Nik's Chicken Tikka Masala

MMMMMM, Indian cuisine. It is so aromatic and flavorful. So many interesting spices and combinations of spices put together to make unique and tasty dishes.

My friend, woowoomama, recommended a chicken tikka masala recipe that she had tried and raved about. I thought "Ah yes, chicken tikka masala - that should be fairly simple" and the recipe seemed pretty easy (the photos were wonderful, too!). But when I read how much butter and heavy cream was in it, I became hesitant. Hmmmmm, wonder if I could make it more low-cal? Maybe use less heavy cream or none at all? A new challenge was ahead of me.

Since the original recipe post is very well explained and shown, I won't attempt to re-create the entire wheel (just the fatty parts). So click here, to see the original recipe and then if you want to make it lower calorie (and a few other modifications), follow these steps:

• Instead of butter for sauteeing the onions, I used a couple drizzles of olive oil.
  
• I used my food processor to chop the onions and then also the garlic and ginger.


• Instead of 1.5C of heavy cream I put in 2 TBL butter, about 1 C of plain lowfat yogurt, and a few splashes of regular milk. I also added 2 more TBL of suagr (three total) to sweeten it up a bit more since I wasn't using real cream.
  
• I made jasmine rice with saffron and whole cloves. I used about 2 TBL of butter in it and salt to taste.

The Verdict:

WOW, incredibly tasty! My husband and I both loved it and agreed that it is one of the best dishes I've ever made. Maybe better than the restaurants?!?! The kids weren't fans of the sauce (they're picky) but they did enjoy the chicken (I put some aside for them without sauce). Speaking of the chicken - the chicken broiled just by itself was wonderful. If you didn't want to make the sauce you could just simply enjoy the chicken with some rice and veggies.

So that's it. Please comment if you make it.

Sidenote: If you're ever in the Boston area, take a little jaunt a bit north to Arlington. There you must dine at Punjab - wonderful Indian food!

Nik's Made Up Pizza

So I have come up with a yummy pizza that I have to share. Get some pizza dough (confession: this is store bought already made). Next, I took some radish leaf pesto that I had left from the last batch that I made.


Then I took sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and proscuitto (about 2 or 3 oz cut into strips) and layered it all on top of the radish leaf pesto.

Next, I put it in the oven until the cheese melted and the rest looked crispy.

Finally, I served it with baked Kale Chips (which were surprisingly yummy - except you have to be careful not to burn them. Once they start turning brown they taste gross).

That was it. Hope you try it. Comment if you do.

Ciao for now.

Sausage Soup Review

The sausage soup was a hit. Here's a picture of it. Substitute kale or spinach if you don't have escarole. BTW, escarole is very bitter if you eat it raw. I served it as a side salad with the soup and I didn't like it. But I loved it in the soup. Ok, now go make it. Ciao for now.

"Sausage" Soup On A Rainy Day

I have a million other things I want to post about but I need to actually spend some time doing it and I really only have a minute right now. So real quick.....my in-laws are coming over tonight for dinner and I have some remaining veggies left from last week's share. Here's what I've come up with for dinner tonight.

Sausage, Escarole and White Bean Soup - This calls for turkey sausage but I have pork and lamb sausages left in my meat share. This is what I'll use along with the escarole from the farm share and I'm adding the rest of my kale. I'll use garlic scapes instead of garlic cloves because I have them and they are SO awesome.

I'm serving crusty bread with Radish Leaf Pesto (yes you read that correctly and SERIOUSLY, you MUST try it...divine) and some of the small escarole leaves I'll use as a salad with radishes and Lemon Sage Vinegarette.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Strawberry, White Chocolate & Oatmeal Cookies

Oh yeah baby! These are a keeper. The sweetness of the strawberries and white chocolate chips is a winning combo. The oatmeal gives the cookie tons of texture. And they're fairly lo-cal...at least for a cookie.


Here's the link: White Chocolate, Strawberry & Oatmeal Cookies

Here's the batter
Here are the cookies

A few things to note, change or try next time:

• Cut the cooking time down a little bit, maybe 10 minutes (at least in my oven) - I like my cookies a little on the gooey side.
• Add more liquid - probably add some agave nectar (and cut out some of the brown sugar).
• I used freeze dried strawberries this time. They work but next time I will get the actual dried strawberries.
• Using regular chocolate chips would be yummy.
• Maybe add some almond meal to the mix for a litle added protein?

Feel free to comment if you make them!

Ciao for now.

Hunch & Stand By Me

I have just a few minutes so thought I'd knock one of the items of the "want to blog list."

Hunch - www.hunch.com
A friend of mine's husband works for this company part-time. The site has launched and was recently written up in some CNN online article. The site is a decision making tool that gets "smarter" the more you use it/answer questions. I'm still figuring it out but it is somewhat additive like Facebook. Actually, it reminds me of those "quizzes" and questionaires on Facebook but this has some purpose to it.

"Stand By Me"
Another friend of mine sent this video link. The video reminded me how powerful imagery and music can be. I was so moved by this that it brought me chills, goosebumps and tears to my eyes...but in a good way. Maybe it won't "speak" to you the way it did me...but then again, maybe it will. Either way it's worth spending 5 minutes of your day watching.

Things I Want to Blog About

So I don't forget....here's a list of things I want to blog about soon (no order of preference):

• Cookies I made today
• Those darn radishes
• Critique of a recipe or two
• Cleansing oil
• Trying out no 'poo for a week (nothing to do with the bowels)
• Food zen and two secrets
• Hunch

There. Have I intrigued you? Stay tuned.

Tortilla Stoup Nirvana

Ok, so you all know that I love food and I love to cook. I made the Chicken, Chorizo, Tortilla Stoup tonight and it was OUT OF THIS WORLD. I just had to blog about it. If you like mexican food and love an explosion of flavors in your mouth, you will love this. I am now calling it "Tortilla Stoup Nirvana." Bonus - super easy and quick.

SIDENOTE: The recipe calls for kidney beans - I used black beans instead and added a small can of corn kernels. IMHO, the three ingredients that make this recipe: the fire roasted tomatoes, red peppers and chorizo.

Anywho, thank you for letting me rave about it and please try this one. It was SOOOOO good.

Ho Hum Photo, Granola Love...Oh Yes, and the Menu for The Week

So I took this photograph when my good friend Lisa came to visit me a few weeks ago. We went into the city (Boston) and walked the Public Gardens. I had my wide-ish angled lens on and stopped to take a pic of the few flowers that were blooming. When I first took this shot, I thought, "Wow, I'm a super photographer!" But now, I'm kinda, "eh" about it. Maybe I'm not that impressed anymore because it looks like a Microsoft computer "wallpaper." Anywho....if you'd like to critique the photo, by all means.

Onto granola love.....I've been on a quest for make-your-own fiber/granola/snack/whateveryouwannacallthem bars. I'm tired of paying an arm and leg for packaged ones and only getting like five or six in a box. Plus the packaging is just ridiculous and the cardboard cuts on my fingers. Wah, wah, wah.

I digress.....so I found this recipe to try. I did do some modifications:

• Brown rice crispies instead of regular rice crispies
• Agave nectar instead of brown rice syrup
• I used dried blueberries as my dried fruit ingredient
• Used peanut butter as my nut butter
• Added mini chocolate chips - they melted so the chocolate was mixed into the whole thing.

Verdict: I tried the "batter" before it set and was a little hesitant. But then once they set (and I keep them in the fridge), I thought they were pretty tasty. My husband liked them, too. It was my first attempt. I'll make some changes next time or if you have some other wonderful recipe to share on making bars, please post!

And of course my menu for the week. I'm making lots of warm, comfy food this week because we're getting nothing but rain and cool weather.

Monday - I went to a board dinner so no cookin' for mama!

Tuesday - Working on it right now as I write this blog (and the aroma is AMAZING!!!). Chicken, Chorizo Tortilla Stoup (no I didn't miss-spell that, it's like a soup and a stew). And of course I'm modifying (this is becoming my new favorite word): used black beans instead of kidney and added corn...and there's no way in hell I'm "broiling" the cheese.

Wednesday - Totally cheating for dinner....Trader Joes bagged Penne Pepperonata and I'm adding farm Italian Sausage.

Thursday - Green & Red Pork Roast - I'm crockpottin' this one, baby!

Friday - I'm either going to make Grilled Peaches over Arugula with some marinated chicken or Arugula Pesto on pizza with tomatoes and fresh mozzarela.

Weekend - is always a crap shoot

Off to eat the Stoup. Ciao for now.

CSA Farm Season Has Begun!

It is official, the CSA farm season is upon us! I am so thrilled to have fresh veggies again. This week we receieved green lettuce, arugula, spinach, radishes, brocolli and bok choy. I'm getting my greens in that's for sure.

I also wanted to give an update on the garden. It is coming along....slowly. Here's a picture of it taken last week.

I realized that when we set up the garden bed the leaves on the surrounding trees hadn't fully come in. So my garden bed isn't in full sun all day now and the veggie growth seems slow. But that could be that veggie growing is slow. I don't really know since this is my first time doing it. So as suspected, I am learning a lot and taking notes to improve next year's garden.

Since my last garden blog I did plant tomatoes. They're planted in those white things (which are actually trash bins with drilled holes in the bottom - I know, I'm a genius) sitting next to the garden bed.

So that's the update. Ciao for now.

Menu for Week 5/31

Hi all,
Here’s my meal plan for this week. Two of the dishes from last week I scratched. So I am using them this week. This week the CSA farm starts, too. PSYCHED!

Sunday – Still deciding but leaning towards grilled pork chops. Maybe this – Lemon-Tarragon Grilled Pork Chops with grilled zucchini?

Monday - Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Artichokes, Lemon, and Goat Cheese

Tuesday – I’m meeting some friends for a dinner picnic. Maybe a sandwich from the local cafe?

Wednesday – Turkey-Jasmine Rice Meatballs with Baby Bok Choy - I’m glad I held off on this one since we’re getting bok choy in the farm share this week!

Thursday – Summer Pappardelle with Tomatoes, Arugula, and Parmesan – This is one of my all time FAVORITE recipes. It is such a clean, fresh and delicious dish. Plus, the fresh arugula from the farm share is timely. And I happen to have some lemon pappardelle in the cupboard. Whoohoo!

Friday – Not sure yet. Maybe go out or have some grilled – Chicken & Chorizo Burgers that we have in the freezer

Saturday – Whatever we don’t do for Friday.

Ciao for now everyone!

Menu for Week 5/25

I thought it would be interesting to post my weekly menu plans. Sometimes I get it together - sometimes I don't.

Last night I checked out Myrecipes.com and created a menu and shopping list through that site. The shopping list feature was very helpful, user friendly and saved me quite a bit of time creating a grocery list. Too bad I forgot my fancy grocery list when I went to the grocery store (ARGH!). Anywho….here’s my meal plan for the week (getting a late start of course).

BTW, I’m trying out some new recipes so my next blog entry might be a rating of how it all went.

Monday – BBQ at the in-laws – whohoo!
Tuesday – Lasagna-Chicken Florentine
Wednesday – Black bean, corn and zucchini enchiladas
Thursday - Turkey-Jasmine Rice Meatballs with Baby Bok Choy (I’m hoping to find the baby Bok Choys but if not I’m prepared to saute up some carrots, sugar snap peas and water chestnuts)
Friday - Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Artichokes, Lemon, and Goat Cheese
Saturday – Out
Sunday – Winging it – maybe leftover Cinncinati Chili or takeout.

Ciao for now.

The Garden is Here...and now we wait.

This year for Mother's Day, I asked my beloved for a raised garden bed. And behold - my wonderful hubby made me one!

I wanted to attempt my first vegetable, herb and mini flower garden this year with my oldest daughter. We mainly planted seeds but we also planted a few as plants. For vegetables we planted, carrots, peas, onions, broccoli, lettuce and arugula; for herbs, we planted basil, parsley, tarragon, cilantro, garlic chives, rosemary and chamomille; and for flowers (mainly to help keep bugs away), we planted dahlias, zinnia, sunflowers, petunias & nasturtums; and for fun we planted sugar baby watermelon. Fingers & toes crossed. And yes, I know you're suppose to plant things at certain times, etc and in nice little rows x amount of inches apart, blah, blah, blah. But I decided to do it the Nik way and toss seeds in some dirt and add some water. We'll see if anything actually makes it to fruition.

Oh, I did make a square foot grid though in order to utilize the space more efficiently!

Soooooooooo....this afternoon I discovered some green stuff sprouting up from the soil!!! It's the lettuce, arugula, and basil! WWWWAAAAAHHHOOOO!! I was so excited that I did a happy dance around the garden bed! Un-oh, I guess that means I need to get a gun and ammo ready for the "rabbit & deer prevention program"....kidding of course.

(aren't you impressed with my text-on-photo capability?)

Spring, Compost Bin & Pork Recipe

Happy Spring in New England! So glad it is finally here. Snow is done (I hope), the forsythia has bloomed and is now turning green again, and the daffodils and tulips are plentiful. Ahhhh, I love it! And I love it even more because it means that CSA season is right around the corner. I cannot wait - fresh veggies from the farm (can you see me doing the happy dance?).

In addition, our family has taken a serious step to having our first vegetable garden. We've purchased the wood for a raised bed. Now we just need to assemble it. I was also able to get my hands on some good rich soil from the CSA farm that we are a part of. The farmer was kind enough to let me take some of their extra. It's nice compost mixed soil. Lovely. Now I just need to get the bed done so the soil can go in it. Maybe we'll have it this year, maybe not. Stay tuned.

Last week I picked up our new compost bin! Who knew I would be so excited over it but I am. It's all set up and already about 1/3 of the way full. Whohoo!! Go compost, it's your birthday, gonna party like it's your birthday.... And I'm looking forward to feeding my veggies wonderful compost. Oh right, I need to get that bed made first - getting a little ahead of myself

I'm also excited about our rain barrel that is en route. I will get to pick it up next week. I'm excited about the idea of it but I have to be honest....the barrel is an ugly plastic, blue barrel. Guess where we get the most run off rain? Yep, right smack dab in the front of the house. Nice. I'm hoping it will really rain this week so I can find another spot to put it.

Oh I almost forget...recipe time. I made this awesome pork dish for dinner this evening. It was one of those recipes that I made once, loved it but then forgot about it. I'm glad I found it again because it was yummy. I got it from a Cooking Light magazine from a million years ago and it goes something like this:

Cuban-Style Picadillo Pork

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground pork (i'm sure you could do ground turkey, chicken or even beef)


• 1 small/medium onion


• A big ass clove of garlic - or maybe 3 smaller ones


• 1 Tbl chili powder


• some salt


• 2 tsp of pumpkin spice


• 28 oz diced tomatoes (if you only have a 15oz one that's fine too...it just won't be as tomatoey - yes I made up that word).


• 1/2-1C raisins

Directions:
Saute the onions and garlic then add the ground pork and cook until it is browned. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Put over a bun and make it like a sloppy joe OR (and this is my preference) put it over some cooked rice. Another idea is to make it for empanada filling. Savor and enjoy.

Done....and yes, I took that photo.

Green Cleaning & A Few Good Recipes

Green cleaning - my latest "kick." And not just going to the grocery store and buying eco friendly products (although I totally support that, too). I'm talking about making my own stuff using very basic ingredients. It's easy, cheap, fun and I'm cutting down on the chemicals inside my home. Yahoo!! I'm still trying out various recipes and deciding what I like best but I got started by attending a demo at Whole Foods. The demo was led by Leslie Reichert, The Cleaning Coach. She has a great book of green cleaning recipes, "The Joy of Green Cleaning." You can also visit her website to get tips, contact her and order products that she recommends. Click here for a link to her site.

Another great recipe book for green cleaning is called, "The Naturally Clean Home" by Karyn Siegal-Maier. I like this book because she provides a bit of information on using essential oils in the cleaning products.

My dear friends from California visited us this weekend and I decided to try out a new lasagna recipe, Artichoke & Spinach Lasagna. It was delicious! It's a nice vegetarian dish that pleased everyone's palates.

I also served an interesting Pepita & Yellow Pea Salad. It was my first time cooking beans from dry (I usually buy canned) and despite the peas being slightly undercooked, the salad was very tasty. I got the recipe from www.101cookbooks.com - a great site for healthy, vegetarian recipes. The blogger often puts together interesting and unique combinations of food (i.e. Black Bean Brownies!?!?). She is also a wonderful photographer and I find that looking at the photos of her food is inspiring.

I also found a Lentil Burger recipe off 101 Cookbooks. Sounds bizarre but man, these are GOOOOOOD!!! The recipe calls for black lentils which I found at Whole Foods. I did have to buy them dry so there was a soaking and cooking process before actually making the burgers. Though it wasn't too much extra work, I think next time I'm at Trader Joe's I'll see if they have they're cooked lentils in stock. I suppose you could use brown or green lentils but the black ones are a little heartier and may hold up better as a "burger." I also added diced carrots to the burger mixture.

So that's it for now. I'm hoping to blog more often - my goal is at least once a week. So check back soon!

Ciao for now.

Warm Up Your Insides - Oatmeal Bake

We spent the holidays with my Dad's side of the family in Arizona this past holiday. While we were there, my stepmoher made this wonderful oatmeal bake that tastes like an oatmeal cookie. It is so delicious and perfect for a cold morning to warm up the insides.

I've made it a couple of times. The first time I made it, I used the original recipe....YUMMY! But the original recipe calls for (IMHO) a lot of sugar. So, I thought I'd try to modify it with less sugar and even tried it with a low calorie substitute...blue agave nectar (which is something I recently discovered at Trader Joes). The subsitution was great and I could hardly tell the difference in taste. Another time I substitued some of the oatmeal with almond meal (also found at TJs) to add a little more protein. I loved it!! My husband liked it! My almost 5 year old didn't like it but my 16 month old devoured it. Of course if you're allergic to nuts, don't add it (well, duh!).

Here's the original recipe with the variations I mentioned and some other additions that would be yummy.

Oatmeal Bake
Ingredients:
½ C canola oil
1 C sugar
2 eggs
3 C quick oats (uncooked)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 C milk
1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
Whisk/beat thoroughly together the oil, sugar and eggs. Add the oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and milk. Mix well. Pour into a lightly greased 8” baking pan/dish. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Scoop into a bowl and pour in warm milk (amount depends on your liking).

Optional Additions: Apples, almonds (or other favorite nut), raisins or other dried fruit, chocolate chips

Variations to the Recipe:
*Substitute one of the cups of oatmeal with 1/2C of almond meal (adds protein to the dish!). Can find almond meal at Trader Joes and Whole Foods.
*Halve the sugar amount…still sweet but not so sugary.
*Substitute half or the entire sugar amount with blue agave nectar (a natural no/low calorie sweetener – can be found at Trader Joes).

Happy New Year & Marriage Article

Happy New Year! Let the resolution lists begin. My list this year:

• Lose the holiday weight
• Eat more wholesome foods
• Get stronger (mind, body & spirit)
• Be a better wife and mother (more patience, understanding and fun)
• Get my house more organized
• Spend less time on the computer
• Get my weekday more scheduled and not so open ended - a schedule with flexibility (oxymoron?)
• Be more "green" (ecofriendly)
• Not putting so much pressure on myself to accomplish all these things.

In addition to writing my 2009 resolutions today, I reflected on my marriage. My husband and I had our 8 year anniversary yesterday and celebrated this evening with a nice dinner out. We came across this timely and relevant article "Dating 101: Seven Things No One Tells You About Marriage." It's a great short article that speaks honestly about the challenges and enlightening truths of marriage. It really spoke to me and I encourage anyone in any type of relationship or committment to read it.

Here's to a fabulous 2009!