Peanut Sauce Chicken

Confession time.  I realize this will sound odd to most people but I must admit that I do not like peanut butter.  I love lightly salted dry roasted peanuts, but do not like raw peanuts or (gasp) peanut butter.  That being said I do adore this dish.  With my known aversion to peanut butter I cannot remember why I tried this initially, but now it is a family favorite.  Oh and for the record I do like peanut satay (which this is slightly reminiscent) and Reese's peanut butter cups and Reese's Pieces, but not Peanut Butter M&M's.  Weird I know...

Peanut Sauce Chicken

Ingredients

 2 chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1 Tbsp coconut or olive oil

1/2 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 C peanut butter 

1 C milk

1/2 C soy sauce* 

1/3 C brown sugar

1/4 C cooking sherry

6 dashes red pepper sauce

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/4 C chopped peanuts 

Garnish:

chopped peanuts

green onion

red pepper flakes

Directions

Cook the chicken in a large skillet in the oil until lightly browned.

Add the onion and garlic and cook another couple of minutes.

Remove the chicken, onion and garlic from the pan.

If you have some chicken browning stuck to the pan just add a bit of the milk and scrape off the chicken.  This add a lot of rich flavor to your sauce. 

Add the rest of the milk, peanut butter, and soy sauce.

Stir constantly until well blended and smooth. 

Add the brown sugar, sherry, pepper sauce and pepper flakes and 1/4 C peanuts.

Stir until smooth.
Return chicken, onion and garlic mixture to the pan.

Cook on low, stirring occasionally until the sauce begins to thicken.

Cook about five more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over rice or oriental noodles.  

Garnish with more chopped peanuts, green onion and red pepper flakes for a festive flair.

Tips and Hints 

• You can use creamy or chunky peanut butter depending on your preference.  
• *To make this gluten free use La Choy or another brand of soy sauce that does not contain wheat.  These are a bit tricky to find, but are out there if you look.
• If you are really timid you can cut down on the red pepper, but I'd say to leave a bit in, the slight kick is awesome.
• If the dish is too salty go for a lower sodium soy sauce or peanut butter.

Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup

I recently found a different pumpkin curry that called for diced fresh pumpkin.  Since this was between Halloween and Thanksgiving there was nary a pumpkin to be found at the regular stores.  Finally as a friend and I were out and about we found a roadside stand with pumpkins so I bought a small one.  It had a skin that would have done well for a shield for Iron Man as it was practically impervious.  I did manage to get the seeds out and roast them, but mourned the loss of the potential to use the flesh for cooking.  (Steaming it to soften it ruined the texture and the recipe was a flop).  About a week later I saw a neighbor ready to toss her pumpkins from her porch and asked if I could have them, as they were still in prime condition.     Now with a whole new batch of freshly roasted pumpkin seeds and a whole lot of diced pumpkin I decided to find a new pumpkin recipe. Of course I did my own tweaking and this is the yummy result.  It is even better the second day.  

Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

2 pounds cubed fresh pumpkin*

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon sea salt 

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

3 cups vegetable broth

1-2 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon - 2 Tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes 

1 can coconut milk

Directions:

Put 1 1/2 pounds of the pumpkin in a baking dish, toss with the olive oil and sea salt.  

Roast in a 325 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender.

In a large pot add the coconut oil and heat until melted.  Add the onion, carrot and celery to make a mirapoix.  Allow the veggies to caramelize as directed in the mirapoix.  

Add the garlic and saute a couple more minutes. 

Deglaze the pan with the broth.     

Add the curry powder, red pepper flakes and remaining half pound of uncooked pumpkin.

Simmer about 10 minutes.

Add the cooked pumpkin and simmer 10 minutes more.

Carefully transfer the soup to a blender and process until smooth

Return to the pot.

Shake the can of coconut milk well and pour into the blender.

Blend on high for about 60 seconds to remove the soup that is still clinging to the sides of the blender.

Pour into the pot and continue to heat another 5-10 minutes while stirring until all is heated through and well incorporated 

Tips and Hints

• *You can substitute canned pumpkin in this soup when fresh pumpkin is not available, just add it after you've pureed the rest of the ingredients.
• You can use an immersion blender rather than a traditional blender.
• If you are familiar with this blog at all you know we love spicy in our family so I ampped up the red pepper flakes, feel free to adjust to your taste.
• The crackers in the photo are delicious with this soup and anything else you care to use them with.  They are Kirkland Signature Ancient Grains Crackers from Costco and have Millet, Amaranth, Quinoa and Teff grains in them. 
• Since vegetable broth is not as readily available in forms such as  bullion powder, soup base, paste etc.  You can easily substitute chicken broth, it just won't be vegetarian.  

Vegetarian Quinoa Chili

I adore quinoa as an idea.  I know that it is a super grain and mega-healthy for you.  Since I struggle a bit as how to implement it I am always in search of new delicious quinoa recipes.  I found this one recently (and of course tweaked it a bit) and it is definitely a keeper.  Particularly as the weather cools off and I start craving a rich, hearty, flavor packed chili! 

Vegetarian Quinoa Chili 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water or vegetable broth

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1/4 cup water or vegetable broth 

3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped

2 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

3 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1-3 Tablespoons chili powder 

1-2 Tablespoons cayenne pepper (optional) 

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan combine the quinoa and 1 cup broth. 

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until liquid is absorbed, 15-20 minutes.

In a large pot heat the olive oil add the onion, carrot and celery in a mirapoix.  Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup broth.  

Add the garlic, peppers and zucchini to the pot.  Cook about 10 more minutes until the vegetables are heated and beginning to soften.  

Add the beans, tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Mix well.

Season with the cumin, chili powder, cayenne and salt and pepper.

Simmer chili on low for at least 30 minutes.

Serve hot.  

Tips and Hints:

• If you are timid with heat remove the seeds and membranes from the jalapeno.

• Do NOT omit the chili powder, if you don't like the heat level just use only 1 Tablespoon.  This adds a depth of flavor that makes the chili taste good.

• You can add optional toppings such as: green onion, diced avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream, Greek yogurt, crackers, etc. to your bowl when serving.

• This would be fantastic with a good corn bread. 

Self-Dressing Stacked Spinach Salad

I admit that this is not the most attractive dish, but it is super easy and super delicious and  super healthy!

I discovered the secret to this self dressing salad by accident when I took it to work one day.  The flavors melded perfectly and it was divine! 

Self-Dressing Stacked Spinach Salad

Ingredients

Baby Spinach

Feta Cheese Crumbles

Fresh Tomato, chopped

Bacon crumbles (optional) 

Directions

Place desired amount of spinach in a bowl.

Pour feta over the spinach.

Cover with the chopped tomatoes, include any excess juice from the chopping process.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least three hours, five is even better.

Remove from fridge and sprinkle in bacon.

Toss and serve.

Tips and Hints

• Letting this salad sit is key.  If you just toss everything together fresh it is not even close to as delicious.  
• The natural juices from the tomatoes drip over the feta and spinach making the self dressing part work.
• Just eyeball the amounts of ingredients to your taste, but be sure to have enough tomato to drip over the rest of the salad

Quinoa with a Kick

Several years ago I attended a class at BYU's Education Week on Great Grains.   The presenter talked about a super grain called Quinoa and its amazing health properties.  Including his belief that Helaman's Stripling Warriors were able to march all day and all night powered by this awesome grain indigenous to Central America.    Since then I'd been wanting to try it.  

One day at work our school cafeteria (voted Best in State) served quinoa.  I was stoked and got school lunch for the only time that year.  I was hooked! and asked our cafeteria manager for the recipe.  The downside was that his recipe made 100 servings.  I had to do some dreaded math.  

Of course, as you would expect, I tweaked it, added a few things and kicked up the spice level.  The result was this amazing quinoa dish that I get rave reviews on and friends asking for the recipe.  Now I am sharing it with all.

Quinoa with a Kick

Ingredients 

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1-2 Chili Peppers, diced (variety depends on your preferred heat level)

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups vegetable broth (including liquid reserved from the tomatoes) 

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more to taste if you like heat)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

pinch salt

1 cup frozen corn

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes, drained with liquid reserved

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Stir in the onion and garlic, saute until lightly browned.

Add peppers and saute another few minutes.

Mix quinoa into the pan and heat slightly.

Pour in the vegetable broth, including tomato liquid.

Season with the cumin, cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt.

Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Cover, reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes until the liquid is mostly absorbed and the "tails" of the quinoa pop out.  (You'll know it when you see it, it is a very distinctive feature of this amazing grain)

Stir the frozen corn into the saucepan and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until the corn is heated through.

Mix in the black beans and tomatoes and heat another 5 minutes, until heated through. 

Tips and Hints

• I use an equal mixture of red and white quinoa
• Quinoa is getting more popular as a gluten free wonder grain, if you don't see it in your local market check at a health food store.  Red quinoa is a bit more rare and this will be your best source for it.
• If you like somewhat mild make sure you remove the seeds from the chili peppers, for a more spicy kick leave the seeds in and increase the number of peppers used.
• This is great as a side dish, or pared with a cool salad a great meal. 
• Also great as left-overs the next day

Amish Baked Oatmeal

When my sister Ruth got married in August of 2001 I went the Washington D.C. area for her open house.  We stayed with her in-laws, Mike and Jeanne.   Jeanne is a total doll  and served us one of her special breakfasts, Amish Baked Oatmeal.  She shared the recipe with me and said that she serves it on special occasions.   In keeping with the "special occasion theme, this is a new Christmas tradition at our house.   My husband likes it so much that he doesn't always want to wait for Christmas so after our recent Christmas Breakfast  in July I thought I'd share with all of you too.

Jeanne apparently got the recipe from the wife of a Mennonite minister who had grown up in a family that was old order Amish, 
I think this must have been their family recipe.

Amish Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients 

1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons pure vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oil

1 cup milk

3 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

Optional:

fresh or frozen fruit

brown sugar

milk

Directions

Mix the butter and sugar by hand until well mixed. 
Add the eggs and mix well, add vanilla 

Add the baking powder and salt, mix in.

Add the oil and milk and mix well.

Stir in the Oats.

The batter will likely look a bit lumpy and not combined.  That is normal.

Pour into a 2-quart casserole or other similar sized baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Tips and Hints

• Best served warm, you can reheat in the microwave if needed
• You can serve it with fresh or frozen (thaw first) fruit and a bit of milk.  My very favorite with this is frozen raspberries that have been thawed so they are a bit "juicy"
• You can also serve it with brown sugar on the top.  
• Jeanne said this will keep several days in the refrigerator, but it never lasts that long at our house.

Corn Fritters with Lime Aioli

Recently, seemingly out of the blue, my family has been asking for corn fritters.  I thought this was pretty random, but happy to oblige I found a couple of corn fritter recipes, saw the basics and invented my own version.  The Lime Aioli dipping sauce is from KSL's Studio 5 with a slight variation. 

Corn Fritters with Lime Aioli

Ingredients 

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup corn meal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1-2 Tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup milk

1 Tablespoon melted butter

2-3 diced jalapeno 

2 cups frozen corn

oil for frying

Method 

Mix the flour, corn meal, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes together.

Separately, mix the eggs, milk and butter.

Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well combined.  

Stir in the jalapeno and corn.  

Mix well.

Heat your favorite frying oil to about 325.  Carefully drop the batter in with a small cookie scoop.  Fry for about 2 minutes or until golden brown.  

Lime Aioli 

Ingredients

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup sour cream

juice and zest of 1/2 lime

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon dill weed

Method

Combine all ingredients together, blend until smooth.  The coolness of the aioli offsets the both the thermal and capsaicin  heat of the fritter.  

Hints and Tips

• If you like less heat in your food you can cut back or omit the jalapenos and red pepper flakes.
• Fritters can be placed in a warm oven to maintain heat if you want to wait  a bit to serve them.  (After all who really wants to be standing over a deep fryer while everyone else parties)
• Fresh corn can be used in place of the frozen, but I'd steer clear of canned, as the texture and flavor are not the same.

Hot Spinach Artichoke with Parmesan Dip

Who doesn't love a good spinach artichoke dip?  But buying that stuff is expensive and you can't always run to Chili's when a craving hits.  So of course, I did a bit of Google-ing and found a few recipes.  With a big shout out to Alton Brown for his basis and some tweaking of my own I have developed a Hot Spinach Artichoke with Parmesan Dip that is stellar!  We all like it far better than any from any restaurant. 

Hot Spinach Artichoke with Parmesan Dip

Ingredients  

8 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup Miracle Whip

1/4 cup Alfredo sauce 

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 1/2 cup fresh spinach

1 1/2 cup artichoke hearts

1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Directions

Use a food processor to roughly chop spinach and artichoke hearts.  You'll want to do these separately from one another.

Warm the cream cheese in the microwave, on medium for about a minute or until it is very soft. (Don't use high as that will "cook" it).

Stir the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sour cream, Miracle Whip and Alfredo sauce.  Stir until creamy and well blended.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Mix until well blended.  Add the spinach and artichoke.  Mix well.  Stir  in the Parmesan cheese.

Turn mixture into a casserole dish.  Sprinkle with the additional cheese.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.   

Serve with your favorite chips, crackers or bread. 

Hints and Tips

• You can substitute mayo for the Miracle Whip if you prefer the taste.

• Add extra red pepper flakes if you like a bit more of a kick, you can also reduce the amount if you are wimpy about spice.

• For a pretty browned finish to the top of the dish sprinkle with a bit of additional Parmesan cheese, then at the end of the baking process broil for about 7 minutes until the top is to your desired brownness. 

• NEVER use the powdered Parmesan in the green can.  You can grate your own or use the pre-grated cheese in a bag. 

Chicken Tika Masala

A while back our oldest son and his wife talked my husband and me into going to a fantastic local Indian restaurant.  They raved about the Chicken Tika Masala and after tasting it I could totally see why. It is delicious!   Naturally I wanted to go again, frequently!, but my husband is... shall we say, thrifty and resists paying a lot of money at restaurants on a regular basis.  So I decided I needed to learn to make this on my own.  A few different recipes, some suggestions from other cooks and some tweaking and I have achieved Chicken Tika Masala perfection! 

Now I just need to learn to make my own naan. 

Chicken Tika Masala 

Ingredients: 

Marinade

1 cup plain yogurt (I prefer Greek)

juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 Tablespoon cayenne pepper 

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 Tablespoon Garam Masala

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces

Sauce

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons smokey paprika

1 Tablespoon Garam Masala

1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 - 8 oz. cans tomato sauce

2 cups heavy cream

Directions

In a large bowl combine the marinade ingredients, blend well, until the powders and yogurt are smooth.  Add the chicken pieces, mix well so that chicken is thoroughly coated.  Cover and place in the fridge for at least an hour.  I like to go overnight.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and place it in a single layer on a baking sheet and broil on low until done.  Time will vary depending on the size chunks you have.

Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the onion and the salt, heat over medium heat until the onion starts to caramelize. Add the garlic and jalapeno, heat an additional minute or two until the pepper is slightly cooked.  Add the spices (you'll want them pre-measured so you can add them all at once) and stir to coat the veggies. 

Stir in the tomato sauce to deglaze the pan slightly, then add the cream.

Simmer on low heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce starts to thicken, about 20 minutes.

Add the cooked chicken and heat an additional 10-15 minutes.

Serve with your favorite rice.

Tips and Hints

• Garam Masala is an Indian seasoning blend.  I picked up a bag big enough to last a lifetime for just a few dollars at a local "Bollywood" market.
• If you like your food more mild, omit the cayenne pepper from the marinade and the crushed red pepper from the sauce.  The heat of the jalapeno can also be controlled by the seeds, the more seeds the more heat. 
• You can cut fat and calories by subbing some of the heavy cream for half-and-half.  I did a 50/50 split and it still tasted fantastic.  You could probably cut back even more by using milk in place of the half-and-half, but I haven't tried that yet. 
• A more traditional approach would be to skewer and grill the chicken then remove from the skewers before adding to the sauce, but I like the simple and year round broiling option.