Patak's Chicken Curry

When my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I got into curries I didn't know how to make them. In fact, a co-worker would bring in this curry that she made and it smelled amazing. She told me how easy it was to make and that she used Patak's Mild Concentrated Curry Paste and followed the recipe on the back. I found a jar and made it. It was our go to recipe if we wanted curry for a while.

It's 1 onion that you saute in some veg oil.
Chicken (1 to 2 breasts) cooked until lightly browned (I usually cube mine)
4+ T- Patak curry paste (this is really to taste)
1/2- 1C- diced canned tomatoes
(Water, which I omit)

Today I'm going to substitute the canned tomatoes for fresh ones because I have a whole bunch.
And I'm going to add chickpeas to it.

I have been making my curries from scratch and not from a paste for a long while now, but I ran across a jar of this stuff and I'm making it because it's nastalgia food for us. In fact, I'm really excited to "go there" tonight! LOL!

7-17-12

Starting next Tuesday I should have a whole bunch of NEW stuff on here... I still have to figure what that is... :P

Sweet Potato Fries

I made a Coconut Curry Sweet Potato Fry & a Sesame Lime Sweet Potato Fry. I have to say that the curry one was much more intense in flavor. My son & I liked the curry fries & my husband and daughter liked the sesame lime flavored one... So-- I can't say which one won over the other!

Here is the Coconut Curry Sweet Potato recipe I try (I did not make a dipping sauce)
http://peasandthankyou.com/2011/07/13/my-french-fry-soulmate/

And here is the the Sesame Lime recipe (didn't make the dipping sauce either)
http://peasandthankyou.com/2011/07/06/name-that-summer/

UK Steak Marinade

I found this recipe online because I'm obsessed with this English pub that makes DEVINE marinaded steak tips & fries with curry dipping sauce. I SO want to make it at home, but can't figure out how they make it (AT ALL). So, I have steak tips for tomorrow's grilling festivities-- I think I'm going to try this steak marinade recipe:
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/15532/super-steak-marinade.aspx

4th of July Menu

Here is what we'll be making for the 4th:

- Marinated Steak Tips
- Veggie Burger
- Corn on the Cob
- Either Mashed Potatoes (maybe even wasabi mashed potatoes) OR Homemade French Fries OR Sweet Potato Fries-- obviously undecided there... LOL

Dessert will be EITHER:

Brownies & Vegan Cookies OR
Pineapple Angel Food Cake

Strawberry Fruit Leather

So, I made strawberry fruit leather yesterday with my brand new dehydrator. It went really well. I sort of made up the recipe... I had 1 1/2 large pints of strawberries that, don't ask me how I timed this one, that were on the cusp of going bad-- but none of them did!

Over ripped strawberries- washed and tops off
1 small individual container of Mott's Applesauce (Natural)
1T- local honey

I put all in the blender and pureed it all. Then I poured the sauce through a strainer to take out the excess seeds. Poured it onto the trays- dehydrated it 6-7 hours & it was delicious! Needless to say, it's all gone now.

So today I went though my fridge & noticed that my bananas were on the verge of going bad-- immediately I thought- No they aren't!!! I pureed the bananas, put a small individual container of Motts applesauce, a squirt of lemon juice (so they don't brown) and 1T- local honey. It's in the dehydrator now & I set the timer for 7 hours... I don't use recipes, I just figure I need to be happy with the taste before it gets dehydrated or I won't like it after it's done. :)

Let ya all know how it goes!!


PS- The banana fruit leather came out HORRIBLE! :( I did not put a coating of veg oil on the tray so the whole thing stuck. :( I also was not impressed with how it tasted after it was dried. It was good going in, but not so good going out-- Guess that one is a work in progress. :P

General Tso's Tofu

http://vegweb.com/recipes/general-taos-tofu

So, this is the recipe I'll be making today for the entire family. I'm a little nervous because I'm not sure if the kids will like tofu... but, my husband reminded me that not every dinner needs to be one that has meat in it--- so, there we go. Everyone will be trying something new today!! :) The only thing I'm omiting is going to be the crushed red pepper and sherry. Need to make this one kid friendly--- Will post later how it all went & if everyone liked it or not... Crossing fingers.