Getting Hot In Here- What's spicing up your Mid-At Kitchen?

Whatcha got spicing up your kitchen for the cold ( sorta) weather?

I made a curry recipe last week, big hit with my home boys, girl and hubby!

Got a new recipe, old recipe, or just meal idea?

Indian Chicken Curry II, (allrecipes.com, Amanda Fetters)
• 3 TB olive oil
• I small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 TB curry powder (I used sweet curry from Penzey’s Spice Co.)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp grated fresh gingerroot (I used ¼ tsp powdered)
• ½ tsp white sugar
• 2 chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces (I precooked them and cunked them)
• 1 TB tomato paste
• 1 C plain yogurt
• ¾ C coconut milk
• ½ lemon juiced (2 TB juice)
• ½ tsp cayenne
Heat skillet, add olive oil and onion, sauté onion until lightly browned. Add garlic, curry, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger, sugar and salt to taste. Stir for two minutes. Add chicken, tomato paste, yogurt and coconut milk. Bring to boil if raw chicken, or simmer, if cooked chicken, then simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove bay leaf, stir in lemon juice and cayenne.
I served it with rice, and added another half cup or so of coconut milk to thin the sauce. I served plain cooked spinach alongside. Yummy!

Never made curry before. I did make some ham and bean soup last week and put a few pepper flakes in it. I shy away from spicy. I did make salmon this evening for dinner.

I am what is spicing up the kitchen, dear!! Heehee. Who am I kidding?

AH cmon, you are spicy! tee hee.

We had chili one night, and pea soup with ham another. Both were gobbled up.

Tomorrow is a work day, I think I will do Italian sausage in the slow cooker, I'll have to get set up tonight. The guys can cook the pasta. Weis had their sausage on special, just in time for me.

Takes one to know one!!! Heehee

I do like sausage and peppers and onions

I love curry!

Got creative in the kitchen when my local market had ground turkey breast "Reduced for Quick Sale" Made almost six pounds of meatballs! Panko bread crumbs, minced onion(lightly browned), splash of tamari, a packet of Liptons Onion Soup Mix and mayonaise (Miracle Whip) to bind it all as I am allergic to eggs. Baked and browned in 375 degree oven on slightly oiled baking sheet. Baked two kinds of sweet potatoes while my three batches of meatballs cooked. Froze first batch and fridged second. The third was dinner and served with steam in bag "pasta and broccoli in sauce,

second batch became "white Chili" combo with canellini beans and green peas with eight cloves of thinly sliced and sauted garlic cloves ( ! ) and more onions and a can of cream of mushroom soup. Served with a salad of micro greens and thick slices of Italian Herb and Olive bread. The frozen ones will probably become spaghetti in the near future.

Can you tell that when I cook I like to have multi meals to show for my effort? I enjoyed the panko bread crumbs and hope to 'speriment more with them.

Home cooked food in freezer feels like money in the bank!

Gives a whole new meaning to frozen assets!

I like to do that, too. When I need meat I search out the meat dep't for any packages that are reduced, then make multi meals, too. Need to use things up, now, before I buy any more meat. I like to use panko crumbs.

You all are "singing my song"...,.now I don't feel so weird always looking for clearanced meats...

A few days ago--I went to my Safeway and made a bea-line for the small clearanced meats section.
Picked up 3 small packages of some kind of thin sliced chuck and ribs. Looked like thick bacon.
The ribs were cross cut--so they were just little medallions...
The whole thing cost me under $2. Thought I would make a "small" pot of beef veggie soup.

Got some soup bones out of the freezer--and a slightly freezer burned flank steak and one
large tomato (frozen). diced all. (side note)--Do you know you can freeze whole tomatoes?
Just toss them in the freezer in a baggie. To use, run hot water over it and the skin sloughs right off.
Then dice it (while still frozen) and add to whatever....no mess!

Spent that evening slicing and dicing and chopping--every veggie I had. Love doing that!!!
Ran to the store to p/u some more veggies. This soup was going to have EVERYthing in it...
Got some fresh celery and a small bunch of Collard greens and a small piece of Broccoli. Chop...chop..

Next morning, I decided I wanted to add some cabbage to this soup. Went to the store
and bought the smallest one i could find. Just used 1/2 of it. Diced up a couple ot taters too.

Browned the chuck meat and the flank steak cubes in bone marrow and simmered it,
along with the marrow bones for about 2hrs.

By the time i added all the home made broths and all the veggies--my big pot was almost full.
I used the big pot thinking I would just fill it half way. i should know better...:o(

Tasted as it cooked. Added 2 cans of fire roasted, diced tomatoes and one can of tom. sauce.
Stir...stir--taste ..taste...needed some zing. Pured some vinegar in it..added some more herbs and spices..
A bit more vinegar--Lots of black pepper...and then--FINALLY--decided it was done.

Poured myself a bowl and had it for dinner....I was so surprised! What i had created was a great pot of Minestroni soup.
It was delicious!!!

Tomorrow or Friday I will do a smaller batch of Pirags. All the 300 I made for Christmas were doled out...

Thats it for now--til the next meat bargain i find at Safeway....
Gita

What's spicing up my kitchen? I just made suet for the birds and put cayenne in it to ward off the squirrels. Then (apparently) I wiped my eyes. That's what's spicing up my kitchen!

Yum GIta!

Oh no, ha ha, happy!

Am I the last person in the entire country to learn to bake banana bread? Only tried it for the first time recently and it was a great success. I used this recipe, but added a big handful of walnuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0e8ojL0vc

Not spicy though.

donner--NO! You are not.
I have NEVER made banana Bread--nor a Cheesecake--nor a Lasagna--and many more common dishes.
I LOVE all of the mentioned--but, I guess my cooking tends to be different....

Mostly I do not bake anything--because I would eat it all. I have such a sweet tooth.

Wight control by omission......:o) Gita

I have made banana bread , and one or two cheesecakes. I consider walnuts a must in banana bread.

tonight was royal farms chicken

COD! It's what's for dinner. < =D

Tonight's special is Cod á la Long John Silvers and "chips".... only, I'll be making this cod at home. We have the technology, muaahaahahaahaaa! < =)

Now, please stop teasing me with all the talk about walnuts in banana bread, I can't have nuts until the braces come off. < =(
Walnutbutter anyone? < =D

speedie do you deep fry at home? or how do you cook that ?

Naaawww, I just use my cast iron skillet. Funny thing is, I also have a cast iron kettle but had comletely forgotten all about it until DH and I were having a conversation about this recipe on the way to the grocery store last weekend, LOL! I'm gonna have to dig out that kettle, will make the job much cleaner and neater.

We ended up just sitting around talking last night until it was too late to get into that dinner, so we had a frozen pizza, heh heh. I shall whip out the kettle for the cod tonight. :)

I just threw together a quick penne pasta and meat balls since JR and Holly just came home from the family Christmas party starving, I'm not understanding how with all that food they came home hungry unless they were worn down from chewing. LOL I'm slowing down in the kitchen a bit. One new dish I made during the holidays was a creme of crab soup with corn, finished with a drizzle of sherry and white truffle oil. It complimented the crab imperial and grilled London broil quite nicely. I'll have to get around to writing up the recipe I sorta' borrowed it from Aqua in the OBX. The staff was so proud of it they spilled the beans by detailing the ingredients and prep. Ric

Ric, on NPR radio this am there was a report about testing recipes for astronauts traveling to Mars (6mos) made out of shelf stable ingredients. One of the ingredients they'll be testing is truffle oil! There is a contest for the best recipies. Hint, hint, maybe "Ric's Outta This World Truffle and Sherry Soup" will be selected!

Not quite the same as having a star named after you but certainly note worthy.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/02/nasa_seeks_volunteers_for_astr.php

Sorry, deadline is already passed,

Coleup -- that is really cool! Were the results of the "shelf-stable" contest posted anywhere?

All -- One of my favorite cookbooks of all time is Bernard Clayton's pastry book, published back in the early 1980s. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Pastry-Bernard-Clayton/dp/0671530747/ref=la_B001HCVFI6_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1358092141&sr=1-3 My paperback copy had been a pieces for a long time and is held together by a rubber band; I finally bought a hardback copy and transferred all my notes over. I hate to toss the paperback because I love it so much. Would anyone like it? I could bring it to the swap. If you like to make pies, turnover, etc., he is fabulous.

This message was edited Jan 13, 2013 10:52 AM

not me thanks. I threw out Joy of Cooking, 1987, cause it was all unglued. I didn't use it all that much, and considered that throwing it out (throwing out any book) was a matter of personal development.

I have Peg Bracken "I Hate to Cook" cookbook, amusing , but the recipes are pretty 'dated' to the seventies. I have not used that one for ages , that should go! but the title is cute.

We have the I Hate to Cook cookbook too! It was in my Mom's library. It think there are some good recipes in that one.

Anymore I don't bother with a book, I'll look up 3-4 good recipes on line and take the parts I like the best. That's the way I developed my Balti. style crab imperial, and it's passed with a number of natives. The one friend gave me his dad's old baking dishes, they are nearly perfect for a single portion, and I felt privileged to be gifted them. Ric

Those are so cute! I can imagine the history behind them!

I normally use recipes from www.foodnetwork.com, or www.allrecipes.com because people comment on the recipes that can be very informative.

The baking dishes are lovely, Holly.

I agree, Donnerville, I like sites that allow people to comment, and then that let you sort recipes by reader reviews. I usually go to www.epicurious.com or www.foodnetwork.com for that reason; I used to love www.recipezaar.com, but that turned into food.com and they stopped allowing people to sort recipes by reader reviews.

We had one of those dinners last night where we tried really hard but were not very happy with the outcome: We made beef teriyaki from a Cooks Illustrated recipe but it was a bit mushy (maybe we over-marinated it -- but I actually don't like marinades on steak -- this was to please my 18-year old who requested it), and sautéed baby bok choy from a Sam Sifton New York Times recipe (but it was nothing special -- we had such high hopes) and sautéed polenta (that was the best).

aw happy, it sounds like a good menu.

Cooks Illust. is usually a good source. My sister just sent some; she subscribes.

It may just be that DH and I are not especially fond of sweetening meat -- DD thought it was good.

I have eaten Brussels sprouts only twice in my life. The first time I ate one and decided not to eat them ever again. Read an article about this veggie recently and thought I would give it another shot. I looked at some recipes online and cooked them this way:

Clean the sprouts and score a 1/2" deep cross in the stems but keep the sprouts whole.
Blanch them in boiling water for about 1 minute.
Mix with salt, pepper, a generous amount of olive oil, and several cloves of garlic.
Bake in 375F for 30 - 40 minutes.

I am now totally converted, and will cook them again. Because I was experimenting with only about a dozen sprouts, I used a small toaster oven. If you try it in a regular kitchen oven, just adjust cooking time and temperature as needed. The finished sprouts should have a lot of browning on the outside. The garlic is delicious too.

YUM!

We love Brussels sprouts. Eat them all the time.

Yes, Happy. They are good vegetables. I was quite encouraged by the result and will definitely eat them regularly. It may be a while before I try them boiled or steamed though ;-).

OHHH! But the smell when one is cooking Brussels Sprouts--or cabbage, for that matter.....UGH..

I have yet to try to cook the Sprouts in some delicious way. Cut out a recipe from the paper--
of "Roasted Brussesl Sprouts and Winter Squash ". Sounds good. I may try it.

Took a picture for you.

When I grew them in my garden, the pplants kept producing almost thru the whole winter! Yummy roasted veggies.

Happy, that cookbook you mentioned.. maybe you could bring it to the seed swap for the "goodies table"? I bet you'd get some takers for sure!! =)

I did this dinner the other night, sorta by the seat of my pants, and MAN it turned out good!! It was a shrimp-and-linguini thing with broccoli in a spicey cream sauce, but I did the cream sauce a totally different way... with barely any "cream" at all! I started with a glop of butter and a bunch of whipped cream cheese (I don't measure anything, just eye it) and melted them together, first using a wooden spoon to stir constantly, then changing over to my whisk. When it was totally melted together and smooth, then I added about a scant quarter cup (VERY scant) of half-and-half, then the rest was fat-free low-sodium chicken broth, stirring constantly until it came to a 'moving' simmer. Turned it down, added a metric BUTT-TON of grated parmesan, and kept stirring until it was smooth. Turned it down further, then, in a skillet I heated olive oil and started sauteeing... first the chopped broccoli, then added diced chicken breast, then diced tomatoes, then diced onion, then some Cajun spice blend and a couple dashes of Cayenne, a pinch of red pepper flakes and some chopped fresh parsley. The last 2 minutes, I added bunch of minced garlic and the pre-cooked deveined chopped shrimp (jumbo shrimp cut into quarters) ... just long enough to heat through. Meanwhile the pasta was cooking. Drained the pasta, dumped it back into the pot, added the sauteed veggie/meat combo to it and stirred, then added the sauce and stirred.. served with a garden salad and warmed Italian bread. Yummmmm! =)

Note: when sauteeing; each new addition to the skillet gets cooked about HALFWAY through before the new item gets added, that way nothing is over-cooked.

This was just a random thought of a dinner and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

That does sound yummy! Also glad to know there is a new measurement out there. A metric BUTT-TON. I cracked up.

Leftovers tonight.

Just want to mention that I get some great recipes online also. I think that the recipes from "Cookscountry.com" are fantastic. On their TV show they talk about how they try several different versions before they finally come up with the BEST. Yesterday they had a pecan pie that was to die for!!! Hints about the perfect crust (temperature before going in, when to come out, how long to stay out before refrigerating, etc. The substitutiion of brown sugar, maple syrup and molasses instead of some of the other ordinary ingredients also seemed to work out well. I was smelling it and tasting it with them!!

Cooks Illustrated , Cooks Country and America's Test Kitchen, are all associated, and great for getting the details right.

Cooks Country magazine seems to focus a bit towards the everyday recipe, or maybe its just the format is more colorful and commercial looking where Cooks Illus. is black and white. I've learned a lot from both. America's Test Kitchen was on tv.

No exciting recipes from this kitchen today. Last night was burritos. Working till 5 pm means not much desire to work in the kitchen for dinner. I do not know how people work full time and eat quality food.

We're doing a pizza for dinner... DH brought home a gift from a co-worker, a pizza from Papa Murphy's. Don't we have someone here from around the Frederick area? Anyone familiar with Papa Murphy's pizza? This will be our first time trying it, sure hope it's good! The good news is, after painting that gol'derned bathroom today, I don't have to cook, Wheeeee!! < =D

Tonight I went to Sam's Club so picked up a rotisserie chicken. It is huge and almost didn't fit in the container. On a lark, I weighed it when I got home. Guess how much chicken I got for $4,88? A whopping 8 pounds!

Also got 2# of organic blueberries for $5.98.

lol anyone have a recipe for chicken ala blue berry?