Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

This week Beth blogged about a Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala recipe and immediately I knew it would be Sunday dinner.

This was by far one of the most flavorful and fragrant slow cooker meals I’ve ever made.  I feel like I can get in a rut when it comes to the crock pot and I am so happy to have found something made with so many different spices. It makes chicken seem a bit more special.

We followed the recipe on Beth’s post using double the amount of chicken (I am so jealous that Mike gets to eat all the leftovers this week) and light cream.  It turned out perfect.  There’s a good amount of heat but it doesn’t over power all the other flavors.

It’s a good thing it’s the beginning of September because this is a great recipe to make throughout the colder months.  Just go make it.

20-Minute Chicken Enchiladas

This week I decided to make two dinners on Sunday so that we would have meals for the week.  One of these meals was Cooking Light’s 20-Minute Chicken Enchiladas.

I did everything the recipe called for except stopped at the step where I was supposed to put cheese on it and broil.  At that point, I covered my pans in foil and put them in the refrigerator to heat up and top with cheese later in the week.

This was a pretty good recipe but it ended up making way more than one 9 by 13 dish.  In fact, I filled two with about 18 enchiladas.  But I wanted leftovers and easy dinners all week so it worked out well.  However, I’d probably double the sauce in the future had I known that.

When we made them during the week, we just let them heat up in a 350 degree oven and then topped them with cheese a few minutes before we were ready to take them out.  They were surprisingly good.  I suspect that if I had made them all in one night, it would have taken longer than 20 minutes but it would be totally worth the time.

Curried Chicken with Ginger and Yogurt

We had such a productive weekend around here.  And last night we were rewarded with a delicious, easy home cooked meal.

The recipe, Curried Chicken With Ginger and Yogurt, took no time to put together and cooked all day.  We substituted chicken broth for the water and used chicken breasts instead of thighs.

The yogurt didn’t exactly mix in as creamy as the picture looked.  I wonder if it was because I used 2% yogurt instead of the whole milk yogurt the recipe called for.  I also wonder if there wasn’t enough fat in the sauce because I used breasts instead of thighs.

Either way, it still tasted very good, especially for the amount of work that I put into this meal.  I thought it might taste good with carrots or golden raisins mixed in also.

 

Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

I came about this recipe in kind of an odd way.  I had it for lunch in New Hampshire but it had been brought to the home where I had lunch by old friends in State College.  I traveled all the way to New England only to have lunch that was cooked at home!

I’m so glad because it was such a nice alternative to a traditional lasagna. When I got home I talked with the woman who had the recipe so that I could make it myself.

I love the way it browned a bit on top.  And even though they are Mike’s least favorite, my best part of a lasagna are the crunchy exposed noodle bits.

Inside it’s creamy and with tons of delicious spinach.

We cheated and used a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, but even if we had cooked the chicken, it’s pretty easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 tsp basil
• 2 c. cottage cheese (we used unsalted 1%)
• 9 to 10 uncooked lasagna noodles (we used the no cook kind)
• 2 pkgs chopped spinach thawed and drained
• 2 c. chicken broth
• 8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 c. cooked chicken cut up

Here’s how I constructed it.

Melt butter and add garlic and onion. Stir in flour and salt. Cook, stirring, until bubbly.  Stir in milk and broth. Heat to boiling and cook for 1 minute. Stir in mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan, basil, oregano and pepper.  Cook over low heat until cheese melts.

In a greased 9 by 13 inch pan layer sauce, noodles, cottage cheese, chicken, spinach and then sauce.  Add one more layer of noodles, cottage cheese, chicken, spinach and sauce. Top with remaining noodles and sauce then sprinkle with 1/2 c. of Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

It’s been two months!

That was a completely unplanned pause.  I looked back recently and realized I hadn’t blogged in a while.  Maybe it’s because many of the projects I was working on were presents that I didn’t want to spoil.  Also, I feel like most of my time has been planned out ahead of time these past couple months so instead of writing about knitting, I’ve been using that time to actually knit.

Here’s what I’ve been up to.

I finished a New Super Easy Baby Blanket for new baby Liam.

I knit a hat for charity for part of my trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

I’m still working on my Square Peg. This poncho should be finished in a couple weeks.  Really it should be done sooner but I have some travel coming up and I got a little side tracked (I’ll write about that in a future post).

I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and bought these super fun yarns.

From Oasis Farm Fiber Mill, I got this skein of worsted weight yarn. I swear I had a Barbie workout outfit that was exactly these colors.

From Delly’s Delights Farm, I got this sport weight yarn.

And I also got this yarn from Juanita Breidenbaugh.

I cooked one new recipe in two months and it was this Slow-Cooker Curried Lentils with Chicken and Potatoes.  It doesn’t look like much but it was so good.

I actually ran a 5K for Special Olympics with some friends. I’ve been feeling like I never move so this is worth noting.  I plan to do some more races this summer.

I helped plan and execute a very successful 2nd Annual End of the Mountain 5K. That’s me ringing the bell as they took off.

And I took some pictures of the new babies that arrived recently. Plus a couple bonus shots of their animal siblings since I sometimes can’t resist their cuteness more than the babies.

So it’s been a busy but good few months.

Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice

We were able to cook dinner again tonight and we tried a recipe that I took out of Cooking Light last year.

Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice was really easy for us to make together and the results were amazing for a weeknight stir fry. We used brown rice instead of white and asparagus instead of broccoli but otherwise followed the recipe.

What makes this dish is the sauce which is a combination of rice vinegar, honey, soy sauce and Sriracha. It’s got a bit of heat to it but mixed with the sweetness it’s subtle and delicious.

Mike suggested we make this regularly because it was just that fabulous.

Spicy Peanut Chicken Over Rice

This recipe has been sitting around for us to try since the August 2008 issue of Cooking Light.  I’m glad I never threw it away as I periodically thin out all the recipes I save.

Spicy Peanut Chicken Over Rice was warm, tasty and easy to make which was perfect for tonight.  I just wish I had read the reviews beforehand so I could have made a few modifications.

While this was delicious, I believe it would be even better with more peanut butter, at least another tablespoon or two.  I’d also add a bit less broth so it was thicker.

This is a really big recipe too so halving it would be an option.  In my house, the leftovers will get eaten for additional lunches and dinners so it was fine.This recipe will definitely appear in the rotation again because I’m excited to see how it turns out with more peanut butter.

Chicken Breasts with Raspberry-Balsamic Sauce

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve last blogged. Admittedly, it’s been a few weeks since we actually cooked a dinner that required a recipe. April has been full of travel, running and other fun evening plans.

Tonight we had plenty of time to cook dinner although this recipe really doesn’t take much time at all. I got it from my mom and she found it in Good Housekeeping. Chicken Breasts with Raspberry-Balsamic Sauce is healthy, quick and full of flavor.

We followed the recipe exactly except for substituting half an onion for the shallots. We served it with couscous and roasted asparagus.

Sriraccha-Glazed Chicken and Onions Over Rice

Earlier this week I saw that Beth made Sriracha-Glazed Chicken and Onions Over Rice. She said it was delicious and easy but she had me at sriracha. The recipe is from Cooking Light.

As we were making it, we wondered about some of the ingredients. Well, only one ingredient – ketchup.  But we stuck with the recipe for the most part only substituting fresh garlic for bottled.  We also doubled the sauce since Mike likes a lot of sauce and we were having broccoli on the side I suspected it might all get mixed together.

Just like Beth said, this recipe is amazing. It is so flavorful and easy but it could use a bit more heat so I might add more sriracha next time. And like I said above, I mixed this bowl together when I ate it and the sauce was great on the broccoli. You could probably stir fry more vegetables in with the chicken and onions too.

I get the leftovers from this dinner and I’m really looking forward to them.

Apricot Chicken with Stir Fried Green Beans

This is a dinner I make without a real recipe. Right after I graduated from college, I started watching 30 Minute Meals.  It was 2001 and no one really knew who this Rachael Ray woman was but I loyally watched after work.  This was when my cooking skills were still pretty novice and unless Jenn (who was my roommate at the time) and I were eating together, I was mostly making simple things for just me.

I remember seeing Rachael make Apricot Chicken and I started trying to make it myself.  I never followed a recipe, I just did what I remembered her doing.  I haven’t made this in at least two years so tonight’s version is probably very far from the original (like cooking whisper down the lane) but it still tastes delicious.

Ingredients:

• half an onion chopped
• one pound of chicken cut into one inch(ish) pieces
• some chicken broth (maybe 3/4 of a cup?)
• half a small jar of apricot preserves
• teaspoon of cornstarch

I heated some olive oil in a pan over medium high heat and added the onion. When it was soft, I added the chicken and cooked it until I couldn’t see any more pink.  I deglazed the pan with the chicken broth.  After it came to a boil,  I lowered the heat to medium low and stirred in the apricot preserves and let it simmer for about five minutes.  I added some cornstarch to thicken up the sauce and let it simmer on low until the sides were ready.

The stir fried green beans were a little more done than I like but also simple.  I just heat some olive oil in a pan, add the beans, cook to my liking (or more tonight), then I toss them with some teriyaki sauce and cook a minute or so longer.  At the end I stir in some crushed red pepper and sesame seeds.

The sweet apricot chicken and the salty slightly hot green beans go great together. For a weeknight meal, it’s relatively simple and quick. I don’t know why I haven’t made this in years.