Quick Chicken Tikka Masala

Hey Ladies! It has been quite some time since my last post. But the recipe I made last night deserves recognition and to be shared with you lovely gals. It is "Quick Chicken Tikka Masala" courtesies of my new favorite recipe/food site eatingwell.com I have used the site in the past and to be honest, it is sometimes a hit or miss. Definitely look at the reviews before attempting a dish.

What I most love about the site is that it is health conscious and allows you to see the nutritional facts of the food you are cooking, allowing for a more transparent meal and healthier choices to be made on your part (if you should so choose =). With spring around the corner and summer approaching, I so choose the healthier option (at least for now ;).

Anywho, this recipe was super quick, easy, healthy and so delicious.

TIPS:

*If you cannot find chicken tenders, you can buy chicken stir fry or even just a pound of chicken breast, cut into smaller portions.

**I love flavor and following the recipe exactly will deliver a nice, yet mild flavor. I added more garam masala/tumeric and a lil salt/curry to taste.

Quick Chicken Tikka Masala (courtesy of www.eatingwell.com)

• 4 teaspoons garam masala (see Note)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pound chicken tenders
• 4 teaspoons canola oil, divided
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, undrained (I recommend buying crushed or already diced tomatoes)
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

1. Stir together garam masala, salt and turmeric in a small dish. Place flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon of the spice mixture and dredge in the flour. (Reserve the remaining spice mix and 1 tablespoon of the remaining flour.)
2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until browned, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
3. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in the pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic, onion and ginger and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the reserved spice mix and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Sprinkle with the reserved 1 tablespoon flour and stir until coated. Add tomatoes and their juice. Bring to a simmer, stirring and breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring often, until thickened and the onion is tender, 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Stir in cream. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat until the chicken is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.

**I served the dish over a bed of brown rice**

Turkey Sausage and Arugula Pasta

I found this recipe on Eatingwell.com when I was looking for a pasta that was light and not too heavy/creamy/unhealthy.

Just made it last night, and it came out very light, so if you're looking for a creamy dense pasta, this is not the winner!

Note: I didn't really follow the recipe word for word, but I don't think it makes that big of a difference since you just need to make sure the sausage and pasta are cooked. The rest is up to you. I may add in cremini mushrooms next time I make this to add some more veggies. My own commentary is in indigo.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces whole-wheat short pasta, such as shells or twists (I used rotini, whatever you have on hand)
  
• 8 ounces hot Italian turkey sausage links, removed from casings (I used spicy chicken italian)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 8 cups arugula, or baby spinach (only had 6 cups. ohwell)
  
• 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes (used 1 medium-sized chopped tomato)
  
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Pecorino Romano, or Parmesan cheese, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Recipe:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta until just tender, 9 to 11 minutes, or according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon (I was lazy and chopped up the sausages before cooking) , until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, arugula (or spinach) and tomatoes. Cook, stirring often, until the greens wilt and the tomatoes begin to break down, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and keep warm.
3. Combine 1/2 cup cheese, pepper and salt in a large bowl. Measure out 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid; drain the pasta. Whisk the cooking liquid and oil into the cheese mixture; add the pasta and toss to combine. Serve the pasta topped with the sausage mixture and an extra sprinkle of cheese, if desired.

Per serving (this makes 6 servings): 352 calories; 9 g fat ( 3 g sat , 2 g mono ); 26 mg cholesterol; 47 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 18 g protein; 6 g fiber; 382 mg sodium; 379 mg potassium.

White Wine Pasta

Recipe based off: http://dailyunadventures.com/2009/08/shrimp-and-white-wine-pasta-sauce-with.html (photo also credited to that site)

I had some white wine left over from the cioppino, so I wanted to use it to make a white wine pasta sauce. I used the recipe above as an outline, but I didn't follow it that closely, so the end product didn't look exactly like the photo. I used onions instead of leeks because I already had an onion at home, and I didn't feel like stopping at the store to pick up parsley, so I used dried basil and oregano instead.

I had rushed home after a long day at work, later than expected, and rushed to finish the sauce, making a ton of mistakes in the process. First of all, I used more white wine than I probably should have (and thus had to simmer it for longer than I wanted to), and secondly, I put in WAY too much dried basil because the cap had fallen off as I was pouring! However, in the end, the sauce was actually really yummy with the extra herbs and wine, so the mistakes really didn't matter.

I ate the sauce with a whole wheat fettuccine, which was really yummy.

Ingredients:

• 4 tomatoes, cut into small-ish pieces (I chopped each into about 6 pieces)
• 1 big chopped onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• Olive oil
• about 1 cup of white wine (I used a sauvignon blanc)
• Herbs: Basil & oregano (chopped if it's fresh, but I actually used dry herbs)
• De-veined shrimp
• Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

1. Sautee the chopped onions and minced garlic with the olive oil.

2. When the onions are cooked and soft, add the tomatoes and sautee until soft.

3. Pour in the white wine, herbs, and simmer until the mixture has reduced to a sauce. Put in salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. (The sugar brings out the tanginess of the tomatoes.)

4. Mix in the shrimp until they are cooked (about 2 mins, or until the shrimp is curled and firm).

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

I began with a search for filling vegetarian recipes, and what did I find? AMAZING DELICIOUSNESS in these Sweet potato & black bean enchiladas.

These are a surprising flavor mix, but the sweet-and-spicy flavor combination with a sprinkling of cheese made this a lunch-and-dinner winner. (HAH. I rhymed.)

I found this recipe on the Whole Foods website (under the "Budget Recipes" section-- I only wish I could shop at Whole Paycheck), where it was submitted by Karina Allrich, who writes the Gluten Free Goddess cooking blog. (sidenote: I'm not following a gluten-free diet, but yikes, she's got some good-looking recipes on her site!) I made a few edits to Karina's recipe to make it simpler by swapping in a pre-made salsa for her homemade sauce.

I think the salsa I used was a bit too sweet, so when I make this next time, I'll try to choose a chipotle salsa.

Oh, and don't be afraid of these little guys: they're delicious, easy to handle and not too spicy (I have a low tolerance for spicy foods). :)



Until this recipe, I'd never made rolled enchiladas before, but it was surprisingly easy-- just make sure that the tortilla has a bit of sauce on it so that it doesn't tear when you roll it up. That said, next time I will probably make this "lasagna style" for ease of serving. I struggled with getting my rolled enchiladas out of the pan intact. I'll also probably omit the cilantro, as I didn't think it added enough flavor for the $2 price.

Those edits aside, I will DEFINITELY make this again. Just thinking about it makes me want to eat leftovers! Thankfully, the recipe below was enough for about 4 hearty meals.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients:
Sauce: I used Trader Joe's Roasted Tomato Salsa ($2.29)
Tortillas: I used 8 Trader Joe's whole grain tortillas w/ flax seed ($2.49)
Shredded cheese for topping: I used monterey jack ($0.75)

Enchilada filling:
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained ($0.89)
4 cloves garlic, minced (I used 2 cloves garlic + garlic powder) ($0.25)
Fresh lime juice from 1 big juicy lime ($0.39)
2 heaping cups of cooked diced sweet potatoes (You can buy the $2.50 bag of pre-cut sweet potatoes at TJ's and then microwave; however, I just bought a few sweet potatoes, cubed them, and steamed them) ($1.00)
1 can roasted mild green chiles ($0.79)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (pantry)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder mild or spicy (pantry)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste (pantry)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro ($2.00)

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with oil. Then, create the two parts of your enchilada filling.

Enchilada Filling, Part 1: Drain the black beans. Mix the beans, minced garlic and lemon juice in a bowl.
Enchilada Filling, Part 2: In a separate bowl, mix the cooked sweet potato, can of roasted green chiles (undrained), 1/2 tsp of cumin, 1/2 tsp of chili powder and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Next, pour about 1/4 of your salsa into the bottom of your baking dish. Take your first tortilla and dip it in the sauce so that it's generally wet/slick with salsa. This helps prevent the tortilla from tearing. Add about 1/8 of your sweet potato filling to the middle of the tortilla, then top with about 1/8 of the beans. Roll it up across the bottom of the dish. Push the enchilada to the far side of the pan and repeat for the remaining 7 tortillas. Cover with the remaining 3/4 jar of salsa and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes, or until the ends of the tortilla are brown. YUM!

Chum Cioppino & Friend Fondue

This past weekend nothing really went as planned. It was the weekend epitome of "life is what happens when you are making plans." Planned to go to Tahoe...bowed out of that. Planned to go to the MOMA and get Irish Coffee in SF...weather ruined that. Overall, though, the weekend turned out quite nice, even though nothing was according to plan. Sometimes the best things happen when being spontaneous, which was exactly this meal. Again, I "planned" to have a girls sleepover, but friends ended up being sick or just being able to make dinner. So I decided to invite a few girlfriends over for a bit o'chatting (aka gossiping) and sharing a wonderful meal.

I've never had cioppino but I've seen friends order it at restaurants and it looked quite scrumptious. Plus, the appeal of a one-pot meal with minimal preparation was quite enticing. Ok, I take that back, the minimal preparation is ONLY true if you buy peeled and deveined shrimp (which I HIGHLY recommend). Too bad I didn't. I admit, at first it was pretty gross

to literally extract the poop from shrimp, but you get the hang of it after while or an hour...agh.

This dish was really yummy and even more so the next day after the flavors married. It makes a TON, so definitely use it for a multi-person meal.

Comrade Cioppino

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

• 3/4 cup butter (next time I would use EVOO just to a little healthier)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 1/2 cups white wine (I used Vermouth - do not use a sweet white wine).

1/4 cup of fish stock or a bottle of clam juice

• 1 pounds large shrimp - peeled and deveined
• 18 small clams
• 18 mussels, cleaned and debearded
• 1 pounds cod fillets, cubed
• 
  

1) Over medium-low heat melt butter or heat EVOO in a large stockpot. Add onion, garlic and parsley and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is soft and translucent.

2) Add tomatoes and break down with spoon. Add chicken broth, bay leaves, basil, thyme, oregano and wine and fish stock or clam juice. Mix well. Cover and simmer for an hour.

3) Stir in clams, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until clams open.

4) Stir in mussels, shrimp and cod and simmer for another 5 minutes until shrimp are cooked through and the mussels open. The shrimp are cooked when their color turns pink and they curl.

5) Ladle into bowls and serve immediately. Discard any clams and mussels that did not open.

For dessert I stuck with the "one-pot" theme and made a simple, yet delicious chocolate fondue. You do not need a fondue pot in order to make fondue or a mini-burner to keep it warm. The great thing about this recipe is that it makes SO much that the fondue stays warm and liquidy long after taking it off the stove-top.

I ended up with about 4 cups of leftover fondue and this is AFTER four girls made a huge dent in the fondue. So I recommend either cutting the recipe in half or using the leftovers to make

chocolate truffles, which I ended up doing.

Friend Fondue

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com

32 ounces of semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup of brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I didn't have any on hand so I substituted a little less than 1 tsp of almond extract).
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/3 cup hot water

1) In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the chocolate with the heavy cream. Mix in the coffee, vanilla extract, sugar, and hot water. Continue to heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth.

2) We used the following goodies to dip in the fondue: strawberries, bananas, apples, pound cake

and pretzels

Chocolate Truffles from Fondue Leftovers:

If like me, you have a ton of fondue left over, then refrigerate overnight.

1) Take cold leftovers and form into truffle balls using a teaspoon. I recommend lightly flowering your hands and working quickly with the truffles so there isn't a sticky and chocolaty mess.

2) After forming your truffles, place back into refrigerator for another hour. Because the fondue had a lot of cream, the truffles will always be a bit soft. I coated my truffles in cocoa powder and toasted coconut. I stored them in a large tupperware, separating each layer with wax paper.

Spanikopita Stuffed Chicken

I got this recipe from a WeightWatchers Blog called SkinnyTaste, but it's delicious AND HEALTHY!

Spinach pie filling stuffed inside a chicken breast, baked to perfection, oh my! This is one of my experiments gone better than expected. This makes 9 pieces of chicken, so you wind up with 4 1/2 servings.

• 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and juice squeezed out
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 cup (2.5 oz) fat free Feta cheese
• 1/3 cup fat free ricotta
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper
• 3 (1.25 lbs) chicken breast halves
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/2 cup whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs (I used 4C and non whole wheat, whatever you have available. The italian breadcrumbs are delicious, too!)
• spray oil
• toothpicks

In a small sauté pan, heat oil. Add onions, garlic and scallions and sauté about 1 minute. Add spinach and parsley, salt and pepper and cook another minute. Remove from heat, add feta and ricotta cheese.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Slice chicken breast halves into 3 thin cutlets. Pound them to make them thinner. This helps when you wrap the cutlets. Season chicken with salt and pepper.



Place just under 1/4 cup of spinach mixture in the center of the chicken. Roll it and secure the ends with toothpicks to prevent filling from coming out. It's ok if it's not perfect. The egg wash and breadcrumbs keep everything in place.



Dip chicken into egg wash, then breadcrumbs.



Spray cookie sheet with oil and place chicken on cookie sheet. Lightly spray chicken with oil and bake about 25 minutes, until cooked through. Remove toothpicks and serve.

Nutrition:
Calories: 205
Fat: 3.8 g
Protein: 32.0 g
Carb: 10.6 g
Fiber: 2.6 g

A Smitten Feast

Last week?...Two weeks ago? (whoa, time flies) I put together an impromptu dinner party with some close friends. The dinner party sort of snowballed from my impulse to make these two dishes that I have been eying for quite some time. The problem was that I could not consume these two dishes by my lonesome. I take that back. I definitely COULD consume these two dishes by my lonesome, but I really shouldn't and definitely not in one sitting. Henceforth, The Impromptu Dinner Party was born! Problem was, however, after inviting a few friends, I figured I will have to make MORE food. Well, not so much a problem, because I love to cook but a conundrum because I want to make sure that there is enough food to fill everyone, but not SO much food that I could have TWO impromptu dinner parties. Overall, I think it was a success! It was my first dinner that I have every hosted by myself and cooked every dish. Sort of a mini-challenge. At one point I had to make a timeline of when I would begin each dish so that most of everything would be ready to consume when the party-goers arrived.

I pulled all of the recipes, minus one, from www.smittenkitchen.com. (hence, the name of the post =) I love this blog and I always highly recommend it! Because of the many recipes I used for the party, I will just post the links to each recipe and then add comments if I changed anything.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/11/chicken-with-forty-cloves-of-garlic/

*So incredibly good. The chicken turned out so moist and the juices from the chicken/garlic made an awesome gravy over the dish. I recommend using even MORE than 40 cloves of garlic.

White Bean Roasted Red Pepper Dip: http://sm

ittenkitchen.com/2007/08/dorkalicious/

*A great and easy-peasy dip recipe. PLEASE drain the juices from the roasted red peppers. If not, it will make the dip very liquidy. This happened to me, so I added extra can of beans, which thickened it up nicely. Also recommend adding Hot Sauce/Chihula sauce to your taste. Adds a nice kick!

Pearl Couscous w/Olives & Roasted Tomatoes: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/07/pearly-whites/

*One of my favorite go to recipes on this blog. Although it's easy and quite h

ands off, it does take a while to roast the tomatoes (which you can do ahead of time) and cook/cool the couscous. Highly recommend for a potluck dish cause you serve it cold and can be made ahead of time.

Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms: http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/12/garlic-butter-roasted-

mushrooms/

*Probably the biggest hit of the night. Again, a super easy and very hands off recipe. You don't even need to chop the mushrooms. Oh, I bought a jar of ready-to-use minced garlic, cause it is one of my pet peeves to chop/mince garlic. Seriously saves my sanity when cooking. If I possessed foresight I would have doubled this recipe because it was that good. Use bread to dip in the sauce.

Barley Risotto w/Butternut Squash: http://gastronomyblog.com/2011/01/14/barley-risotto-with-butternut-squash-and-fried-sage/

*I love risotto and I love butternut squash so this was the perfect combination. I didn't make the fried sage leaves...seemed too time consuming for such a small accent to the dish. Next time I would have roasted the butternut squash pieces for less time cause mine started to caramelize (which isn't bad at all!), but for this recipe I would have preferred just soft cubes. I love barely because it has more a bite to it than using arborio rice in a traditional risotto. I'd like to think that this is a slightly healthier version of risotto.

Vanilla Roasted Pears w/Vanilla Bean Ice Cream: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/12/vanilla-roasted-pears/

*I've wanted to try roasted pears for quite some time because it seems so easy. It was easy, but I was sort of underwhelmed by the flavor. It seemed to lack a balance between the vanilla flavor and the pears. More pear-y than vanilla-y. And the pears didn't soften up that much even though I kept them in the oven for quite some time. I think I would recommend making them in a small baking dish or using more pears so that they almost touch when they are baking. Would have used a little more butter and vanilla in order to hike up the flavor and increase the sauce.

Gotta admit, it was exhausting to cook all this food but I would love to host another dinner party...in the far...far...future =) Well, maybe this month =)