Boise has many things…but it does NOT have good Indian Food.  I decided a few weeks ago to just make it myself.  I did a bunch of research and created my own recipe for Butter Chicken/Tofu.  Man is it GOOD.  I made it this past weekend for Friend Dinner along with Jenna’s Chana Masala.  It was some good eats!

It’s a lot of ingredients and it takes some time but MAN is it worth it!

Ingredients:

-1 TBSP grape seed oil
-1 shallot finely chopped
-1 small onion finely chopped

-2 TBSP butter
-Juice from half of a lemon
-1 TBSP minced ginger
-1 TBSP chili garlic sauce
-1/4 tsp fenugreek whole seeds, then ground (too much and it will be bitter)
-1 tsp chili powder
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1 tsp garam masala
-pinch cayenne pepper
-1 bay leaf

-1 can chopped tomatoes, pureed (I did this with my hand blender)

-1/2 cup heavy cream
-1/2 cup plain yogurt
-salt and pepper to taste

-1 TBSP grape seed oil
-1 pound chicken thighs, cut into small pieces or a block of tofu cut into pieces, coated with 1 TBSP grape seed oil, cumin, garam masala, and chili powder and baked for 30 minutes, flipped half way through (or half of each)
-1 tsp garam masala

-1/3 cup ground cashews

Instructions:

-Sauté onions, shallots, and grape seed oil over medium high heat until translucent.

-Melt butter and add lemon, ginger, chili garlic sauce, fenugreek, chili powder, cumin, garam masala, cayenne pepper, and bay leaf. Stir until well incorporated.

-Add pureed tomatoes, stir and cook about 5 minutes.

-Add cream, yogurt, salt and pepper. Stir well, turn heat to low and simmer while you prepare chicken.

-Heat oil in a separate skillet, add chicken and garam masala, cook until browned.

-Add chicken to sauce and stir in ground cashews, stir well, and cover. Cook until chicken is no longer pink.

-Enjoy!

(Shaun LOVES this with mashed potatoes and cauliflower-2 potatoes and a head of cauliflower, boiled, mashed, and then made like normal mashed potatoes.)

Shaun was so excited about getting Butter Chicken again (I made it a few weeks ago) that he found good Bollywood music/dance videos and had those on loop on You Tube AND he looked up how to say “Welcome” in Hindi.  He and Lu welcomed our guests.

Boise has good Indian food now!

I go through phases with salads, sometimes I love them and other times I want nothing to do with them.  Ever since I learned how to make my sister’s shallot dressing, I always want salad.  I almost have one every day.  It’s simply amazing.

Ingredients:

For a large salad for 1 or side salad for 2-3 to share. All measurements approximates

-1/4 inch cut from a shallot
-1/4 tsp high quality salt
-1.5 TBSP Olive Oil
-2 tsp Balsamic
-ground pepper to taste

Cut approximately this much shallot:

Then chop it up really small (I had already started when I remembered that I needed a picture of how the piece I cut off).

When it gets pretty finely chopped:

Add salt:

Chop until it gets all pulverized and liquid-y.

The longer this mixture sits, the mellower it gets. I try to pulverize my shallots before I make anything else for my meal.  It can sit like this on the lettuce too.

Right before you’re ready to eat, add the olive oil:

And balsamic:

*Tip-You want about a 1 part balsamic to 3 parts Olive Oil ratio.

Add pepper and toss well!

Enjoy!

This salad was only romaine, some cashews, and the dressing.  It was delish!

Thanks Lissa!

A couple of weeks ago I was at a loss for what to have for lunch and pulled gluten free pizza dough out of the fridge, then I added tomatoes, peppers, and thought to myself, “I need protein.” so I added chickpeas.  It didn’t quite feel complete so I added olive oil and curry powder.  The result? O.M.G. I’ve now made this pizza multiple times and it’s been requested for a party.  I thought I’d share with y’all.

Ingredients:

-GF pizza dough (I like Udi’s)
-1 cup stewed chopped tomatoes
-1 cup rinsed chickpeas
-1 small bell pepper, sliced, or 5 mini bell peppers, sliced
-10 kalamata olives, sliced
-1 TBSP olive oil
-2 tsp curry powder
-Salt to taste

Instructions:

-Preheat oven according to pizza package.

-In a bowl, toss together all the ingredients, except the dough

-Place mixture on the dough.

-Bake until the dough is crisp (about 10 minutes)

-Enjoy!

Next time I may add some chopped up fresh cilantro after I remove it from the oven-YOM!

It’s the second edition of Shaun Can Cook!  This week’s selection? Green Curry!

Ingredients:

-Cooked rice (Use the rice cooker)
-Half an onion
-1/4 pound green beans
-2 heads of broccoli
-1 green bell pepper
-8 oz frozen peas
-8 oz-1 pound protein (I gave Shaun the choice of tofu or shrimp and he chose shrimp)
-2 TBSP honey
-1 TBSP Braggs Amino
-1 tsp green curry paste
-1 can coconut milk

Implements Needed:

-Cutting board
-Knife
-Big skillet or Wok
-Strainer to defrost shrimp
-Spoon

-Measuring spoons

-Can Opener

-Lid for the pan.

Instructions:

-Make sure your child is sufficiently occupied. She likes to sort food into different colored bowls.  Sunflower seeds being a favorite.

-Place shrimp in the colander and run cold water over them or soak them for ~5 minutes. If you are using a different type of protein, cut it up into bite sized pieces.
-Cut the onion, first in half and then into longer pieces.

-Put aside on a plate (not in the pan)
-Trim each end of the green beans.  You can do multiple at one time.

-Set aside on a plate.

-Trim broccoli so it’s just the tree part.

-Cut the bell pepper in half.

-Cut out the stem, seeds, and white membrane.

-Chop into long pieces.

-Turn the stove on to medium high heat and put 1 tsp of green curry (more if you like it spicier and are not feeding a child) and the can of coconut milk in the pan and stir it up.

-Next add 1 TBSP of Braggs and 2 TBSP of honey. Stir.

-If you’re using meat or tofu, add it now and cook for about 5 minutes.

-Add all the veggies you chopped.

-Cook for about 5 minutes, covered.

-If you’re using shrimp, add shrimp and peas.

-Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes more-until the peas are no longer frozen and the shrimp is pink.

-Serve on a bed of rice.

-Sit back and watch as your daughter eats it all up and asks for more.

Another HIT by Shaun.  He’s doing great!  See?  Cooking is easy!

The movers still haven’t arrived with all of our stuff so I’m living on a very limited pantry.  Last night I made a delicious glaze for chicken with what I had on hand-it was so easy and yummy that I thought I’d share.

Ingredients:

-3 TBSP honey
-2 TBSP olive oil
-1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

-Mix ingredients together in a zip top bag and add your protein.  Make sure protein is well covered with the glaze.

-Marinate for as long as you’d like.  I only let my sit for about 15 minutes and it was still incredibly flavorful.

-Throw it on the grill!

YOM!

We arrived in Boise on Saturday (long post about that to follow!) and man does it feel like summer here!  It has yet to feel like summer in the Bay Area so the heat and sun were a welcome change.  It was in the 80s on Saturday, the 90s on Sunday, and it’s rumored that we’ll hit 100 today!  No worries, it’s supposed to cool down to the 80s by mid-week and stay there for awhile.

POM Wonderful contacted me last month to see if I’d like to contribute to their POM Summer Menu Series.  Y’all know how much I love pomegranates-I wrote an homage to them back in November! I gladly accepted even with all the moving madness.  So for the next month, you’ll be seeing a POMegranate inspired recipe once a week.

This week I was asked to make a dessert. Last night, we headed over to my sister’s for dinner and I had plans to make a granita. It’s cherry lime flavored as an ode to my old favorite Sonic Cherry Limeade slush that I now think tastes awful.  Super easy, no fuss, cool, and healthy-perfect for my moving madness! This is way better than a Sonic Cherry Limeade slush-hands down!

You only need four ingredients.

Ingredients:

-16 ounces POM Wonderful pomegranate cherry juice

-1/4 cup honey
-1/4 cup lime juice
-3 TBSP vodka (this only serves to keep the mixture from freezing solid-no real alcoholic content. Alternately, you can use no vodka but will need to place the frozen mixture in a food processor.)

Instructions:

-Mix pomegranate juice with honey in a small saucepan over medium heat to combine.

-While that’s cooking, squeeze the limes.

-Whisk the juice mixture numerous times. When you start, you can feel the honey on the bottom of the pan.  You know it’s done when there is no longer any resistance from the honey.

-Whisk in the lime juice and vodka and add to a shallow pan.

-Place the pan in the freezer.

-Go play.

-After an hour, use a fork to break up the ice mixture.

-Place it back in the freezer.

-Go play for another hour.

-Mix it up again.

I had to put this down in my brother-in-law’s man cave freezer-hence the cooler in the above picture. 

-Go enjoy dinner and watching the cousins giggle hysterically and kiss each other unprompted (and know that you 100% made the right decision moving to Boise).

-After about another hour, your granita will be done.  Mix it up a final time.

-Scoop it into pretty serving bowls.  Garnish with lime and mint (optional) and enjoy!

-Seriously YOM.  Shaun rated it a 3.5 out of 5 (high praise for a dessert from him) and my sister rated this a 5.  She LOVED it, as did I.  She thought that it would be delicious with a thin mint or a chocolate wafer cookie for those of you out there with no gluten allergies.  I may pair it with a square of good dark chocolate next time.

I would make this again in a heartbeat. It’s perfect for warm summer evenings-very refreshing and cool.  It was thousands of times better (and better for you!) than a cherry limeade slush.

YOM!

Can you tell I’m a little obsessed with my crock pot right now? I found this recipe on Crock Pot 365-a great crock pot recipe site.  I made a modified version of this recipe. It was really good-I thought better than the other Apricot Chicken that I made.  That one was more Asian influenced and this one wasn’t (despite some soy sauce).

Ingredients:

• 1 pound frozen skinless chicken meat-I use thigh since Shaun hates breasts (chicken breasts…)
• 10 ounce jar of apricot preserves-no sugar
• 1 tsp dried onion flakes (sorry Kath!)
• 1 TBSP garlic aioli mustard
• 1 TBSP Braggs Amino
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes

Place the chicken in the crock pot. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl:

And then smother the chicken:

Set the crock pot on

And then:

For:

hours (6-8 for frozen. 4-6 on high for defrosted).

I made brown rice and just chopped some brussel sprouts and carrots and sautéed them in a little vegan butter, S+P, and cider vinegar.

Look at how pretty it was:

Here’s the finished product in the pot:

Plated:

Lucy didn’t have any-her appetite has disappeared 🙁 She has croup poor thing.  Shaun took his first bite and said “Wow this is AWESOME!” Later I asked him to rate it and he said 3 stars.  I asked how something could be awesome and then only get 3 stars.  His response? “It’s chicken.”  So many people comment on how Shaun will eat anything.  No one believes me when I tell them his particular. Do you believe me?

On Sunday I threw together a soup using a bunch of stuff from my cupboards.  It wasn’t supposed to be a soup originally but I changed my mind mid recipe.  It was seriously good and easy.

Ingredients:

-Tri Tip

-1 TBSP Paprika

-2 TBSP Montreal Steak Seasoning

-S+P

-1 Box Chicken Broth

-2 Cans of Navy Beans, drained

-1 Can Chopped Tomatoes with Roasted Garlic

-1 Can No-Salt Corn

I took a big hunk of tri tip that I had in my freezer from Lu’s birthday party-probably around 1.5 pounds and put that into the crock pot frozen.  I topped it with the seasonings and a little chicken broth.  Cook on low for 4 hours. 

I added the rest of the ingredients (including all the broth) and cooked on low for an additional 2 hours.  I had envisioned the meat shredding but that didn’t happen.  So I took it out and that end and sliced thin pieces of meat (like Carne Asada) and added it back to the soup.  I think the sliced beef ended up much better than shredded beef would have been.

I topped mine with Fage and Avocado.  Shaun got Sour Cream, Avocado, and Cheese on his.  I think it would have been great with some corn chips too.

Lucy gave it a “mmmm-mmmm-mmm-mmm” and Shaun gave it 3 stars-big praise from a man who claims to “HATE soup”.