Kitchen Creations

Friday, January 17, 2014

We Love Curry

We are a "mostly meatless" family, a term coined by my husband when he wanted to reduce the amount of meat he ate.  I'm always on the lookout for vegetarian or vegan options that are easy and packed with flavor.  I disovered this one on myrecipes.com and it delievers on both ease and tastiness!  The whole family LOVES it.  My two boys request it frequently.  I've made a resolution this year to eliminate my use of canned beans.  This is the only part of the recipe that takes much time.  Using canned chickpeas makes this dish come together extremely quickly.  I cannot say enough about the cilantro flavor in this dish.  It is an absolutely amazing compliment flavor. 

Enjoy and easy and flavor-filled meal you can feel good about tonight. 

Chickpea Curry  


Ingredients:
  • 2 cups uncooked brown rice
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 large sweet onion, diced
  • 1 1/2 tsp. garam masala
  • 4 cups chickpeas, cooked (or 2 15-ounce cans, rinsed & drained)
  • 1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 small bunch of spinach
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Method:
  • Cook rice according to package directions.
  • Saute onion in olive oil fo r5 minutes. 
  • Stir in garam masala and cook for 30 seconds, stir constantly.
  • Add chickpeas, tomatoes and spinach and cook 2 minute

  • Remove from heat, stir in yogurt and salt.
  • Sprinkle with cilantro.
  • Serve over rice & with naan.

Click here for printable recipe

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Enchilada Enchantment

I found this recipe on one of my very favorite food blogs Pinch of Yum.  I was looking for inspiration.  I wasn't feeling all that energetic and I needed to create the menu for the week.  Needless to say, my inspiration needed to come in the form of a tasty looking picture with an accompanying recipe that had minimal ingredients and minimal EASY steps.  This one caught my attention right away.  We LOVE enchiladas.  This recipe has all the yum of enchiladas without having to dip, fill and roll.  In addition it is delicious!  We've added it to a regular rotation and enjoy making additions, substitutions and the like depending on what we have on hand and what sounds good.

So have the whole enchilada with this casserole tonight!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole  
* Adapted from Pinch of Yum food blog         

Ingredients:   

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 15-20 oz can of enchilada sauce (or make your own, but that is NOT minimal or easy)
  • 2 cups of shredded cheese (I really enjoy medium cheddar on this!)
  • 6-8 whole wheat flour tortillas (the size of the tortilla will determine the number you need)
  • 1 can of refried beans (We prefer refried black beans.)
  • 1 handful chopped cilantro
  • 2-3 diced green onions  (optional, but a really great addition)


Method:

  1. Cook and shred the chicken.  You can boil it or bake it.  Make sure if you bake it to use a pan with a lid and have plenty of water in the pan so the chicken doesn't become tough.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spread a couple spoonfuls of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X9 (or so) baking dish.
  3. Place two tortillas at the bottom of the dish.  You can overlap them to cover the entire surface.  Then layer beans, chicken, cheese, cilantro, onions, sauce, and tortillas, then repeat once.  This will make 2 layers.      
    • Make sure to keep some sauce and cheese to finish off the top of the casserole.
  4. Cover the top of the casserole with the remaining sauce and cheese 
  5. Bake for 35-40 minutes - golden brown and bubbling is what you want to see when you look in at it.
  6. Let the casserole rest for about 15 minutes once you remove it from the oven.  You can also garnish with green onions and cilantro at this point.