BBQ I love with my waffle fries. This the first time I've ever made BBQ sauce and I was taken aback by the need for raw egg yolk. I think I may have enjoyed the sauce more if I could get over the fact I was eating raw egg yolk. In fact, I couldn't finish my chicken breast and I ended up throwing out the rest of the sauce.
INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon ketchup
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
2 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon concentrated hickory liquid smoke flavoring
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon corn starch

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Combine oil, honey, mustard, ketchup, sugar, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a small saucepan over medium heat until boiling.
Stir. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Add vinegar, smoke flavoring, and lemon juice.

2. While the sauce cools, vigorously whisk egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water in a medium bowl for about 2 minutes or until color is pale yellow. Whisk in cornstarch until dissolved.

3. Drizzle he cooled sauce mixture into the egg yolk mixture in a steady stream while rapidly whisking. This will create a thick, creamy emulsion that will prevent the oil from separating. Cover the sauce and chill it until it's needed.

Makes about 1 cup.

General Tso-Tso

I found the recipe on sparkpeople.com. I know it's the diet version, but the sauce didn't taste like General Tso at all. As Joe says, "it was so, so." I have vastly improved on my fried rice abilities though =). Overall, I'd give the dish a B, but not for imitating General Tso's. I probably won't be making this again.

Ingredients

1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium scallions, chopped
4 Tbsp soy sauce, low sodium
3 Tbsp splenda (or sugar)
3 Tbsp corn starch
1 lbs boneless skinless chicken, cut ino bite size cubes
1.5 C chicken broth, low sodium
2 Tbsp vinegar

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and pepper and cook 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook until browned all over, about 5 minutes.

Add reserved sauce and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice.