Fried Rice

Fried Rice

Homemade fried rice was tricky business in my house growing up....just soy sauce wasn't enough flavor, yet the only thing my Dad could think of to beef up the flavor was to add curry powder and garlic. This really wasn't a bad combo and was quite delicious, but obviously tasted nothing like traditional Chinese Fried Rice. As an adult I've had to play around with ingredients and flavors to get the right combination, and I'm happy to say that after years of playing I finally did it. I knew it must be good when I was browsing around Steamy Kitchen and her Fried Rice recipe is almost identical to mine....and she's Asian! It probably didn't take her long to figure out how to write her recipe, but mine was definitely years of trial and error.

At least I got it all figured out. Eventually.

Recipe by Meal Planning 101
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Serves 4

1 ½ cups cooked day old rice
2 chopped green onions
1 clove minced garlic
1 inch grated fresh ginger
1 egg scrambled
Soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
Frozen veggies or fresh veggies (whatever you prefer)
Optional: add any diced meat you have

Heat a wok to high. Add a bit of vegetable oil and scramble fry the egg. Set aside. Add more oil to the wok and add the veggies (add as many or as little as you'd like). Stir-fry a few minutes or until the veggies are almost cooked, then add the garlic and ginger. Stir fry only about 30 seconds so you don't burn the garlic. Add the rice, soy sauce and sesame oil. I just eyeball the soy sauce until it looks right, and seems to be seasoned properly. Keep the rice on high heat. You want each grain of rice heated through. Add the scrambled egg back to the rice and mix thoroughly. Turn off heat.

Click here for printable version of Fried Rice
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THE RESULTS?
The thing I love about Fried Rice is that it's versatile; the rice is all from leftovers and you can throw in virtually any veggie or meat you have on hand. It's a great way to clean out a fridge. And it's always delicious.

Fried Rice is a great side dish for:

• Grilled Asian Beef Kabobs in Black Bean Sauce
  
• Lemon Chicken
• Beef and Broccoli
  

Lemon Chicken

Lemon Chicken

I really love to discover recipes or create my own that "crack the code" of restaurant favorites. It's so much cheaper to make at home and much healthier. You don't have to worry that it's drenched in fat, sugar, calories, etc....because even if it is (wink, wink...because we all know sometimes it is ;) AT LEAST you know exactly what's going into it and what's going into your body.

So for that reason, I love this Lemon Chicken. It tastes exactly like what you would get at a Chinese restaurant (not authentic by any means...of course I'm referring to North-American Chinese food), you can cut out fat by sauteing the chicken in a minimal amount of oil, and even though the sauce is high in sugar you can control it and balance it out by adding lots of veggies to the Fried Rice, etc. Or you can just eat it and not worry about it.

Which is what I tend to do. Because it's really good.


*Recipes from Rachael Ray
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Serves 4

1 pound chicken breast or chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1/4 cup flour
Salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp white or rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
8 ounces (1 cup) prepared lemon curd (find in the jam aisle)
1/4 cup hot water
1 lemon, zested
2 green onions, finely chopped

In a wok or large skillet, heat oil to high heat. Toss chicken in flour, throw into hot pan and cook for 3 or 4 minutes until browned. Remove the chicken to a plate and reduce heat to medium.

Add the rice vinegar (stand back, the fumes are potent) to the pan and let evaporate. Then add chicken broth and scrape up all the chicken bits off the bottom of the pan. While simmering, loosen the lemon curd by mixing with the hot water (boiling is probably best). Add that to the pan, and keep simmering until all the chunks of lemon curd have melted and incorporated (will take a few minutes. Add the chicken back to the sauce, along with the lemon zest and green onions. Serve with Fried Rice.

Click here for printable version of Lemon Chicken
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THE RESULTS?

If you like Chinese-restaurant style Lemon Chicken you will love this. It tastes exactly the same. It's a little on the sweet side, but you can more lemon juice to balance that out. Just make this meal and your family will be amazed that you made it yourself and didn't call for take-out ;)


If you want to have a Chinese night, try these as well:

• Beef and Broccoli
• Fried Rice
• Won Ton Soup

Fore more delicious Rachael Ray recipes check out Taste and Tell's Saturdays with Rachael Ray.

Maple Mustard Pork Chops

Maple Mustard Pork Chops

I borrowed a Rachael Ray cookbook from my Dad a couple Christmas's ago and kind of went hog wild reading every recipe in the book, book marking every single recipe I wanted to try and cooking Rachael Ray recipes almost every meal for 2 weeks. A little obsessive I know, but some excellent recipes came out of my Rachael-infatuated days, this being one of them. When I look at the ingredient list now, I wonder "what ever possessed me to make this recipe based on these ingredients?"...it's a pretty weird combo. But somehow it works. The flavors meld together beautifully for some of the best pork chops I've had.


Recipe adapted from Rachael Ray
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Serves 4

½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup spicy brown mustard (Dijon works too)
¼ cup apple juice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground cumin
4 center cut boneless pork loin chops, 1-inch thick
Olive oil
Grill seasoning blend or salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine maple syrup, mustard, cider, onion, nutmeg, cinnamon and cumin in a small saucepan and cook together over medium heat for 5 minutes until sauce begins to thicken a bit.

Preheat frying pan to medium-high heat with 1 tbsp oil. Season the pork chops on both sides with grill seasoning or salt and pepper. Fry about 3 minutes on each side until the chops have a nice brown color (they don't need to be cooked all the way through). Pour about 1/2 the sauce in the pan, baste the chops with it on both sides and let cook for 2 or 3 minutes more. The sauce will get nice and caramelized.

Transfer the pork chops to a baking sheet and pour over the rest of the reserved sauce. Bake the chops in the oven for 10-12 minutes and serve.

Click here for printable version of Maple Mustard Pork Chops
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THE RESULTS?
We LOVE these pork chops. I bought a massive pack of pork chops a couple months ago when they were on sale for about $1 a pound, so I have tried many different pork chop recipes and many different ways of cooking them, and my husband claimed that these were the best.

The flavors are so warm and comforting...pretty dang perfect for Fall.


For more great Rachael Ray recipes, check out Saturdays with Rachael Ray at Taste and Tell.

Italian-Sausage Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms & Peppers with Herb Cream Sauce

Italian-Sausage Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms & Peppers with Herb Cream Sauce

I had never tried a portabella mushroom before, but I absolutely ADORE mushrooms. Mushrooms are actually one food that my husband despises...he is not a picky eater, but he just can't handle the texture of them. He always thinks they smell good while they are cooking and always gives them a try just to see if he likes them this time, but his mouth just can't get past their squishy texture.

I on the other hand despise peppers. I always have. I too think they smell good, and always cook with them because I like the flavor they impart to some dishes, but I just can't eat them. I've tried but...no go. My husband and peppers are practically married. It's a good deal really; he picks out his mushrooms and puts them on my plate so I get extra, and I pick out my peppers and put them on his plate.

Win-Win.

I discovered this recipe from the Olive Garden website. They looked too good to pass up, so I stuffed some peppers so my husband could avoid the squishy, gagging mushrooms that he so hates.

*Recipe adapted from Olive Garden
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Serves 4



4 Portabella mushrooms with stems & gills removed (or 2 red peppers sliced in half lengthwise and deseeded, or 2 mushrooms and 2 peppers)
1 lb Italian sausage
1 tsp fresh basil, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs

SAUCE
2 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped (2 tsp dry)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Pepper to taste



Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Clean tops of the mushrooms with a damp towel and place stem side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 5-8 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown the sausage in a skillet over medium heat, crumbling and breaking up as you saute. When cooked through, drain on paper towel and let cool. Combine the cooled meat with basil, bread crumbs, eggs, garlic and parmesan cheese. Divide the mixture with your hands into 4 and stuff inside portabella mushrooms and/or red peppers, placing the stuffed veggie into a baking dish. Return to oven and bake 15-20 minutes until nice and golden brown.

To make the sauce, heat the cream over medium high heat. Let it boil lightly (don't let it scorch) until it has thickened and has reduced to about a cup. (Don't be impatient with this process...it will take awhile. I was totally impatient and had a really soupy sauce at first. Don't be like me.) When it has reduced, add pepper, basil and parmesan cheese.

Serve the stuffed mushrooms and/or peppers with the herb cream sauce spooned over top with a salad on the side.

Click here for printable version of Italian-Sausage Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms & Peppers with Herb Cream Sauce
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THE RESULTS?
Not bad. I did actually think that I would be blown away by this recipe...it sounds SOOO good. But I wasn't blown away. I think the problem was that it was too salty. The original recipe calls for added salt in the sauce, as well as grinding garlic croutons into bread crumbs for the filling. But it's really unnecessary (which is why I've edited it). The filling already has so much flavor that plain ol' bread crumbs would be perfect. And as for the sauce, I should have realized that Parmesan cheese is already salty and tasted my sauce before adding the salt like the original recipe said. So yeah...salt in the sauce, also unnecessary.

But all in all it was still a great meal. It felt really fancy and was a nice change from the ordinary. My husband ate the stuffed peppers while I enjoyed the stuffed mushrooms. He did however, have a bite of my mushroom just to try it. His comment was "Oh weird...mushroom." He's had years of hating mushrooms under his belt, so while he didn't like it, he did say that the flavors of the sausage stuffing and the cream sauce seemed to go well with the mushroom. It's kind of a compliment...I guess.

My thoughts on the stuffed pepper? Didn't try it.

Maki Sushi

Maki Sushi

Surprisingly, sushi is not that hard to make at home. Time consuming: yes...but hard: no. It's a lot more fun to make with friends. It's one of those things where you can just chat and roll the sushi as you go. The actual "rolling" part doesn't take long at all...it's just preparing all your ingredients that takes a bit of time.

For instructions on how to make your sushi rice and roll the sushi, check out Daily Obsession. She has a great step-by-step instruction on how it's done.

Use those instructions as a guideline and then fill with your favorite fish and veggies.

Here are some sushi filling combination's we love:

• Tuna Roll - sashimi grade tuna mixed with a bit of wasabi
• Spicy Tuna Roll - sashimi grade tuna and spicy mayo (make spicy mayo with mayo and chili-garlic sauce - the ratio of mayo to garlic sauce is up to you. I usually do about half and half, but I always taste and see if it needs more of one or the other. )
• Smoked Salmon Maki - mayo, smoked salmon and asparagus spears that have been blanched or steamed for a couple minutes
• Dynamite Roll - tempura shrimp (just buy a box of tempura and follow the directions of how to make tempura shrimp), avocado and spicy mayo (directions above).
• California Roll - imitation crab sticks, mayo, julienned carrot and cucumber.
• Kentucky Maki - sauteed chicken with mayo or spicy mayo and cucumber.
• Tempura Salmon Roll - chunks of tempura salmon (again, follow the directions on the box), mayo and avocado.

There are of course many more combination's, so do whichever you like best. These are the combination's we find at our local sushi restaurant and ones we have tried at home.

When serving your sushi rolls, don't forget about soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi. Once you've made sushi at home a couple times, you won't believe you can make sushi just as delicious as the restaurant!

To have your own Japanese Night, try these other recipes:
Miso Soup
Donburi
and serve with a pot of Green Tea or "Popcorn" Tea (Genmaicha)

Miso Soup

Miso Soup

I don't have a close up picture of this dish, but a picture of our entire Japanese Night Feast. The Miso Soup is in the smaller bowls. It has the white chunks floating in it.

Another interesting addition to our Japanese Night was Miso Soup. A popular Japanese soup, yet something I had never tried. I'm always up for new things.

*Recipe from Allrecipes.com
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Serves 4

2 teaspoons dashi granules
4 cups water
3 tablespoons miso paste
1 (8 ounce) package silken tofu, diced
2 green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces

This soup comes together so quickly! Get a medium pot and bring the water and dashi granules to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, add the miso paste and stir so it melts. Add the diced tofu and green onions. Let simmer for a couple minutes and then serve.

Click here for printable version of Miso Soup
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THE RESULTS?

This was my first taste of Miso Soup and I have to say...it's interesting. Definitely not a flavor I have had before. I think I heard somewhere it's called "Salty Soup" which perfectly describes it. My biggest problem with the soup was the texture of the tofu...I didn't like that it was soft and kind of "jellyish". I think if the tofu was a firmer one I would have liked it much more. So I'm not making any final judgements about Miso Soup, because I'm am going to try it again with a firmer tofu.

To have your own Japanese Night, try these other recipes:
Maki Sushi
Donburi
and serve with a pot of Green Tea or "Popcorn" Tea (Genmaicha)

Meal Plan Week 4

Meal Plan Week 4

I know, I know, I'm WAAAAY behind! The last week and a half has been a whirl-wind of Thanksgiving dinners, job interviews, a sick baby, job offers, work....and no time for much blogging. I'll try to get caught up today (which may mean a whack load of posts :)

Day 1: Japanese Night with friends - Donburi, Miso Soup and Sushi
I have all the ingredients for making sushi, but it's way more fun to do with friends. My husband and I have also never tried any other Japanese dishes, so it's going to be a night of fun and experimenting with food.

Day 2: Roasted Salmon with Sweet 'n' Hot Mustard Glaze with Rice and Peas
Our family's all-time favorite preparation of salmon.

Day 3: Beef Stroganoff with Red Wine, Dijon and Dill with Salad
Prepare the salad with a simple oil and cider vinegar dressing and sprinkle in lots of fresh or dried dill to echo the flavors in the stroganoff.

Day 4: Maple-Mustard Pork Chops with Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus
This is a tried and true pork chop recipe my family loves.

Day 5: Slow Cooker Butter Chicken, Naan and Basmati Rice
You MUST make this curry now.

Day 6: Kin's Kickass Chili with Cornbread Muffins.
I've never done it before, but I plan on making my beloved chili recipe in the slow cooker.

Day 7: Lemon Chicken and Fried Rice
Homemade North-American Chinese food at it's finest.

Nacho Night

Nacho Night

Here's my big tip for nights when you are too busy to spend a half hour in the kitchen cooking: Plan to make a crockpot meal, a make-ahead meal that all you have to do is reheat, or in this case, a meal when you can do the prep early in the week and then assemble within minutes.

I work every Thursday and get home around 6:30-6:45pm....much too tired, exhausted and hungry to spend any time cooking. I was getting sick of the crockpot meals (I don't know how the CrockPot Lady does it!) and decided to switch it up a bit and make a treat I knew my husband would appreciate. Nacho's.

If you fry your beef earlier in the week and/or prechop the veggies, then assembling this takes only minutes. And it's fun and delicious.

We love to eat these on a Friday night for Family Nacho/Movie Night. We bust out the tv trays and dip and eat and watch until our hearts content. Of course you don't need to eat this for supper, but you could also serve it at a party as an appetizer or when you are in the mood for going out with friends and having a beer and some appies. You will save yourself a load of money doing it at home.

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1 bag of tortilla chips (or baked tortilla chips)
Ground beef
Pkg taco seasoning
Green onions
Tomatoes, seeded and diced
Lettuce, thinly shredded
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Salsa
Sour Cream
(Base all the amounts on how much your family will eat)

Brown your ground beef. To save time, do it earlier in the week or when you are making another ground beef meal. In my case, the day before I made Spaghetti Bolognaise so I browned up 1lb of ground beef with 1/2 a diced onion. I took out 1/3 of the beef and mixed in some taco seasoning and put it in a contatiner in the fridge for my Nacho's. I made my Bolognaise sauce with the remaining 2/3 - doing it this way means absolutely NO extra effort.

Another way to save time, is doing the rest of your prep work earlier in the week or the night before. Shred your cheese, seed and dice your tomatoes and chop your onions.

Assembling the Nacho's means preheating your oven to 450 degrees, spreading out a layer of tortilla chips, topping with seasoned ground beef and sprinkling with shredded cheddar cheese. Put in the oven until nice and melted. Top with green onions, tomatoes, lettuce and serve with salsa and sour cream. Also delicious with refried beans and guacamole.

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THE RESULTS?
My family loved it. Especially my husband. He kept saying "Great idea Kin. Let's have Nacho's more often." I loved it because it took 5 minutes to make (and I exerted no energy to do it).

Egg Roll

Egg Roll

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I never imagined that egg roll can mean so much to bengalis :) Recently when I went to Puja Pandals, I saw most people at roll stand than in pandals :) Earlier ajoy use to ask me for egg roll and I use to thing he would love parathas more than egg roll. Probably you can say I didnt understand the roll importance :) But after attending puja this year, the first thing I had made my mind to surprise some day with rolls. So today for breakfast when I had almost nothing left at home I prepared this and he indeed was pleasantly surprised :)


Ingredients
3 Spoon Heaps of Maida
1 Spoon Heaps of Wheat Flour
3 Eggs
1 Onion
2 Green Chillies
Hot and sweet Tomato Ketchup
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Mix maida and wheat flour with salt to taste and little oil and knead the dough. Keep aside for atleast half an hour
• In a small pan, add little oil around half spoon or little less and heat it.
• Add sliced onions and green chillies to it and cook them till onions lose their rawness and look light brown. Keep aside
• Make 3 balls out of the dough and roll them thin one by one.
• Heat tawa and transfer the rolled roti on to the tawa. Put little oil from sides
• When one side is almost done flip the roti and let the other side cook for a while.
• Break the egg directly onto the cooking roti and spread it all over the roti and let it cook for a minute or so.
• Flip it, add oil from sides and cook from the egged side till egg is cooked completely.
• On a plate keep a kitchen towel such that it covers the 2/3rd of the plate.
• Transfer the cooked egg roti on to this plate. Egg side on top.
• Spread the 1/3rd mixture of cooked onion and chilli in the middle as one line. Add single ketchup line to taste.
• Now roll the egg roti into the egg roll with the kitchen towel and close the napkin from the bottom.
• Repeat same process for remaining two rolls.

Notes
I didnt use complete wheat flour for roti as otherwise you tend to get wheat flour taste in the roll which I dont like in the roll. I didnt use complete maida because otherwise after cooking the rotis tend to get too hard. Hence this combination.
While rolling the roti, the best way to get perfect roll is to first put one side over the other such that mixture is covered and is tightly filled in from one side. and then roll it into the roll from same side.

Kanda(Onion) Pohe

Kanda(Onion) Pohe

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Lot of friends had been asking for easy breakfast recipies.. I mean some simple yet tasty day today breakfast recipies. So here I am posting recipe for simple yet delicious maharashtrian breakfast/snacks.. This item is so common that whenever people get unexpected guest or there is "Ladaki Dikhana" program at ones place this is must :)


Ingredients
2 Cup Pohe
1/2 Cup Muttor
1 Onion
A pinch of Turmeric Powder
1/4 Spoon Mustard
1/4 Spoon Jeera
4 Green Chillies
4 Spoon Grated fresh Coconut
4 Spoon Corriander leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Wash the pohes and drain out excess water. Keep aside.
• Heat oil and let mustard and jeera splutter in it
• Add chopped green chillies and fry for a minute
• Add onions and cook them till they are translucent
• Add turmeric powder and cook for a minute
• Add washed poha and muttor in it adn mix well.
• Cover it and cook for couple of minute
• Open the lid, mix well, add salt to taste and again cover and cook covered for 3-4 minutes on low flame.
• Garnish with grated coconut and finely chopped corriander leaves and serve

Notes
Washing pohes and keep aside at first is important. It gives enough time for pohas to soak in the washed water to become soft. If you find your pohas are not enough soft just sprinkly little water before covering and cooking. But I never needed this if I washed them at first place. Dont forget to remove excess water. Washed water is just enough for them to be perfect soft.
Instead of muttor you can add groundnuts in the oil before adding pohas and fry them well. These are also tastier and ajoy's favourite. But authentic pohas are with muttor :) and I love them that way.
You can also add 1/2 cup potato cubes in oil and cook them before adding Pohas to it to get Kanda(Onion) Batata(Potato) Pohe :)

Bacon-Braised Brussels Sprouts

Bacon-Braised Brussels Sprouts

Okay, confession time. Before making this dish.....I had never eaten a Brussel sprout. Really. Never. When I was planning my Thanksgiving meal, I took my own advice and noticed they were in season and on sale for cheap. I asked my husband if he had ever tried them, and to my surprise his answer was "Yep. I really like 'em."

WHA?!

In 4 years of being together I never knew he liked Brussels sprouts. Anyways, I thought they were worth giving a try. I found this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa and she's so fabulous I didn't think she could go wrong.

I also figured how could anything with bacon go wrong?

*Recipe from Ina Garten
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Serves 6


2 tbsp olive oil
6 ounces Italian pancetta or bacon, 1/4-inch dice
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in 1/2
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup golden raisins (I skipped out on these)
1 3/4 cups chicken stock

Heat the olive oil in a large (12-inch) saute pan and add the bacon. Saute the bacon over medium heat for about 5-10 minutes until browned and crisp. Remove to a plate lined with paper towel.

To the pan with the bacon fat, add the Brussels sprouts, salt and pepper and saute until just slightly browned. Add the raisins and chicken stock. Lower the heat and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sprouts are tender when pierced with a knife about 15 minutes. If the skillet becomes too dry, add a little chicken stock or water. Return the bacon to the pan, heat through, season to taste, and serve. I still had tons of liquid in my pan so I had to scoop the Brussels sprouts out with a slotted spoon.
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THE RESULTS?

Not bad. Brussels sprouts are probably an acquired taste. While I didn't dislike them, I also didn't think they were that great. Probably wasn't the greatest idea serving them along side the Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecan and Marshmallow Streusel...every time I took a bite of the super sweetness of the sweet potatoes, I was all the more aware of the bitterness of the Brussels sprouts. Although, to be fair, it was my first time eating them and my hubby who really likes Brussels sprouts thought they were good.

Although he did say that he preferred them just steamed with a little butter.

Go figure.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallow and Pecan Streusel

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallow and Pecan Streusel

*

Sweet potatoes aren't generally on our Thanksgiving or holiday menu...I'm not sure why really. They're cheap, they're good...I just didn't really grow up eating them, so if we have holiday dinners with my family and my Dad or Grandma is cooking they don't show up on the dinner table. I guess that's my Polish roots; we're more likely to have cabbage rolls and perogies.

My sister-in-law is from Tennessee so if we end up getting together with them for the holidays then of course sweet potatoes make their debut (along with cornbread stuffing, and other Southern delights.)

But I can honestly say I have never in my life, had a sweet potato like this before. The operative word being sweet.

Sweet meaning "delicious".

*Recipe from Tyler Florence
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Serves 6


6 large sweet potatoes
1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash the sweet potatoes, scrubbing them well to remove any dirt. With a fork, prick the sweet potatoes in a couple of spots and place them on a sheet pan covered in tinfoil to make for easier clean up later. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center goes in easily.

Mix together the butter, brown sugar, and flour together until it's crumbly-looking. Add the cinnamon, salt, pecans, and marshmallows; fold the streusel topping together to combine.

Once the sweet potatoes come out of the oven, give them a few minutes to cool down so they are easier to handle. Slice the sweet potatoes lengthwise down the center and push the ends towards the middle so it opens up. Stuff the sweet potatoes generously with the streusel topping and return to the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and brown.

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THE RESULTS?

Holy Smokes! These are like dessert they are so good. Definitely save them for the holidays because they are a treat.
Don't be fooled by that unappetizing appearance. They are the best sweet potatoes ever. EVER.

Cherry And Cashew Cup Cakes

Cherry And Cashew Cup Cakes

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I had been thinking of preparing cup cakes since I prepared muffins. But its only today I actually materialised the thoughts into the action :) :) So here is cherry - cashew cup cake recipy for you all.


Ingredients
2 Cup Canned Cherries
1 Cup Canned Cherry Syroup
1 Cup Castor Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Butter
2 Cup Maida
2.25 Spoon Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Cashews

Method

• Blend butter, castor sugar and eggs well.
• Sieve Maida and Baking Powder together
• Add it to the sugar-egg-butter mixture and blend it till it just folds in
• Remove the seeds from the cherries
• Add deseeded cherries, cherry syroup and milk to the mixture and blend till mixture folds in well and cherries are half crushed
• Add Cashew pieces
• Prehead Oven at 200C
• Grease the Cup Cake Pans
• Fill in the cups with batter about 2/3rd
• Bake it at 200C for about 20 minutes

Notes
Cherry Syroup and Blended Cherry gives it amazing Taste of fresh cherries :) You can add Almonds or Walnuts as well apart from cashews. I wanted to add them but didnt have them available that time hence added just cashews
Also I used Salted butter hence didnt mix salt with the maida, if you are using unsalted butter, add salt to taste to the maida while sieving

Garlic-Thyme Brined Turkey

Garlic-Thyme Brined Turkey

I've been so busy this week, I've completely neglected my blog and I apologize. But this recipe you definitely don't want to miss.

Brining a turkey is something I have always wanted to do. My Dad makes the turkey every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas and sticks with his trusty ol' pre-stuffed, cook from frozen Butterball. There's definitely nothing wrong with it, I just always suggest we try something new....but he plans way ahead and it never seems like a good idea to shove his pre-stuffed butterball in a vat of water, salt and herbs. I swear he must buy his turkey's the week after a holiday when they are 50% off and then he always has a supply of those dang Butterballs in his freezer. No matter how early I tell him we need to get a plain turkey this year so we can brine it, his response is "too late...already got my Butterball."

But no Dad this year. And no Butterball. I was cookin' this bad boy all by my lonesome for Thanksgiving and we invited Steve's Granny and Grandpa over to enjoy it. So if I screwed up...his 85 year old British Granny would have no bones about telling me so. My turkey had to be perfect.

And trust me: A perfect turkey you shall find with this recipe.

*Recipe adapted from Alton Brown "Good Eats"
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1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 liters of iced water
5 cloves of crushed garlic
5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme

For the aromatics:
1/2 onion, sliced
4 cloves of crushed garlic
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

Canola oil


Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine all the brine ingredients in a clean 5-gallon bucket or cooler. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours (mine was in overnight, so it was more like 12 hours). Turn turkey over once, half way through brining. The amount of salt and sugar make seem like a lot in the brine, but it is absolutely necessary...it will make your turkey so juicy.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the garlic and onion and a cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. You want to make sure you do this so no little pockets of salt settle somewhere on the bird. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with thyme. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil. Take a very large piece of tinfoil, fold it in half and then form a triangle at one end. Form the triangle over the turkey so that it covers the turkey breast and leaves the legs and wings exposed. Carefully remove your tinfoil turkey triangle making sure not to crush the tinfoil - you want the tinfoil to stay in the same shape so when the turkey is REALLY hot you can place it on the turkey without having to mash it on and touch the blazing hot turkey.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with the pre-formed turkey triangle, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. I had only a 9.5 lb turkey and it needed only an hour at 350 degrees to get to 161 degrees. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving to allow all the juices to redistribute. It can rest comfortably for up to an hour and still stay warm if need be.

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THE RESULTS?

Despite it being my first turkey EVER, it was THE MOST FLAVORFUL, and JUICY turkey I have ever eaten. No joke. Alton Brown rocks. I couldn't get enough and kept taking 3rd and 4th helpings of turkey. I don't even usually like white meat because it's always so dang dry, and that is definitely not the case with the white meat of this bird.

Try it, try it....TRY IT!!

Chilli Paneer

Chilli Paneer

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I love chinese and its been ages since I had it outside. Yeah we had gone for it couple of weeks back but whatever we had ordered wasnt upto the mark and hence didnot count :) Hence yesterday I thought lets give it a shot at home. I have earlier tried these stuff at home as well, but then the taste wasnt authentic. But yesterday I can say I mastered it. So here is the recipe for you.


Ingredients
400gm Paneer
1 Onion
6 Chillies
15 Garlic Cloves
A Pinch of Black Pepper Powder
2 Spoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Spoon Tomato Ketchup
1 Spoon Corn Flour
2-3 Strands of Spring Onion
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Cut the paneer into medium sized cubes and fry them in oil over medium heat till light gold in color. Keep aside
• In same oil fry onions till translucent.
• Add chopped chillies and garlic and cook till fragranant
• Add black pepper powder and Soy sauce and cook for a minute
• Add paneer cubes and tomato ketchup. Cook for 2-3 minutes
• Mix corn flour in a cup of water and add it to the paneer mixture.
• Add more water if needed and cook the paneer with closed lid for 3 minutes.
• Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve

Notes
Chop the green chillies in slanted fashion for this so that you get the same look and feel that you see in restaurants.
Do not fry paneer till its completely crispy from outside. You want to keep it as soft as possible and yet fry it so that it gets the proper texture.
Also if you are looking for it as starter which is dry, add little less water and cook for some more time if required so that the final result is dry :)

Veg Fried Rice

Veg Fried Rice

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

In Chinese I love Soft noodles. But, I havent yet been able to prepare them of the level of nice chinese restaurant. So most of the time I end up preparing fried rice instead. So here is recipy for the veg fried rice.


Ingredients
2 Cup Rice
1 Onion
1 Cup Cabbage Shredded
1/2 Cup Carrot Shredded
1/2 Cup Muttor
A pinch of Black Pepper Powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Cook rice and keep aside
• Heat oil and add chopped onion and shredded carrots. Saute till onions are translucent
• Add and cook till cabbage is done
• Add muttor, black pepper powder and salt and cook for another minute
• Add cooked rice and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes

Notes
Adding carrot at start makes sure that carrot is cooked well as it will take longest time to cook.

Kofta Curry

Kofta Curry

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Whenever we get bottle gourd, ajoy has this demand of Koftas and so yesterday was the day when I obliged and made it for him. Here is the recipe.


Ingredients
4 Cup Grated Bottle Gourd
1.5 Cup Bason
2 Tomatoes
1 Onion
1/2 Spoon Garlic Paste
1 Spoon Jeera
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/4 Spoon Aamchur Powder
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
Corriander Leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste

Method

• Apply salt to the grated bottle gourd and keep aside for few minutes.
• Squize out water from the bottle gourd and mix bason, 1/2 spoon jeera, 1/2 spoon red chilli powder, garam masala, aamchur powder
• Prepare lemon sized ball out of this mixture and deep fry them in oil over low-medium heat. Keep aside
• Heat little oil in a pan and let the jeera splutter.
• Add the finelly chopped onion and garlic paste and cook till golden brown
• Add turmeric powder, remaining red chilli powder, corriander powder and salt
• Add tomatoes and cook well. Add water and bring to boil. Once the tomatoes are cooked well keep the mixture aside to cool down a bit
• Put the mixture into the mixie and grind to fine paste
• In a pan add this grinded mixture, enough water to make running gravy and koftas and bring to boil
• Garnish with corriander leaves and serve

Notes
I tried to keep the kofta spicy and gravy very less spicy so that one can enjoy koftas rather than gravy. You can vary it to your taste though

Stuffed Bhendi(Lady's Finger) Fry

Stuffed Bhendi(Lady's Finger) Fry

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Since long time ajoy had been asking for bhendi deep fry. Not the vegetable and now he took one more step ahead to get the bhendi that was tender and nice when he was suppose to go and get Curry Leaves :) So I thought lets grant his wish but instead of just frying bhendi pieces lets give it some extra taste by stuffing it. And here is what i came up with and it was lovely.


Ingredients
1/4 Kg Bhendi(Lady's Finger)
1 Tomato
1 Onion
1/2 Spoon Garlic Paste
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Wash bhendis and pat dry by tissue.
• Remove the head and tail for the bhendis and give them a slits.
• Apply salt and keep aside.
• In a pan heat little oil and let jeera splutter in it
• Add grated onion to this and cook till onion turns golden in colour
• Add garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, corriander powder to it and stir well.
• Add grated tomato to this and salt to taste and cook for 4-5 minutes till mixture is cooked well. Keep aside for cooling down
• Stuff this little mixture to bhendis one by one
• Heat oil in a pan and fry the stuffed bhendis on medium heat.

Notes
Giving slits that do not slit the ends is the best way so that while frying bhendi doesnt open up.
For best results, fry only from the opposite side of stuffing and also arrange the bhendis in a row so that they dont turn the direction while frying. Once the side is cooked completely, just turn them for a minute max and take out to the tissue.

Cream of Leek & Celery Soup

Cream of Leek & Celery Soup

My dad is an amazing cook and came up with this recipe. He taught me how to make it a few years ago when my husband Steve and his friend Scott were snowboarding in the mountains all day. When they were cold and sore and on their way back home, we thought a big pot of warm homemade soup would be a good end to their day, so I told Steve to invite Scott and his wife over for soup.

Scott told me later that he actually HATES celery and he was too afraid to tell me…until he tried the soup. He kept raving about it and even went back for seconds! I’m telling you …it’s good soup for a chilly day.

Another great bonus to this soup is how quick it is to make. This is one of the only from-scratch soups I know how to make in 20 minutes.

*Recipe from My Pops (Alex Majewski)
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Serves about 6


1 Celery bunch
2 Leeks
Chili flakes (optional, to taste)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
2 cups chicken stock
500ml half and half cream
500 ml cottage cheese
½ pkg Knorr Cream of Leek Soup mix (it makes it creamier and thicker but also adds flavor, instead of adding a thickening agent like cornstarch)

Chop entire celery bunch (leaves included) discarding the ends. Chop the leeks, but stop chopping when you get to the green and discard the green part. Place the leeks in a bowl full of cold water – sand gets caught deep inside, between the layers, so when it’s all chopped and broken apart its easier to wash. Drain by scooping the leeks out with a slotted spoon or sieve since the sand will have settled on the bottom of the bowl.

In a large pot, melt butter and oil on medium heat. Sauté the chopped celery and leeks until soft (about 8-10 minutes). Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes (as much as you like...I add about 1/2 tsp and it just gives it a very slight kick. You can skip these if you want). Add the chicken stock (reserve about 1/4 cup). Let simmer for a couple minutes.

In a measuring cup add leek soup mix and reserved chicken stock and mix until you have a slurry. Add cream and leek soup slurry and continue heating on medium. Stir frequently – do not let it boil or scorch on the bottom. When it has come up to temperature add the cottage cheese. This is the secret ingredient that makes it thick and creamy. Stir to melt. Turn heat down.

Serve with warm crusty bread or buns.

Click here for printable version of Cream of Leek & Celery Soup
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THE RESULTS?
Mmmmm......soooooo good! This is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. It's pretty great that something that tastes so amazing and is so comforting is ALSO quick and easy to make. We ate this curled up on the couch together underneath a blanket watching a movie on a chilly Saturday evening. You should try it too. It will warm you to your toes :)

Meal Plan Week 3

Meal Plan Week 3

We made it through our week with a few scrounged up meals, but a new paycheck means a new meal plan. And with this meal plan comes Thanksgiving! My first one actually. Well, not my first Thanksgiving, but my first time cooking the meal all by myself. We usually get together with my family and my Dad goes through all the big hoopla of cooking a turkey, but not this year. This year we are staying at home and inviting my husband's Granny and Grandpa for dinner. It should be interesting. Actually I'm kind of excited. There's a recipe for brined turkey by Alton Brown that I've always wanted to try, and every holiday that warrants cooking a turkey my Dad won't step out of his comfort zone to try it, and sticks with his tried and true Pre-Stuffed Butterball. I'm out to prove him wrong this year ;)

Day 1: Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp over Lemon Salad with Baguette
I figured I'd go for a main course salad since the coming week is going to be a little rich.

Day 2: Homemade Cream of Celery & Leek Soup with Cheese Bread
My Dad's homemade soup is perfect for these cool Fall days (and celery is cheap and in-season too)

Day 3: Leftover Soup

Day 4: THANKSGIVING - Thyme-Garlic Brined Turkey, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecan/Marshmallow Streusel, Bacon-Braised Brussels Sprouts and Caramel Apple Tart.

Day 5: Leftovers
...of course...

Day 6: Spaghetti and Bolognaise Sauce
I want to make Thursday's supper quick and easy, so I'm going to brown up 1lb of ground beef, add taco seasoning to 1/3 of it and put it in a container in the fridge so it's ready for nacho night. For this supper, I'm just adding a jar of spaghetti sauce to the remaining 2/3 ground beef for a simple, quick and easy Spaghetti Bolognaise sauce. Add some onions while you are sauteing the beef, as well as extra spices like oregano, basil and garlic to give it added flavor.

Day 7: Nacho Night
This is a work day for me. My slow-cooker is on the fritz right now so I came up with another creative solution: Appetizer for Dinner night, watching a movie with my husband and a no-fuss meal.

Katachi Aamati

Katachi Aamati

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This one is prepared using the remaining water from the daal that is used to cook the Puran and puran itself. The aamati is sweet and sour in taste and goes amazingly well with the puran poli.


Ingredients
2 Cup Water from Cooked Chana Daal
1/2 Cup Puran
1/2 Cup Jaggery
2 Spoon Tamarind
1 Spoon Corriander Seeds
1 Spoon Jeera
1/2 Spoon Mustard
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
4 Spoon Grated Coconut
15 Curry Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Soak tamarind in a cup of water and keep aside.
• Heat a spoonfull of the oil and add corriander seeds and jeera.
• Add grated coconut and fry the mixture till golden in colour.
• In a mixie, add this coconut mixture along with tamarind. And grind to smooth paste. Keep aside
• Heat another half spoon of oil and let mustard splutter in it.
• Add curry leaves and fry for a minute
• Add the tamarind - coconut paste and fry for another minute
• Add the red chilli powder and saute for another minute.
• Add daal water, puran and jaggery. If needed add more water if it lookss thick.
• Add salt to taste and bring it to boil. Serve the sweet and sour curry with puran polis

Notes
You can use normal water if you do not have cooked daal water left over.
For preparing puran refer to Puran Poli recipe.

Coconut Ras

Coconut Ras

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

In our house puran poli without Ras is "Not" Puran Poli. So I cannot imagine eating puran poli without Ras and enjoying it as much as I do with it. So here is the recipe for you.


Ingredients
4 Cup Grated Coconut
1.5 Cup Jaggery
Salt to taste

Method

• Preapre the coconut milk out of the grated coconut by grinding it in mixie with enough water and squizzing juice out of it. Repeat on same coconut for 3 times to get complete juice out of it.
• Stir in the jaggery and salt to this milk till its completely dissolved. Ras is ready to serve

Notes
Its best to prepare this fresh, the quantity I mentioned is enough for puran polis that will be made out of the given quantity in Puran Polis recipe. So adjust your quantity accordinly.

Puran Poli

Puran Poli

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I always loved the puran poli my mom made. Some people prepare it as paratha and I always have the urge to tell these people that puran poli and puran paratha are two different things and Poli as name suggest should be thing and soft. I got the recipy for this one from mom and tried it earlier this year. I could get the taste, but not the thinness and softness the way mom can. So few months back when I was in pune, I learnt the tactics to get the right puran poli and here i am sharing it especially for dasara. Wishing you all Happy Dasara.


Ingredients
4 Cup Chana Daal
3 Cup Jaggery
2 Cup Wheat Flour
1 Spoon Maida
1 Cup Rice Powder
1/2 Cup Oil

Method

• Mix maida and wheat flour and make the very loose dough out of it.
• Put the dough in the steel vessel and press in using fingers to make valleys and hills (:) I love to do this)
• Pour in the oil so that all valleys are filled in with the oil. Keep aside for atleast couple of hours
• Cook chana daal in pressure cooker
• Remove the excess water and put it into pan. (The excess water is used for preparing Katachi Aamati)
• Add jaggery to the pan and cook till mixture is thick
• Strain the mixture through Puran Yantra. Keep it aside to cool down
• While Making puran polis, Heat the tawa on low flame
• Make the puran ball of twice the lemon size.
• Take dough of lemon size and stretch it so that its big enough to cover the puran ball. Close the puran ball with this dough
• Press the ball with palms to flatten it. The elastic cover if goes outwards, press it back inwards gently.
• Apply generous quantity of rice floor on to the rolling plate. Dip the ball into the rice flour and and start rolling the poli.
• Intermittently keep checking that the poli is not sticking to the rolling plate and apply rice floor now and then.
• Rolling should be done very softly and always in outward direction.
• Cook the poli on the tawa over low flame. Cook the one side completely and then turn over and cook the other side. Again turn over, fold it and serve

Notes
The elasticity of the dough helps in making puran poli's cover softer and thinner so make sure the dough is very loose and was let to mix properly by keeping aside for enough time.
While rolling puran poli, start with smaller one, try it out and then gradually increase the size till you are confident. Use generous amount of rice powder initially which later you can reduce to amount you are comfortable with.
While checking if poli is stuck to the rolling plate, put the palm with fingers wide open and tilt the plate to get the poli on your palm. Same while transfering it to tawa. Never try to pick with just fingers, its a delicate afair.
If you see that there is lot of dough on sides of poli, it means you used more than needed dough, so reduce the quantity next time. The best quantity is half or little less of puran.
rolling only in outward direction helps in spreading puran outwards and thus uniform thickness as well as the cover of the puran wont break.
Also the last but not least tip, its very difficult and tidious process, so dont be disheartened if you dont get the BEST results at first attempt you will start getting better. I have tried to point out all minute details my mom told me, so I hope that will help.

Chicken & Tortellini in Rose Sauce with Fresh Basil

Chicken & Tortellini in Rose Sauce with Fresh Basil

This summer my husband and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary by going to one of our favorite upscale-restaurants The Miro Bistro. I am never disappointed with the food when I go there, and I always feel like I'm indulging my taste-buds in an extravagant tasting experience. As we were leaving the restaurant, about 3 tables had ordered the same pasta dish: all containing fresh basil. The smell wafted into the air and up my nostrils, and even though I was utterly stuffed from the appetizer, main course and dessert I had just consumed, I had an overwhelming craving for a pasta sauce filled with fresh basil. I started concocting recipes in my mind - I had a bunch of fresh tomatoes from my Dad's garden, a bit of whipping cream and some onions and garlic. I figured this HAD to be a winning combination.

It was everything I was hoping it would be AND more. We don't often repeat meals close together, but this is so good we've had it 4 times in the last 2 months. Every time I have a handful of fresh tomatoes my mind wanders to the creamy delight of this rose sauce...and of course the peppery fresh basil.

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Serves 4



8 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on (you can also sub in chicken legs if that's what you have on hand)
4-5 very ripe tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup chicken broth
Fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
Salt and pepper
½-1 cup heavy cream
Lots of Fresh basil
1 pkg fresh cheese or beef filled tortellini*


Put on large pot of boiling salted water for tortellini.

Heat a pan over med-high heat with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Get out a bowl and put about 1/2 cup of flour in it, and then dredge the chicken in the flour and place in pan. Turn when golden brown. Let other side get golden brown and then remove from pan. (You don't have to worry about the chicken being cooked all the way through, because it will cook some more in the sauce.) Drain the oil except for about a tablespoon.

Add the chopped onions to the pan and turn heat to medium. Sauté for a few minutes, then add garlic. Sauté for another minute or two then add deseeded chopped tomatoes, and oregano. Let come up to a boil then turn heat down to medium-low and simmer. Add a bit of chicken broth to make it more of a sauce and add chicken back to the pan so they can finish cooking. Put on the lid and let sauce simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is cooked through.

Add tortellini to boiling water.

Remove the chicken from the pan, and add the sauce to a food processor. (You don't have to do this step, but I like a nice velvety smooth sauce so I do. If you like chunks, then skip this step.) Process until it becomes a sauce. Pour back into the pan and pour in heavy cream to blush the sauce. Add a good amount of chopped fresh basil. Taste to see if it needs salt and pepper (or more basil :). When tortellini is done drain and add to the sauce.

Plate the chicken with the saucy tortellini and add fresh basil to garnish. Sautéed spinach is a nice accompaniment to this dish. Delicious!

Click here for printable version of Chicken & Tortellini in Rose Sauce with Fresh Basil
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THE RESULTS?
What can I say? It's probably one of my favorite meals I have created. My husband loves it, my 14 month old couldn't get enough, and we all roll away happy from the dinner table.


*I am a huge tortellini snob. I've tried the "store-brands" of tortellini and to me they always have this weird funky flavor. I once had to throw out an entire package of cheese tortellini because the flavor was so disgusting to me. And I would NEVER buy dried tortellini...that's just gross. I'm all about fresh Olivieri Tortellini...so that's what I recommend that you get.

But if you aren't a tortellini snob like me then just get whatever your family likes ;)

When Your "Plan" Doesn't Go As Planned

When Your "Plan" Doesn't Go As Planned

FYI: Meal Planning Doesn't Always Work Out the Way You Planned


Not everything falls EXACTLY into place EVERY week...and that's okay. Things will come up and throw your plan off course. But the nice thing about meal planning is that there is room for flexibility.

You will unexpectedly be invited out for supper sometime - push that nights meal to another night.

You will absent-mindedly forget an item or two for one of your meals (I've done it a million times) - just put that meal on next week's plan.

You will plan to have something one night, realize you forgot to defrost the meat, and have to make another meal from your plan that can be made for tonight.

Or in my case, you will be on a tight budget, meal plan for the week and get all your groceries, and then run out of meals before you can go buy more groceries (oops). Budgeting is a new thing for me and my husband. We have just recently sat down and allotted certain amounts of money for certain things, are keeping track of our spending using a spreadsheet, and putting certain paychecks towards certain bills. It SO new to me in fact, I didn't realize that planning meals from Tuesday to Monday meant that I would be short two days of meals...because I'm not getting paid until Thursday. It's a new thing for me this budgeting, but I am learning fast - and I definitely won't make this mistake again.

But like I said, meal planning is flexible. I have enough meals to get us through tonight, and then I had to get creative and crafty and create two more meals based on what we have in our freezer and cupboards. Luckily, about a month ago I made a batch of Won Ton Soup and since the recipe makes double the won tons you actually need, I just froze half of them. So I have won tons in the freezer, a carton of chicken stock in my cupboard and a couple carrots and green onions to add some veggies for the soup. Meal #1 taken care of. I also ALWAYS have tons of packages of fish in my freezer since my Dad is an avid fisherman, and tons of potatoes - so I am making classic fried fish with homemade potato wedges, and frozen veggies. See? With a little creativity, crisis averted.

So this just goes to show, that just because you have a "Meal Plan" and a schedule, it does NOT by any means, mean that it is not flexible. Meal planning is not just for the anal, incredibly organized person - because I am definitely NOT one of those :) Just a mom with a plan.

Crispy Potato Cakes

Crispy Potato Cakes

I love having leftovers around for easy lunches, or a quick supper, but sometimes there's leftovers of leftovers...do you know what I mean? Like you've eaten that roast beef and potatoes for 2 meals in a row now, you've polished off the meat and gravy and you are still left with those pesky mashed potatoes that you feel guilty throwing away.

Or the other day I was making Potato Skins and just couldn't possibly throw away the insides of the baked potato I was scooping out.

I came up with a solution to solve this problem. I know it's been done before, but I was pretty proud of myself for creating a recipe that uses up all those leftovers I feel guilty about throwing away...and instead turned it into a delicious side dish.

____________________________________________________________________

Makes 4 servings

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, etc
1 green onion chopped
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1 egg
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp oil

May need: 1 tbsp of butter, couple tbsp of milk, bread crumbs

Most recipes for making these use mashed potatoes that had been mashed with butter and milk. Since mine were plain from making Potato Skins I threw my potatoes in the food processor with a tbsp of butter and a couple tbsp of milk and pureed till I had mashed potatoes. Go easy on the milk, since I added a little too much and didn't have a really stiff potato.

Add to the mix 1 egg, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and if it's too gloppy some bread crumbs. Mix together. Add more breadcrumbs if needed to make them more stiff. If they already are stiff don't bother with the breadcrumbs. Mine were really mushy so I added about 1/2 cup. Stir in some chopped green onion.

Preheat a non-stick skillet to medium heat and add 1 tbsp of oil. You should be able to form this mixture into 8 patties (don't worry if they seem sticky...mine were really sticky and still worked out). Put 4 patties into the hot pan, put on the lid and let get brown and crisp up for 4-5 minutes. Carefully flip them over and continue to brown and crisp for another 3-4 minutes. Remove to a plate and cover with tin foil to keep warm. Add the last tbsp of oil to the pan and add the remaining 4 potato patties. Cook the same as the first batch. Garnish with more chopped green onions and sprinkle of salt.

Click here for printable version of Crispy Potato Cakes
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THE RESULTS?
I was pleasantly surprised by these potato cakes. As I made the patties and they were still sticky and soft I wasn't sure how they would hold together or how they would turn out. But they were perfect....golden and crispy on the outside and warm and creamy on the inside. The flavor reminded me of our favorite upscale restaurants Potato Pancakes. I will definitely use this recipe again when I'm looking for something to do with leftover potatoes.

Phyllo Salmon with Honey Garlic Sauce

Phyllo Salmon with Honey Garlic Sauce

Because most of the meals I plan in a week are brand new never-tried recipes, I have frequent flops. I really do. It comes with the territory of experimenting with new recipes. But I have to say I haven't struck out once this week. That's amazing. As we gorged ourselves on tonight's supper my husband commented how it had been quite awhile since we've had a bad meal.

I've always wanted to try working with phyllo pastry, especially wrapping it around salmon. Salmon can sometimes have a soft, mushy texture, so I was excited to try it with the crispy coating of the pastry. The phyllo itself can be a tad tricky to work with, but to tell you the truth, it wasn't as hard as I had expected it to be. Keep in mind it has to defrost properly so it doesn't stick together. Follow the directions on the box, but defrosting overnight in the refrigerator is probably the safest way to go.

Recipe from Sandi Richard - Fixing Dinner
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Serves 4



4 salmon fillets
Salt & pepper
Dried dill
4 sheets of phyllo pastry
1/4 cup melted butter

Sauce:
1 tbsp cornstarch
5 oz chicken broth
1 tsp grated ginger
3/4 cup honey garlic sauce
2 tsp Thai sweet chili sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Take the phyllo pastry from the fridge and let come up to room temperature while you get the other ingredients ready. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Wash and pat dry your salmon fillets. Season both sides of fillet with salt, pepper and dried dill. Melt butter in a small container. Unroll phyllo pastry and take out 4 sheets. Roll the rest back up and place in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge for another use. Using scissors, cut the 4 sheets in half and set aside 2 sheets, one on top of the other. Cover the rest with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel (this is important since the phyllo pastry will dry out quickly). Place a salmon fillet in the center of the phyllo dough. Using a pastry brush, brush all the pastry surrounding the salmon with butter. Take the left and right side of the phyllo and wrap it around the salmon, then take the top and bottom of the pastry and do the same (it should look like a cute little package.) Brush butter over the entire phyllo sheet that is underneath and wrap it the same as the first. Brush the top with butter, sprinkle with dill and place on the cookie sheet. Do the same to the remaining 3 fillets.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. They will get nice and golden brown.

When the salmon goes into the oven, begin to make the sauce. Combine the ginger and cornstarch in a small saucepan and slowly whisk in the chicken stock. Place the pot over medium heat, and add the honey garlic sauce, Thai sweet chili sauce, and sesame oil. Let come to a rolling simmer and let reduce by half until the sauce has thickened. (Mine simmered for 15 minutes and was still pretty runny. I should have added a bit more cornstarch diluted with cold water to thicken it up...but I didn't.)

Serve the sauce on the bottom of each plate with a phyllo-wrapped salmon on top.

Click here for printable version of Phyllo Salmon with Honey Garlic Sauce
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THE RESULTS?
WOW. We usually eat salmon with some kind of dill/honey/mustard combination so it was really nice to have something different. The sauce is fantastic and so is the flakey pastry salmon. SOOOOOO GOOD!!

My sauce wasn't as thick as sticky as I would have liked it to have been, but it still tasted fabulous. A bit more cornstarch could easily solve the problem. This is going into my folder of favorite recipes.

Tomato/Avocado/Mozza Salad

Tomato/Avocado/Mozza Salad

I love the fresh buttery flavor of avocados, but really only ever use them when I want to make guacamole. A couple weeks ago when I was buying some avocados, I was able to find a whole bag of them for cheaper than 2 individual ones. I brought them home and have since been wondering what to do with the extras that I didn't make guacamole with. Since I also had a bunch of fresh tomatoes I came up with this salad. The fresh flavors were perfect for my Grilled Beef Skewers.


Recipe inspired by Sugarmagnolia @ Recipezaar
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Serves 4

1 ripe avocado, diced
1 tomato, deseeded and diced
1/3 cup cucumber, diced
1/3 cup mozzarella, diced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cut the avocado in half around the pit. Twist and separate into two halves. Take a small paring knife and score the flesh down to the skin lengthwise, and then crosswise. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon into a serving bowl and it should come out of the skin in a nice dice. Do the same to other half.

Cut off the top of the tomato where the vine came from. Slice in half horizontally, and over the sink squish out the juicy seeds, leaving the tomato flesh. Slice into rings and then dice and add to the bowl.

Peel and chop the cucumber into same sized dice as the other ingredients and add to the bowl. Slice and then dice the mozzarella and add to the bowl as well. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl being sure to catch the seeds (or use 1 1/2 tbsp of Real Lemon juice). Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Click here for printable version of Tomato/Avocado/Mozza Salad
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THE RESULTS?
I was really happy with how this salad turned out. The flavors were perfectly paired with the Grilled Beef Skewers; we enjoyed it by scooping the salad inside the pita. It very much reminded me of Greek salad with the sharp tang of the lemon. The mozzarella is a great addition and adds a bit of creamy saltiness. I will make this salad again.