Sweet Chicken Curry

I was looking for a new curry recipe tonight and the ones that sounded good were all sweet curries. I must be needing sugar in my system (always). I combined what sounded good in a couple of them and ended up with a sweet, mild, yellow curry that tasted great. We love curry around our house. Even my children will eat curry. When we were still in school we had a neighbor from Nepal and we still love to reminisce about her yummy food and the way they ate the food with their hands. Tonight Ryan ate this in the true Nepalese style.

Sweet Chicken Curry

by Carolyn

2 Tbsp butter

1 can pineapple tidbits, drained

1 onion chopped

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

3 Tbsp. curry powder

4 Tbsp. flour

3 chicken breasts

14 oz. can of chicken broth

1 can of coconut milk

2 Tbsp. sugar

4 potatoes

salt and pepper to taste

Cut your chicken breasts into strips and your potatoes into chunks and set them aside (separately). In a large skillet, melt the butter and saute the onion, garlic and pineapple over medium high heat. I added my garlic the last couple of minutes because I am always burning my garlic. And that stinks. Literally. Add your curry powder and cook it for one minute. Then add your flour and cook that for one minute. Throw the chicken in (not literally) and cook it with the curry mixture until no pink remains. Stir in the chicken broth and coconut milk until it is well combined. Add the sugar, salt and pepper and potatoes and let it simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Serve it over rice.

This picture may be confusing because, as you can see, there are apple chunks in it. One of the recipes that I adapted this from called for apples, which I used, and one called for pineapple, which I also used. The apple gave no flavor at all, but the pineapple was great, so I'm saving all of you the trouble of cutting up the apple and instead I am putting pineapple only in the recipe. Your welcome.

Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry

Monica and I used to make this a lot when I lived with her in Madison. I don't know where she learned the combination, but it's so yummy. We love to eat it over ramen noodles (minus seasoning packet) or rice. For a change, we tried shredded pork instead of chicken and it was delicious.

This is a very rough estimate of the measurements because I always start with these and then end up adding more and more of each ingredient, depending on how many veggies I add, until I get the flavor I love.

Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry

Ingredients:

1/2 c. soy sauce

3 garlic cloves

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with a small amount of water

chopped carrots

chopped celery

chopped onions

cooked, chopped chicken

olive oil

Directions:

Cook chicken in a frying pan, chop into chunks.

Saute carrots, celery, and onions in olive oil in a frying pan or wok. When veggies are getting tender (while still slightly crunchy) add soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar, and chicken and toss often until heated through. Add additional seasonings until you reach desired flavor. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with a little water and stir until dissolved. Pour into wok and stir until the sauce is thickened. Add a little more if a thicker consistency is desired.

Again, it's a very loose recipe, but easy to add and taste until you get what you want. The flavors all work together so well that you almost can't go wrong.

Valentine's Cake Balls

I made some more cake balls for another friend's birthday. The heart shape was more difficult to dip as a cake pop, so I turned them into cake balls.

For directions on how to make these, go here.

Chicken Corn Chowder with Sweet Potatoes

I found this recipe on The Sisters Cafe and because she raved about how yummy it was, and because I love sweet potatoes, I tried it. I was even confident enough in it to try it for the first time with 4 guests over for dinner. Luckily it was as yummy as she said. So now I will pass it on to you to whip up on one of our remaining wintry days this season.

Chicken Corn Chowder with Sweet Potatoes

Indredients:

3 cups 2% milk

1 (8.5 oz) box Jiffy corn muffin mix

2 T. butter

1 onion, chopped fine

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

2 quarts chicken broth

2 small chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 " cubes

2 large sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

3 cups frozen corn (not thawed)

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 2 Tb dried parsley)

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Mix milk and muffin mix in bowl until well combined. Meanwhile, heat butter in large pot over medium heat until foaming. Add onion and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth, chicken (raw) and sweet potatoes. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until chicken is cooked and sweet potatoes are just tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in milk and muffin mixture and simmer until soup thickens (can take up to 10 minutes although mine thickens immediately) Add cheese and corn and cook until cheese begins to melt, about 2 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper.

It's fast and delicious! Enjoy!

Rich Chocolate Bundt Cake

I got a bundt cake pan for Christmas (in a round about way) and have just been aching to use it. We had a little talent show for Family Home Evening and I thought making a fancy cake would be a great dessert for my little superstars. In the end, the two big superstars were the ones who ate most of the cake, but hey, I'm not complaining. I looked at a lot of recipes on allrecipes.com, and they were all very similar. It sounds like you can use this model of a cake recipe and switch out the flavors of cake or pudding, or chocolate chips to accommodate what you are wanting. It was a very moist, thick cake, with an excellent flavor. I got the frosting recipe from Nicole and the rich, chocolate frosting, with the sweetness of the cake was so great together.

Too Much Chocolate Cake

from: www.allrecipes.com

1 package devil's food cake mix

1 small package instant chocolate pudding mix (I used sugar free and it was still excellent)

1 c. sour cream

1 c. vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 c. warm water

2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips (if you have mini chips, I think they would melt a little better)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together the cake mix and pudding mix. Beat the eggs. Add the sour cream, vegetable oil, beaten eggs and water and stir well. Put a tablespoon of flour in a bowl with the chocolate chips and coat them with the flour (this helps so that they don't all sink right to the bottom). Then stir them into the cake mixture. Pour the batter into your well greased bundt cake pan. Bake it for 50-55 minutes, or until the top springs back to the touch. Cool the cake in the pan for at least an hour and a half, then flip it over onto your dish and frost it. I actually halved the recipe for the frosting and it was enough for this type of cake. I know when Nicole made it, she was doing a layered cake and she needed the whole recipe of frosting. I am putting the recipe in the way Nicole gave it to me (whole).

Decadent Chocolate Frosting

1 1/4 stick of butter

1 1/3 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. cocoa

1 c. heavy whipping cream

2 tsp. vanilla

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the cocoa, salt and whipping cream and stir it all constantly until it is well combined. Remove it from the heat and add the vanilla and stir well. It will be pretty runny. Let it cool for about an hour and then frost your cake with it.

Monica's Fresh Salsa

I got this recipe from Monica and have made it a couple of times for parties that we were attending. Both times it got rave reviews. I figured Monica won't post it herself (I was going to say a mean jibe about how she won't post unless the recipe has her name in it, but then I saw that she put TWO recipes on today! Way to go Monica!) Here is a little tip that I learned after the first time making it: don't cook the beans or corn. It does make a difference (even with that mess-up it still got rave reviews).

Monica's Fresh Salsa

2 Roma tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 can corn

cilantro

3 limes

3 avocados

3 green onions

salt

Dice the tomatoes, avocados and green onions and put them in a large bowl. Finely chop your cilantro and throw it in, too. Pour the beans and corn in as well. Squeeze your limes into the bowl and gently stir it all together. Add enough salt that you like the saltiness of it (novel idea). Actually, all of these ingredients are to taste. If you aren't a cilantro fan, go easy on that one. If you adore avocados, add another (how's that for alliteration?). You get the idea, right? And here is what we did with the leftovers:

Oh, it was double delicious on our hamburgers the next night! We used ranch instead of ketchup and mayo and it got two thumbs up (mine and Dustin's).

Coconut Curried Chicken

James and I have always been big fans of Curry and I have finally found a recipe that I absolutely love. I adapted it from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed, diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 Large Carrots, thickly sliced
• 3 medium potatoes, chunked

Directions

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil and curry powder in a large skillet over medium-high heat for two minutes. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add chicken, tossing lightly to coat with curry oil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear.
3. Pour coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar into the pan, and stir to combine. Add potatoes and carrots, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Something that I have learned (that may be somewhat common knowledge but was news to me) is that you need to cook the curry in the oil on its own for several minutes to let the flavors come out.

Enjoy!