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**

Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pao de Queijo)

Picture taken from simplyrecipes.com

My apologies for my blogging lethargy :-/. Excuses can be made, such as, "oh I was busy moving", "oh, my sister's wedding", "oh, I'm just super lazy and forgetful". Yeah, probably the latter is mostly true...my bad! Anywho, I recently made this amazing and incredibly easy brazilian cheese bread this week and who better to share the recipe with than me fellow food bloggers. If you haven't heard of or visited Espetus in Hayes Valley, then I highly recommend you satiate your carnivorous itch and try this place. It is like a Brazilian, ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT meat buffet. Well, sort of buffet. Waiters circle your table with different cuts of meat for you to choose from, including chicken hearts. There is also a wonderful salad bar to accompany the meal, which may be overkill with the amount of meat that they serve you.

While waiting for our first round of meat, they bring out these absolutely great cheese bread appetizers for you to snack on. They were so good that our table requested multiple plates, in addition to the meat and salad bar. They were chewy, cheesey, puffy goodness.

Luckily, while perusing the food blogging world, I stumbled upon a recipe for pao de queijo. I love recipes that take no time to make and come out so great that you are likely to impress your friends with your "culinary skills".

Recipe Taken from http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_brazilian_cheese_bread/

Ingredients:

1 egg (room temp)

1/3 c. olive oil

2/3 c. milk

1/2 c. tapioca flour (found at Whole Foods - Bob's Red Mill)

1/2 c. packed grated cheese - used Queso Fresco

1 tsp. salt

Special Equipment: mini cupcake tin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly greaser cupcake tin.

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. The batter will be a smooth, runny consistency - more so than pancake batter.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of the batter into each cupcake holder.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (I did full 20 minutes) until puffy and golden. Be sure not to open the oven a lot cause the puffs will deflate.

When done, cool on rack and then consume immediately =).

**You can store extra batter in the refrigerator for up to a week.

"Like Crack" Mexican Corn Dip - By Diana's Mama

This dip is actually credited to one of my really good friends from home's mother. From good ol' Statesville, NC (smalll smalll town on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC where I'm from)

Although semi-unhealthy, a definite winner for party dips and usually always one of the first things to disappear! ALSO VERY EASY TO MAKE, mix and bake.

Ingredients:

• 1 (11oz) can of Mexican corn ("mexicorn"), drained
• 1 (4oz) jar chopped pimento, drained
• 2 oz jalapeno peppers or green chilies, finely chopped (i use more and definitely use jalapenos if you like a 'lil kick, unless you can find the HOT green chilies)
• 1 cup shredded monterey chesse (i use colby jack or a mix)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 cup mayonnaise (i use light)

Recipe:

1. Mix and place in shallow baking dish. (I usually cover the top of with cheese as well so that there's a melted cheese shell on top)
   
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (or until cheese is melted).
   
3. Serve with tortilla chips.

Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

I unfortunately don't have a picture of the recent batch I made but I got this recipe from good ol' allrecipes.com


(picture credited to allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 pound ground turkey

2 (10.75 ounce) cans low sodium tomato soup (I use a box of the Smoked Roasted Tomato soup from TJ's)

2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

1 pinch ground black pepper

1 pinch ground allspice (never have this onhand, so I just throw in some cinnamon as a sub)

salt to taste

Instructions:

1.	Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place turkey in the skillet, and cook until evenly brown; drain.
2.	Coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray, and mix in turkey, tomato soup, kidney beans, black beans and onion. Season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, allspice and salt.
3.	Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High. OPTIONAL: Near the end, I sometimes will cut up some fresh veggies and add it in (like zucchini, or peppers. I've also added canned corn in before with the beans to add some other veggies).