Massaman Curry Chicken

Once up a time a friend of mine took me out for dinner at a Thai restaurant. It was the first time I'd ever been and he suggested the Massaman Curry Chicken. From that moment on, I was on the search for a way to duplicate that recipe and here is what I've come up with.

picture from here

MASSAMAN CURRY CHICKEN
Serves 4


Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet onion
• 1 Tbsp peanut oil
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 1 can Massaman curry paste (from your local Asian Market)
• 1 tsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 lb potatoes, cut into chunks (or fingerling potatoes work wonderfully)
• 1 lb skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped (or 1 tsp dried) 
• Jasmine rice

Directions:

1. Cook your rice according to package directions.
2. Cut the onion into wedges.
3. Heat a wok (or large skillet) until hot, add the oil and swirl it around. Add the onion and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
4. Pour in the coconut milk, then bring to a boil, stirring. Stir in the curry paste*, fish sauce, and sugar.
5. Add the potatoes and simmer gently, covered for about 20 minutes.
6. Add the chicken chunks and basil and cook, covered, over low heat for another 5-10 minutes until the chicken is done and the potatoes are tender.
7. Serve at once over Jasmine rice.

This is especially good reheated the next day!!!

This is what I buy from my Asian market!

*This is a curry, so it has some kick. If I'm making this for anyone but me I start out with 1Tbsp of curry. After I've added all my seasoning and let it cook for a minute I add more as necessary.

pasta taco salad

We've made this twice now and it just keeps getting better. Love it for a potluck or a weekend lunch as it's own meal. Yummmo!

You'll need:
(note: like most of my recipes, the amounts of eyeballed... so if you only have 1/2 C cheese and no olives, that's fine, it'll still be good)

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small can chopped green chilies (they're not that hot, and I'm a giant wiener, promise)
• 1/2 C chopped onion
• 2 C rotini pasta
• 1/4 C black olives (optional)
• 1 C halved cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 C cheddar cheese (you can use shredded, but I really like it cubed in this recipe)
• 2-3 C shredded lettuce
• 1/2 to 1 C Dor.othy Lynch salad dressing (what? you don't have Dorothy? fine, use Catalina) (but it's really, really good, you should try it if you have it near you)
• 1/2 to 1 C salsa
• small bag (convenience store size) Doritos, crushed

What you'll do:
Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain, rinse with cold water, drain again, and set aside. Brown the ground beef with the onion and green chilies. When it's finished cooking, transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge until cool. In a separate bowl, combine cooled, drained pasta, olives, tomatoes, and cheese. Once the meat is cool (so the cheese doesn't melt), add it to the pasta mixture. Add 1/2 C each of the dressing and salsa and stir the entire salad together. You can add as much salsa as you like for a kick, but I usually stick with about 1/2 C. Add more dressing, 1/4 C at a time, until the mixture is no longer dry (but you don't want it soupy either). Add the lettuce shortly before serving. Lastly, spread the crunched Doritos over the top of the salad. Enjoy!

deep dish pizza

Original recipe here

This is an awesome recipe to throw together, based on what you have on hand, and what your family likes. It got 6 big thumbs up from our fam.

note: this is for an 8x8 pan, if you're making it for a 9x13, double it.

What you'll need:
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
2 T Italian seasoning
1/2 C flour
15 ounce jar pizza sauce
1/2 C Parmesan
1-2 C mozzerella or provolone (depending on your love for cheese)
1/2 tsp salt
dash black pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 eggs
1/2 T oil

optional ingredients: browned Italian sausage, diced green pepper, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, peperoncinis

What you'll do:
Preheat oven to 350. Brown hamburger and onion. Drain well. Add any optional ingredients, garlic salt and Italian seasoning. Add pizza sauce. Stir well. Grease an 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray. Spread meat mixture in pan. Sprinkle mozzerella cheese over meat mixture. In mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, flour, oil, and salt. Pour over meat in pan. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over batter. Bake 35 minutes. It won't look done, but it will be done. :)

pulled pork sandwiches

I'm a fan of easy, are you? A meal doesn't get any easier than this!

Our local grocer had pork roasts (it could have been a shoulder roast? I'm not sure, I never pay attention) on sale the other day, so I picked one up, and was craving some pulled pork sandwiches! These are by far the best I've ever had, just in terms of juicy, tender meat. I was nervous to try this because I thought the soda would flavor the meat, and it didn't whatsoever.

What you'll need:
Pork roast (you can go big or small, whatever fits your occasion)
Root beer (1-2 cans depending on how big your roast is)
Your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is DEFINITELY Swe.et Ba.by Rays, j likes Cook.ies)

What you'll do:
Put the roast in a crockpot. Pour enough root beer over the roast that the soda comes several inches up the sides of the roast - the roast doesn't need to be completely covered with soda. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove the roast from the crockpot and drain the liquid. Shread the meat (it will fall apart). Put the meat back in the crockpot on the "Keep Warm" setting, and add a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce. It's ready to eat as soon as the sauce is heated. Serve on buns.

YUM!

Crockpot Chicken

Suzy requested this recipe for the blog, and I'm happy to add it, it's SOOOO good. Seriously. So good.

Original recipe

You'll Need:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed golden mushroom soup (or I used cream of mushroom soup)
• 1 (8 ounce) container chive and onion cream cheese
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (or chicken broth, I used broth)
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Directions

1.Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and stir in the salad dressing mix, mushroom soup, cream cheese, and wine until the sauce mixture is hot, smooth and well combined. Place the chicken breasts into the bottom of a slow cooker, and pour the sauce mixture over the chicken. Cover and cook on Low setting until chicken is tender, about 4 hours.

My notes:

• If you want to save on calories, skip the cream cheese entirely and just use 8oz fat free sour cream
• If you add more than 4 chicken breasts, just add a little milk to the sauce to thin it a bit
• We had this over egg noodles, YUM!

Sesame Dipping Sauce

I needed a new sauce to dip my steamed artichoke leaves in that wasn't pure butter. Being a huge fan of butter, I felt a little like I was cheating on it, but after I tasted this sauce, the guilt just melted away. I think it can also be used as a Thai sauce for rolls and noodles because it reminded me of a peanut sauce that I have gotten in the past only not so obnoxiously peanutty.

Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons oriental sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

Whisk all ingredients together well and refrigerate.