Chicken Curry with Cashews

I have two curry recipes I like to make. I think of this one as my fancy curry. Probably because my friend, Karen, made it for a fancy Enrichment dinner. She went all out and decorated everything and even had little recipe cards next to the plates- which I'm so glad she did.

Also, this one has some extra ingredients that I don't usually have on hand and that my other recipe doesn't include like fresh ginger, cilantro, and cashews so I have to plan ahead when I make it. It also calls for cumin which I think gives it a kind of sweet aroma. It really is delicious.

(Sometimes the pictures just don't do the dish credit.)

Chicken Curry with Cashews (KAREN GREGSON)

¼ c. butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped (2 cups) (I also added a chopped bell pepper this time)
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 TBSP finely chopped peeled fresh ginger (I forgot to buy this so I just substituted ginger powder)
3 TBSP curry powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cayenne pepper (Next time I might half this or add it at the end so the kids will eat it. I thought it was a bit spicy but my husband said it was perfect.)
3 ½ -4lb. chicken pieces (I just use 10 tenders or 3 or 4 breasts)
1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes
¼ c. fresh cilantro
¾ c. cashews (1/4 lb)
¾ c. plain yogurt
Cooked basmati or jasmine rice

Heat butter in a 5-6qt. wide heavy pot over low heat until foam subsides, then cook onions, garlic, and ginger, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Add curry, salt, cumin, and cayenne, cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook, stirring to coat, 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, including juice, and cilantro and bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 40 minutes. Then just before serving, pulse cashews in a food processor until finely ground, then add to curry along with yogurt and simmer gently, uncovered stirring until sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.

Chicken Tortilla Lime Soup

This is one of my favorite soups. I think the cilantro and fresh lime juice make it taste just like some I had in Mexico. Mmm The recipe has you make your tortilla strips, but I usually just use tortilla chips.

Chicken Tortilla Lime Soup (Raylene Hadley)
1-2 lbs chicken breasts or tenders seasoned with garlic powder, salt, pepper and 1/4 tsp cumin

(I usually just use 2 breasts)
olive oil cooking spray (I just use olive oil)
1 onion, chopped
1 red jalapeno, chopped (I can only find green, so that's what I use)
1 Anaheim chili, chopped
1/4 tsp chili powder
7 cups chicken stock or broth
1 c white sweet corn, fresh or frozen
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/3 c cilantro, chopped
2-3 medium avacadoes, chopped (into small chuncks)
juice of 1 large lime (1/4 cup)
½ c grated low fat jack or chedder cheese
tortilla strips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place seasoned chicken in one layer on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes for tenders or 25 minutes for chicken breasts, or until jucies run clear. Remove from oven and cool. Then shred or cut into 1-inch pieces and set aside.

Spray a large Dutch oven or stock pot lightly with cooking spray and heat over medium high. Add onion and red jalapeno peppers to pan and sauté until onion is translucent. Add Anaheim pepers and 1/8 tsp. chili powder to onions and continue to sauté for another minute.

Add chicken broth to onion and pepper mixture along with chcken and corn, beans, cilantro, and lime juice. Simmer for 5-10 minutes over medium until all ingredients are heated through. Adjust seasonings if necessary with salt, cumin, extra lime juice and fresh pepper. Add chopped avacadoes.

Pour soup into bowls top with tortilla strips and cheese.

Yeild six 2-cup servings each at approximately 295 calories; 4.5 grams of total fat; 1.4 grams sturated fat; 31 grams total carboydtrate; 4.4 grams dietary fiber; and 33 grams of protien.

chicken cacciatore

Chicken Cacciatore from Better Home's Cookbook:

• 6 frozen chicken tenders
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• (added 1/2 cup chopped green pepper)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 3/4 cup dry white wine (used chicken broth instead)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary (didn't have this)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley (skipped this)
• Hot cooked fettuccine or linguine (used spaghetti instead)

In a large skillet brown chicken on all sides in hot oil over medium heat about 15 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove chicken from skillet, reserving drippings in skillet; set chicken aside.

Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to drippings in skillet. Cook and stir about 5 minutes or until vegetables are just tender. Return chicken to skillet.

Mix together undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, sugar, spices, salt, and pepper and add to chicken in skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 30 to 35 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Serve over hot cooked pasta.

Yes, that's a paper plate. I forgot to take a picture at dinner so later when I had a before bed 'snack' I snapped this. Mmm

Tequila Lime Chicken (minus the Tequila)

For a (late) Cinco de Mayo celebration I made this Taquila Lime Chicken Recipe from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Mmmm, I love lime so I couldn't resist. Only I didn't use tequila. I didn't feel like buying tequila so I just decided to use lemon-lime soda instead. It was really yummy, but once again I forgot to take a picture.

(I made it on the grill so it had this great, uh, grilled flavor. Only problem was it took me like an hour to cook it on the community grill cause I had no idea what I was doing. I've only used that thing twice.)

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bbq chicken sandwiches

Tonight we had barbecue chicken sandwiches. I often make these when I have left over chicken, or when I just have a craving for barbecue sauce. I found a recipe for bbq sauce in my Better Homes Cookbook a few years ago and started making it from scratch most of the time because I didn't like that corn syrup was a main ingredient in bottled sauce. Once I discovered Trader Joe's bbq sauce (no corn syrup) I use that if I have it. But I still like to make it myself.

I recently found this recipe that uses agave (on the Xagave.com website) and wanted to try it. It's a lot different from the other one I use, but it was good. It seemed like it was going to be too tangy/vinegary, but it turned out okay. I might decrease the vinegar next time.

2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup Xagave
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. French’s mustard
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and whisk together. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.

I left two chicken breasts cooking in the crock-pot all day so it was super tender and just fell apart when I took it out. I mixed it together with the sauce and served it on whole wheat hamburger buns and had corn on the cob as a side.

Easter Candy & Tortilla Soup

The kids ate pretty much all their Easter candy for breakfast. :P I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

We were supposed to go to a pot luck for Easter dinner, but Kurt and I came down with some serious sinus colds and we decided to spare everyone and stay home. So I made this Tortilla soup for Easter dinner. Not traditional, but hopefully it will get us feeling better quick. I usually try to make meals with lots of onions and/or garlic when we've got colds at our house.

Tortilla Soup

2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 Anaheim chile, seeded, small diced

1 jalapeno chile, seeded, small diced

2 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cooked chicken breast, diced (I cut it into 3 smaller pieces sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin and bake at 400 for 20 min.)

1 or 2 ripe avocados, chopped

chopped fresh cilantro

Garnish:

tortilla chips

shredded cheddar cheese

lime wedges

Cook onions in oil for a couple minutes. Add garlic and chilies and cook until tender. Mix in broth, tomatoes, salt, and chicken. Let simmer until heated though. Add avocados and cilantro right before serving. Place tortilla chips in each bowl, fill with soup, top with cheese and squeeze in lime.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Right after Eleanor was born my sweet neighbor brought us dinner, it was this recipe. She had no idea it was one of my favorites when I was little. I even requested it for a birthday dinner once. Tastes just like mom's.

(For some reason no store around here carries pineapple tidbits -shocking I know! So I have to stock up whenever I go to Utah.)

Sweet & Sour Chicken

1 Tablespoon oil

1 chicken breast cut in small pieces

1 onion, large diced

1 green bell pepper, large diced

4 carrots, sliced

1 can pineapple tidbits, drained (juice reserved for sauce)

Sauce

Pineapple juice plus enough water to equal 1 1/2 cups liquid (usually about 1/2 cup water)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar (I used half brown sugar, half agave)

2 Tablespoons corn starch

Heat oil in large skillet. Add chicken and fry until mostly cooked. Wisk together all sauce ingredients. Add sauce and veggies to chicken and cook covered until veggies are tender (I never set a timer, I just poke the carrots). Serve over rice.