Mushroom Curry with Green Rice

When mushrooms go on sale, this is what I make. I found the base for this recipe in the very first issue of "Better Homes and Gardens" that I received. Rob and I are rice maniacs (every time we go out for Thai, we have to request extra rice), so we doubled the amount of rice the recipe originally called for, but if you are trying to cut down on carbs, halve my proportions for it below. And if you are a carnivore, adding chicken to the wok works great.

Mushroom Curry with Green Rice
2 cups rice
1 can coconut milk
1 cup snipped fresh cilantro
5 tsp minced ginger (powder works too)
3 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 pound mushrooms (portobello are my favorite for this, but I use whatever is cheap)
2 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup sliced green onions
2 tsp curry powder (preferably madras, but normal works fine too)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered (or tomato of your choosing)
Chopped peanuts to taste

Cook rice according to package directions.

In a blender or food processor, combine 1 cup of the coconut milk, the cilantro, 2 tsp minced ginger, 2 garlic cloves, and the lime juice. Blend until nearly smooth, then stir into the cooked rice.

In a 12 inch skillet or wok, cook mushrooms in hot oil over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add green onions, curry powder, and remaining ginger and garlic. Cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and remaining coconut milk. Heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with nuts, and serve over the rice.

Chicken Stock based soups

So previously I told you how to make homemade chicken stock. You can use it in many other areas and it can go a long, variety of ways. So I am going to provide a few of my family favorite things to make/do with chicken stock. Lots are great for hot winter meals.

Simple yet delicious Spinach Soup

1 can of chicken stock or 2 cups of homemade stock

1 package of frozen spinach

Parmesan cheese

Spices as needed

Place chicken stock in a sauté pan and heat on medium-high heat. Start to boil and add frozen spinach and simmer until spinach absorbs 1/4 of stock. Slowly add Parmesan cheese until you taste enough. Sometimes I had salt, pepper, garlic and other spices. Then serve with garlic bread or any other bread of your choice.

NOTE: My neighbor made this for me over Christmas and I have to say it is one of my favorite cold winter night’s meals. It is also super quick with lots of veggie power- Spinach. I like a lot of Parmesan cheese and prefer real Parmesan, but you could also make it Romano cheese as well. But don't use fresh spinach as it doesn't wilt as well or wilt your spinach in another dish, and then add into stock.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Pot of chicken stock

Chicken, previously cooked and diced

Carrots

Celery

Noodles

In one pot cook stock, carrots, celery for about 20 minutes, until veggies are soft. Add chicken for about 5 minutes. Cook noodles in a different pot and add before serving.

NOTE: Simple, healthy yet delicious. I love homemade chicken noodle soup so much more than store bought stuff and it really doesn't take that much time or effort to make. I also love it because with kids, you can use any noodles you want. My Oma use to make this soup and add ABC noodles (you know the really, really, really small alphabet noodles) and ten challenged us to make words out of our spoons. Great learning experience. Sometimes I also add tomatoes into the soup. You really could add any veggies you want to put in the soup, but be careful, as they will soak up the stock. That is also why you don't put uncooked noodles into the stock.

Alternative uses:

Base for any soups, risottos, or sauces for chicken or poultry dishes.

Instead of water in rice, couscous, noodles, or steam vegetables for a new taste

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

This is one of my favorite recipes and gets a ton of compliments. It is probably one of the most requested recipes I have as well. It is pretty easy to make and makes several loafs, so enjoy.

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

4 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes

2 1/3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups coarsely mashed very ripe bananas (6 large bananas)

1/4 cup creme fraiche

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 (9X5X3 inch) metal loaf pans, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl.

Beat together eggs, sugar in a bowl of electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, mixing then mixing bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla. REmove bowl from mixer and fold in flour mixture and chocolate chips gently but thoroughly.

Divide batter between loaf pans, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden toothpick or skewer comes out clean, about 1-1 1/4 hours.

Cool loaves in pans on rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn loaves right side up and cool completely.

BAKING NOTEs- you can use whole wheat flour, but use half all-purpose and whole wheat flour. for a little extra healthy benefit, add 1/4 cup of ground flax seeds to the flour mixture. If you cannot find Creme Fraiche, use sour cream, but most speciality stores will have creme fraiche. I usually find it at Wegmans. (I also freeze the extras, so that I don't have to keep repurchase). I freeze my bananas when they start to over ripen, but crush them first. I mark how many bananas are in each bag so that I know when I go to bake. Do not freeze bananas in skin as they are really difficult to peel and get liquidly when defrosted.

In addition, this recipe can be made into muffins, I believe it is 20 minutes, but it maybe 30, so cross check they are done before removing them from the oven. It is a great breakfast on the go as muffins. Lastly be careful that the entire loaf bakes. I tend to make 3 loaves rather than 2 as I find 2 loaves tend to have a difficult thoroughly cooking in the middle.

World's Best Cinnamon Rolls

(sorry this post is up late; my week has felt topsy-turvy and I lost track of the day)

My Dad has long laid claim to the best cinnamon roll recipe I've ever come across. His cinnamon rolls beat any I've tasted, including the exceptionally popular but somewhat overrated Cinnabon. The secret? Potato. It may seem strange to include mashed potatoes in cinnamon roll dough, but I promise you the finished product bears no resemblance to potato bread. It is light, fluffy, and moist.

Greg Burton's Cinnamon Rolls

Scald 2 cups milk.

Combine in bowl:

1/2 cup shortening (I've never tried this with butter although I don't really like using shortening.)

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 cup cold mashed potatoes (you may use instant potatoes; although they don't taste as good on their own, it doesn't make a difference in this recipe.)

Pour scalded milk over potato mixture and beat with mixer.

In another bowl combine:

2 Tbsp dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

When milk/potato mixture has cooled and yeast is foamy, beat together with mixer. Beat in:

2 eggs

4 cups flour.

Stir in about 3 additional cups of flour, adding 1/2 cup at a time. When dough is still very sticky (keeping it sticky is important) but workable, dump into a greased bowl and turn over once. Cover and let raise in warm area until doubled. Dust counter with flour and divide dough in half. Roll out each half into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Spread with butter (my Dad does not skimp. If you're going to indulge, you might as well indulge). Sprinkle with plenty of brown sugar and/or white sugar and cinnamon. If you put enough sugar in that it will caramelize at the bottom of the pan while baking, it's all the better.

Roll dough into a tube and cut 1 inch slices with dental floss or thread. Place on greased jellyroll pan and let raise again until doubled. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or more. Spread glaze on immediately after removing from oven.

Glaze:

(we like the simplicity of this glaze because the roll itself is so rich, but you may substitute any frosting you like.)

6 Tbsp butter

3 to 4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat with mixer until smooth.

Squid Dogs (recipe for kids and the kid at heart)

Squid Dogs (recipe from familyfun.com)

hot dogs
dry spaghetti
ketchup

1. Cut hot dogs into 3 or 4 pieces. Thread dry spaghetti through the hot dog (we did 4 spaghetti noodles per hot dog)


2. Boil hot dogs and spaghetti until spaghetti is al dente. Drain.


3.Eat and enjoy. Dip in ketchup if desired.


We had fun making these on one of our snow days with our friends. Great way to get kids involved in cooking.

Moroccan Chicken Stew with Couscous

In honor of Lizbeth, who is trying to eat more vegetables for lent. Depending on how you count tomatoes, you could get all five of those daily veggies with this dish. I should add that I never measure spices, and I'm pretty sure that I use more than what I list here, but you can start with this quantity and adjust to taste.

Moroccan Chicken Stew with Couscous

1.5 cups couscous
3 cups water
2 tsp chicken bouillion granules
1-2 chicken breasts
1 large onion
2-3 carrots
2 tsp minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp honey
1 zucchini
1 bell pepper (any color)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (optional)

1. Bring the water and bouillion to a boil. Remove from heat, stir in couscous, and cover until liquid is absorbed (roughly 5 minutes). When ready to serve, fluff with a fork.
2. Heat a little oil over medium heat in a soup pot. Peel and slice the onion into 1/4 inch rings, adding them to the pot as you slice. Peel, slice, and add the carrots.
3. Dice the chicken and add to the pot. Add the garlic. Cover, raise the heat to high, and cook for two minutes.
4. Dice the zucchini and the bell pepper. Uncover the pot and immediately add in the zucchini and bell pepper, spices, diced tomatoes, and honey. Stir again. Cover and cook until the chicken is fully cooked (roughly 10 minutes), stirring occassionally.
5. Add the raisins and chickpeas (if using). Cook for 1 minute to combine flavors, and serve over a bed of couscous.
   　

Homemade Pasta Sauce

After looking at Elise's recipe, I decided to add one of my favorite homemade tomato sauces for you. I only has 3 ingredients and is super easy and delicious. I can eat it by the spoonful.

2 large cans of whole tomatoes (or your home canned tomatoes)

1 sweet onion, cut in half

1/2 cup of butter

In a large stock pot, place the tomatoes, onion and half the butter. Let simmer on medium temperature for about 1 hour. Then slowly add the rest of the butter, 1 Tablespoon at a time. The longer the sauce sits, the more the flavors absorb. Place last little bit of butter right before serving over fresh pasta.

You can pull out the onion if you wish, but I actually really like the onion with the sauce. Pull apart to serve. If freezing the sauce, remove the onion before freezing.

NOTES: This sauce can be made in about 45 minutes if you bring to a hard boil, but it taste best if simmered over 2-3 hours. Plus tomatoes are better for you the longer they simmer.