Massaman Curry

I love Indian food. I think I’ve mentioned that before. So does my husband. My children like some Indian food. They all have loved naan bread from the start. The brown basmati Indian rice has been something that most of them like, but the veggies and chicken covered in a sauce that’s got some spice to it has only been a real favorite of our 7 year old Charles, though the girls are starting to take to it more each time we serve it.

This is our favorite sauce recipe which we cook our veggies and chicken in. And you don’t have to have any meat if you don’t want. It’s fabulous without it and in fact I pick out all the chicken in mine and give it to Scott and the kids . If you’re not having meat in the dish, be sure to put either cashews or peanuts in this dish so that it feels even more satisfying.

Saute veggies in olive oil over medium heat. Add optional chicken and cook until cooked through and no longer pink. I took pictures of a couple of different ways I cut the veggies, sometimes I’ll do them long and sometimes I’ll do them shorter. Just depends on what you like. I actually prefer the longer ones but the kids eat more of the shorter ones possibly because they’re smaller and the kids think they’re not as gross that way or possibly because more of them get hidden in the sauce at that size.

Add 2-3 Tbsp Massaman Curry Paste, then add 1 can coconut milk. Take a little taste and if it’s too spicy add another can or part of a second can of coconut milk.

If you don’t want to saute veggies first, you can just cook it all longer and they’ll soften up enough after about30-45 minutes. Add water, peanuts or cashews and raisins and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 3 tsp coconut sugar and give it a gentle stir.

If I have time I’ll cook the chicken separately with it’s own sauce so that I don’t have to pick it out of my plate and instead whoever wants it can add it on the side. So here is our chicken dish that we cooked separately with some cashews and raisins. My hubby loves this!

And if you’re doing the long strips of veggies, this is what yours will look like, or something close to it.

Serve it over brown Indian rice (or any basmati or jasmine rice) with naan bread on the side.

THE RECIPE:

Massaman Curry

2-3 Tbsp Massaman Curry Paste (you can buy this on amazon.com if you don’t have it in your local grocery store; i’ve linked it here. It comes in a couple of cans which will keep for awhile. I buy the Maesri Thai Masaman Curry Paste)

1 Tbsp coconut or olive oil

1-2 can coconut milk

1 sweet potato, cubed

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 carrots, sliced

3 tsp coconut sugar (or other granulated sugar)

1/2 c peanuts

1 lb boneless skinless chicken (uncooked and optional)

small handful of raisins and cashews (optional; substitute cashews for peanuts)

Saute veggies in olive oil over medium heat. Add optional chicken and cook until cooked through and no longer pink. Add 2-3 Tbsp Massaman Curry Paste, then add 1 can coconut milk. Taste and if it’s too spicy, open another can of coconut milk and add a little more.Add peanuts and water and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 3 tsp coconut sugar. Serve over Indian Rice (or any basmati or jasmine rice) with Naan on the side.

Naan

Naan is my families favorite thing when it comes to Indian food. If I don’t have time to make naan, then I just don’t make Indian food because it’s not worth all the whining that goes on when they find out it’s not on the menu . This recipe will make 14 pieces of naan bread and since there are 7 in our family, we each get one the night we’re having Indian and then I freeze the remaining 7 balls of dough by laying them flat in a gallon sized ziploc bag in the freezer.

The dough is pretty simple as far as bread making is concerned. I make mine in my bosch if you don’t have a stand mixer  you can do it by hand in a large mixing bowl. The trick with this bread is to keep the dough soft and just a tiny bit sticky to the touch. I cook mine on our panini grill press, it’s like a George Foreman. I’ve also tried cooking it on the stovetop in a cast iron pan and in the oven on my pizza stone but both of those ways always left me with an extremely smoky kitchen, but the panini grill does a good job about cooking even and not producing much smoke at all.

THE RECIPE:

Naan (Indian Flatbread)

1 c warm water (105-110 degrees)

1/4 c coconut sugar (or evaporated cane juice)

1 package yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

2 c hard white wheat flour

2 c unbromated white flour, divided

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1 egg, room temperature, lightly beaten

1/2 c plain yogurt or milk

1/3 c real butter, melted (or 1/3 c melted coconut oil)

2 garlic cloves, minced

Place warm water in stand mixer fitted with a dough hook(or bowl if you don’t have one) and add sugar. Stir gently and sprinkle in yeast. Let stand 10 minutes or until bubbly. Add 3 c flour and the salt. Add egg and yogurt or milk. Mix until it forms a very soft dough; add additional flour if needed but keep dough very soft and sticky to the touch. Knead with dough hook for 5 minutes (or by hand if you’re not using a stand mixer). Place in a lightly oiled bowl in a warm location and cover with a light towel. Let rise until nearly double in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Punch down dough onto a lightly floured surface. Form into a mound and divide into 14 equal pieces. Place on a baking sheet and let rise again about 30 minutes until double in size. While dough is rising preheat grill, panini press or skillet. Place butter in a small bowl and add garlic. When dough has risen and the pan is hot, lightly brush the pan with garlic butter. Roll out each portion of dough slightly thicker than a tortilla , about 1/8 inch. Place dough on hot pan and grill 1-3 minutes until small bubbles form on top. Brush top side with garlic butter and flip. Cook an additional 1-3 minutes until golden brown on each side. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm while making the remaining flat bread. Serve as a side dish with Massaman Curry and Indian Rice or another Indian dish or as wraps for Gyro Burger Pitas.

Pizza Party!

I was all set and ready to do a continuation on my Indian food post from last week, but then I had a birthday and I turned 30 which is kind of a monumental number and so I thought instead I’d share what we ate for my birthday dinner along with a couple of pictures from my birthday. By the way, though the dinner was healthy, the dessert was was so not. It was an ice cream cake. But we shared between 8 of us and I try to keep it real most of the time which is important. I asked my hubby to make my pizza recipe for my birthday dinner because: 1.) the whole family loves it and I wanted happy people around my birthday table 2.) it’s healthy yet more of a party food 3.) my parents were visiting from Seattle and my mom is vegan and this is an easy one to make a delicious vegan version…I just took a section of the pizza and omitted the cheese and added a variety of sauteed veggies like bell peppers, onions, artichoke hearts etc. (didn’t saute the marinated artichoke hearts). This is a recipe I have shared before, but I’ve recently updated it with a few small changes. So go here and try it yourself! And if you can find Izze drinks to go with it, your family will love you! Izze drinks are a sparkling juice that is naturally sweet; our Costco sells them and they’re a great alternative to soda.

My other birthday request was that my hubby take down the old blinds in the living room and put up drapes that I purchased just prior. He did. And I love them. And him. See here they are! And that’s my baby girl and my hubby in the picture with me.

Happy Birthday to me! And I promise that the next post will be a continuation of the Indian.

Indian Rice

My husband and I love Indian food! But it’s a recent love. Up until about a year ago, I don’t think we’d ever tried Indian, which is kind of strange considering I grew up in Washington and we lived there as a married couple for a couple of years, in an apartment complex that was over 50% Indian, maybe even 60-70%(we were right near Microsoft) and so there were lots of Indian food places close by. So anyway, last year Scott heard of an amazing Indian restaurant in the area from a buddy from work who is from India and we thought we’d give it a try and we’ve loved it ever since! It is so flavorful!

We have some favorite dishes and I’ve been able to recreate a few things that we really like which I will share over the next few weeks. My kids inevitably always go for the rice and the naan bread. Two of our five children will put the sauce over their rice but the others are still very hesitant, though they’ll eat their mandatory 3 bites so they can have the naan bread. That being said, I would like to share our brown Basmatti Indian rice recipe with you today. It’s pretty easy and straightforward, basically you boil your water, add the dry rice and spices, turn down the heat and let it simmer until all the water is absorbed which takes about 40 minutes when you’re using brown rice…and if you double the recipe, just know that the rice will have to cook even longer, probably 50 minutes to an hour. Just watch it and once the water is absorbed it’s done.

THE RECIPE:

Indian Rice

1 c Brown Basmatti Rice
2 1/4 c water
1 tsp better than boullion (I buy this at Costco; like chicken boullion)
1/2 tsp red curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 Tbsp dried onion (or you can use 1/4 c fresh onion chopped, but saute it in a Tbsp of olive oil first then add water and rice)

Heat medium-sized pot to medium heat on stove. Add water and bouillon and increase heat until water boils. Add turmeric, curry powder and rice and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Fluff with fork before serving.

*You can use other types of rice like Jasmine, or you could use a white rice, but if you use a white rice, reduce the amount of water and cooking time to follow the package directions.

*If doubling the recipe, you’ll need to increase the cooking time to around an hour. Watch the rice near the end and once the water is absorbed, it’s done.

Serve with Massaman Curry and Naan bread.

Popcorn (air popped)

Raise your hand if you have microwave popcorn in your house? Okay, I do too. Even though we rarely use it, we take it on trips when we stay overnight in hotels for a snack so I do have some down in the basement somewhere. But mostly we do air popped popcorn and I much prefer this to the microwave stuff. Why? Have you ever read the ingredient label on microwave popcorn? They usually have chemical additives to maintain freshness and color and for fake butter flavors. Besides the health benefits, my family of 7 would need to pop several bags in order to satisfy their cravings. But with our air popper, we pop up half a cup of kernels, drizzle a couple of tablespoons of butter on top with a sprinkle of sea salt and we have a great after school snack or a fun treat during family movie night.

I’m sure many of you know how to make air popped popcorn (or you saved the instructions that tells you how), but for those who don’t, or for those who want to try my families way of doing it, I will share how we do it.

You will need 4 things: an air popper, 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels (yellow or white), 2 Tbsp of unsalted butter (or salted is fine and just add less salt), and sea salt to taste.

Put your popcorn kernels into your air popper and put the cover on top. Grab a large mixing bowl and stick it underneath. Put your butter on top of the popper as directed in the instructions and then plug it in. A few minutes later you’ll have beautiful popcorn. If your butter didn’t melt completely, stick it in the microwave for 15-30 seconds and then drizzle half over the top, sprinkle it with a little sea salt, stir, add the remaining butter, sprinkle again with salt, stir and serve!

THE RECIPE: 

Popcorn

1/2 c popcorn kernels
2 Tbsp butter
sea salt to taste (I do about a tsp)

Put popcorn kernels in air popper. Place a large bowl underneath and put butter in tray on top of air popper. Plug in and allow to pop until almost all kernels are gone. Unplug air popper. If butter is not melted all the way, put in microwave, cover with microwave safe cover or paper towel, and warm for 15-30 seconds until melted completely. Pour half of butter over popcorn and half of salt (or shake your salt shaker a few times) and stir. Pour remaining butter and salt over top and stir again.

Honey Banana Muffins

Muffins are a great snack or breakfast food. They’re convenient, yummy and this particular recipe is healthy, too!

These muffins are so soft and moist and sweet, you would never know there isn’t any white flour or sugar. They are sweetened with honey and bananas. If my kids come home from school and find these sitting on the counter I always hear a, “Yes!” and then it’s silent as they chow these down. I’ll usually allow them to eat a couple since they are pretty healthy. The recipe is pretty basic and straightforward so here ya go!

THE RECIPE:

Honey Banana Muffins

2 3/4 c whole white wheat flour (or you can use half spelt flour if you have that around. I love spelt…it makes things a little more light and fluffy)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 c softened butter or coconut oil (I usually do butter; If using coconut oil, be sure to melt it first)

1/2 c honey (raw, preferably)

2 eggs (organic and free-range, if possible)

2 mashed ripe bananas (avg size)

1/4 c hot water (I just used hot tap water; or you could microwave cool tap water for a minute or warm it up on the stove to 120 degrees or thereabouts…you don’t have to worry about killing yeast and this isn’t an exact science here, just make sure it’s at least warm. If your water is cold it’ll make the coconut oil chunky and your butter harder to work with and if you use raw honey like me, it’ll make that harder to work with as well)

Mix butter, honey and eggs together with whisk in large mixing bowl. Add bananas and mix. Add soda, salt and 1 c flour. Alternately add hot water and then add the remaining flour. Pour into 18 muffin cups and bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on rack.

Granola with Raisins

I think I’ve mentioned before that my family always keeps home made granola on hand. My 7-year-old son loves granola and has a very large bowl every morning and many times has another bowl later on in the day for a snack. If I would let him eat it as often as he’d like, he’d have it for every meal. It is so good for you; it’s packed with grains, nuts and seeds; I’m happy my son loves it so much! My husband and I like to eat granola too, as does one of our daughters. And because I don’t want any refined sugars or additives in a food we eat so often, I like to make it myself. I have another granola recipe posted on this site called, ‘everyday granola’ and this one is similar, but we actually like this one better. We’ve made granola for so many years now that we tweak it every now and then and this is our favorite way of making granola for now and has been for the past several months. If it changes quite a bit again, I’ll probably do another granola post in the future.

This recipe is different in that it uses puffed brown rice cereal (I buy mine at Walmart in the cereal aisle, but it can also be found in health food stores), raisins (I love the chewy texture and the sweetness it adds), a little more honey, molasses and a little maple flavor along with maple syrup. I also will use some barley flakes in place of a few cups of the rolled oats if I’ve got them on hand. Which I do right now. I like to use slivered almonds in my granola, but if I think my baby will be eating it, I will chop up all my nuts and seeds in my high power blender so that she doesn’t choke on them. I personally like the nuts to be roughly chopped rather than finely chopped. I grind the flax seeds separately because I like them ground up to a flour or meal type consistency.

Another difference with this recipe is that I put all the nuts and grains in the roasting pan and then dry roast them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, then I pull it out, add the seeds, coconut, wheat germ, the liquid sweeteners, flavorings and oils that I’ve melted together, stir it up really well and then stick it back in the oven for another 30-40 minutes. I like to do it this way because it makes a more crunchy granola; and at the same time, the extra half cup of honey gives you more sticky clusters which I also like. Be sure to stir your granola about half way through the cooking time so it doesn’t burn along the edges. Once it’s all done cooking, I add in a cup or two of raisins (I usually do 2 but if you’re not a huge fan you could do less). And that’s about it. My family goes through this huge batch of granola in about 10 days. I store it in a big huge cereal tupperware container, and keep it in the fridge and usually I have to put some in another small tupperware too. Love, love, love granola! It’s good plain or served with milk or yogurt.

16 c rolled regular oats (if I have barley flakes I’ll substitute a couple of cups of that for some oats)
1 c wheat germ(buy inexpensively in bulk at Winco)
4 c puffed brown rice cereal
2 c raw nuts (I use chopped almonds, pecans, or walnuts)
½ c sunflower seeds
1/4 c ground flax seeds(I grind these with the nuts in my blender; if you don’t have a high power blender or a coffee grinder you may want to buy these already ground)
1/4 c sesame seeds
2 c shredded unsweetened coconut (found at health food stores or Winco)
Optional: 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c coconut oil, melted (buy this at health food stores)
1 1/2 c honey (raw if possible)
1Tbsp vanilla
1 tsp maple flavor
1/4 c pure maple syrup
1/4 c molasses
1-2 c raisins
Put oats, puffed cereal and chopped nuts in a large pan(I use a roaster pan with sides that are a couple inches tall) and dry roast for ten minutes at 300 degrees. Take out and mix together with other dry ingredients. Melt together oils, honey, syrup, molasses and flavorings in a small saucepan. Pour over oat mixture and stir well. Spread out in pan and bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Stir half way through. Take out and mix in raisins. Store in airtight container on pantry for a week or in fridge for a couple of weeks.