Chicken Tikka Masala

Tonight I'm having another fancy dinner party. This one's Indian themed, though the dessert decided not to play along. I should have made cardamom ice cream! Ah well. The recipes are all taken from More Best Recipes. Reproducing recipes verbatim in naughty, but giving the ingredients and summarizing the preparation is okay, so that's what I'll do here.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken & Rub:

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast (trimmed)

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. table salt

Cut the chicken into large (~1 inch) cubes and place in a bowl. Mix the chicken in the bowl as you apply the rub. Refrigerate until you need it later. The original recipe actually calls for a normal rub on whole breasts, covering the chicken in a mix of yogurt, garlic, ginger, and oil, then broiling it. It tastes great, but is a bit too much work for me in a recipe that already takes me more than an hour to finish. I'm not sure if spicing cubed chicken does anything, since it probably all comes off when it later goes into the sauce, but I pretty sure that the salt does it's thing.

Masala Sauce:

3 TBSP. vegetable oil

1 med. onion, diced fine (~1 1/4 c.)

2 med. garlic cloves, pressed through a fancy garlic press

2 tsp. grated ginger

1(or more) serrano chile

1 TBSP. tomato paste

1 TBSP. garam masala

1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes

2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c. heavy cream

1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven (that you may have purchased at Wal-mart) over medium heat until it reaches that magical shimmering state, toss in the onion and cook for ~12 minutes. The book says to add the garlic, ginger, chile, paste, and garam masala all at the same time and cook for ~3 minutes. Indians typically heat their spices in a dry pan before cooking with them. If you want to try that with the garam masala before you throw it in the pot, that's cool too. Open up the can of tomatoes, and add the sugar and salt. Dump it in before you burn stuff. You can now scrape off anything that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot. Bring it to a boil, then cover it and lower the heat to medium-low, and then let it simmer for ~10 minutes. Stir it a few times in the process. Add the chicken and stir to distribute it in the sauce. Cook until the chicken reaches 155 degrees F. Time will vary. Add the cream after the chicken is done. Add the cilantro and consider adding more salt. After you're cooked this once, you might decide to add more garam masala too. I usually add another teaspoon. Serve with some delicious basmati rice.

Aunt Cheryl's Scalloped Potatoes

Aunt Cheryl made these the other day, and OOOhhhh they were delicious! The Romano cheese is a great addition....i'm sure you could use Parmesan cheese if that's what you have.

8 large baking potatoes

1 quart heavy cream

1/2 c. chicken stock

1/2 t. white (or reg.) pepper

1 t. chopped fresh garlic

dash nutmeg

1 c. grated romano cheese

* wash potatoes clean

* cut just the bottom of potatoes (so they can stand)

* cut slices about 1/4" thick - not all the way through

* layer in a casserole dish

* mix the cream, chicken stock, pepper, garlic, and nutmeg together and pour over potatoes. (NO cheese yet)

* Bake at 450* for 25-35 minutes till cream is reduced and potaotes are tender (Cheryl said it took her's 1 hour to bake!)

*take out and sprinkle with the Romano cheese, bake for another 5 minutes or so

YUMMY!!!!

Turkey Lasagna (w/ goat cheese!)

i LOVE this recipe....probably because of the goat cheese. i heart goat cheese.

so, the recipe calls for fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. i didn't want to pay extra for fresh mozza so i used shredded, and walmart was out of basil, so i used dried. so its a'ight if you make your own little tweaks. its soo good.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound lasagna noodles
• 15 ounces ricotta cheese
• 3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling (i used the stuff in the can)
• 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large (10 to 12-inch) skillet. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the sausage and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add thetomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened.

Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with the hottest tap water. Add the noodles and allow them to sit in the water for 20 minutes. Drain.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9 by 12 by 2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Then add the layers as follows: half the pasta, half the mozzarella, half the ricotta, and one 1/3 of the sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, and finally, sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

Sweet & Sour Chicken Nuggets

This is especially yummy. I cut the onions real big so I can pick them out. (I put them in in the first place for the flavor they add...but I just don't like onions.)

1 Med green pepper, cut into chunks

1 large onion, cut into wedges

1-2 T Oil

1 can chicken broth (14 1/2 oz)

1/2 c. pancake syrup

1/4 c. vinegar

1 T soy sauce

1 can (8 oz) pineapple chunks, drained (save the liquid)

1-2 T. cornstarch

1 1/2 c frozen chicken nuggets, thawed

1. Saute pepper and onion in oil until crisp tender. Remove and keep warm.

2. Add broth, syrup, vinegar and soy sauce to saucepan. (is that the same as a pot??) Bring to boil.

3. Drain pineapple juice into a cup/bowl, set pineapple chunks aside. Combine cornstarch and juice until smooth. Gradually add to broth mixture. Bring to boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until slightly thick.

4. Add chicken. cook 2 minutes. Add pineapple and vegetables. Heat through.

Serve over rice.

Chicken Pot Pie

I thought this was soooooo good. Tyler said it could do without the peas...and the celery...and maybe even the carrots, but I even ate them and that says a lot for me.

Thought: Next time I might consider skipping the pie shell. Cause if you doubled it, you could just put it in a 9x13 instead. Good stuff.

I'm not going to put exact measurements of each veggie, cause it depends on personal taste.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. cut up chicken

Sliced carrots

frozen peas

sliced celery

1/3 cup butter

chopped onion (of course I skipped)

1/3 C. flour

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. black pepper

1/4 t. celery seed (no clue what that is...skipped)

1 3/4 C. chicken broth (I used a 14.5 oz can)

2/3 C. milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. preheat oven to 425.

2. in saucepan, combine chicken, veggies and add water to cover, and boil for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. In saucepan cook onions in butter til clear. (boo.) Add flour, salt, pepper, celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over med. heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. place chicken and veggies in pie crust, and pour broth/milk mixture over and mix up a little.

5. *the recipe calls for a second pie crust to be used as the top. Fold over and pinch all the edges and cut off the extra. I, however, made up some biscuik biscuit mix, and just plopped that around the top in a fairly thin layer trying to make it cover the whole top because I think it tastes better and it was STUPENDOUS!

6. bake for 30-35 mins until top is golden. cool for 10 mins before serving.

:) :) :) it's goooood!

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

Okay...so this is actually pretty good. I might try adding biscuit mix (like bisquick or something) instead of the packaged biscuits it uses next time cause I'm not a huge fan of the taste, but they were still good. :)

INGREDIENTS:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 T. butter

2 cans cream of chicken

1 onion, finely diced (which I of course skipped!)

1 16 oz. package refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces (I only used about half the package)

1 can chicken broth (mine is 14.5 oz.)

I added cut up potatoes, and consider next time adding some carrots or peas or something cause it could use a little extra something something.

ALSO - I dumped in some seasonings to make it tastier. I should have added pepper, but I did add poultry seasoning, some onion powder, and some parsley.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put in the chicken, (veggies if you choose!) butter, soup, chicken broth and make sure chicken is covered, or you could add a little more water if it's not.

2. Cook on high for 5-6 hours (5 was plenty for us.)

3. 1 hour before serving, (hour 4 of cooking for us) take chicken out and shred it on a plate, and then dump it back in. Tear up biscuit dough and toss into the crock pot. Make sure to poke it down under the liquid so it will fully cook.

4. The end.

Cheese-and-Tomato Toasts

I made these for our New Year's bash and everyone loved them :) I had to keep making more! I used cream cheese and added a few splashes of balsamic vinegar and basil to the tomatoes. Weird, but I even ate them for breakfast the next morning!

Ingredients

• 5 to 6 oz. mild, creamy goat cheese or cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 loaf (about 8 oz.) Italian bread
• 2 cloves garlic, halved

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a small bowl, stir together goat cheese, 1 Tbsp. parsley and pepper until thoroughly combined. In a medium bowl, stir together tomatoes, 2 tsp. olive oil, salt and 1 1/2 tsp. parsley.

Slice off and discard ends of bread. Slice loaf diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices and place on a baking sheet. Toast in oven until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Rub 1 side of each toast slice with cut side of garlic. Brush with remaining olive oil.

Just before serving, spread toast slices with cheese mixture and top with tomato mixture. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 tsp. parsley on top.