Finally getting back to my standard Cooking Light recipes. It had been too long. This was pretty straight forward. It had a jambalaya feel to it, but it was more of a dumbed down version of it. The main sauce is made by combining jar pasta sauce and chicken broth. This definitely tasted good, but it didn’t leave me raving.
RECIPES:
Our friend’s, Lindsey and Steve, had us over for dinner and nachos was the on the menu. You’re probably thinking, “Nachos for dinner? That’s it?” Well, knowing Lindsey’s cooking skills, that didn’t even cross our minds, because we knew it wouldn’t be just regular nachos. And she never disappoints.
She made a homemade guacamole dip with red onions, cherry tomatoes, fresh garlic, garlic salt, and sour cream. Whoa, that was some good stuff. And then the nachos had taco seasoned ground turkey, black olives, salsa, tomatoes, red onions, and a homemade cheese sauce. And let me tell you, this was not melted Velveeta. I’ve never had a homemade cheese sauce like this. It wasn’t like that cheese sauce at the ball park, this was real cheese. So rich and flavorful. She also made homemade “Brenda’s Chocolate Chip Cookies” with chocolate chips, dried cherries, walnuts, rolled oats, and two sticks of butter. I couldn’t partake in the cookies, but I have some chilling in the freezer until Easter.
Homemade cheese sauce, guacamole, cookies, and some St. Patty’s Day Killian’s followed by dance battles on the XBox Kinect system proved to be the recipe for an awesome evening.
RECIPES:
Homemade Nacho Cheese Sauce
1 1/2 tbs butter
1 tbs corn starch
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tbs paprika
1 ounce cream creese
1 cup sharp cheddar
1/8 cup jack cheese
hot sauce to taste
Lindsey’s adjustments: For the cheese, use the Mexican Pepper Cheddar blend, and also use straight Pepper Jack and a three Cheddar Blend… This will give you a very “nacho-y cheese” taste. Also, use about 1/4 tsp of chipotle pepper powder – based on how much heat you like. That will give a little bit of spicy smokiness.
Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the cornstarch. Let this cook together for about a minute, and then whisk in your milk. Once the milk is warmed up, before it comes to a boil, throw in your cream cheese and whisk until blended. Then whisk in your paprika, and start whisking in your cheese. Put the cheese in a little at a time, keep checking for consistency. Lower your heat to low at this point… Continue putting more cheese in, and continue whisking, the consistency should be getting thick by now. You might want to splash in a little more milk. Whisk in your chipotle powder and splash in some hot sauce.
We got real Ramen noodles from Aya’s mom the other day. Sliced pork, cabbage, carrots, onions, and a hard boiled egg are staples to accompany the noodles and broth. Always a filling dish.
For being just a salad, there was a lot to chew on with this. Literally. Between the dried cranberries, candied walnuts, blue cheese, hard boiled egg, and chicken, it was hard to get bored with this.
It’s been awhile since I’ve made anything noteworthy in the kitchen.It’s been a lot of mooching dinner from my folks, jar pasta sauce, and boxed mac n cheese. Not my usual routine. So it felt good to get back into the game with this Pakistani dish. I got this recipe from a friend so I could branch out of my comfort zone. So good, and not nearly as difficult as I first thought. I can’t wait to make this one again!
RECIPES:
Chicken Curry
8 pieces of chicken (legs, thighs, whatever you like) (I used 3 chicken breasts)
1 small onion sliced
1 cardamom or 1/8 tsp cardamom seed
2 cloves
3 tbsp cilantro leaves chopped
2 tbsp coconut flakes
1/2 in. of a cinnamon stick
3/4 tsp red chile powder
1/2 tsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp salt
3 heaping tbsp yogurt
In a medium sized pot (probably like, 5 qt?) brown half of the onions in canola oil.
Take the browned onions, the raw onions, cardomom, cloves, cilantro leaves, coconut flakes and cinnamon and blend them together.
Heat more oil (I’d say like… 1/4 cup?) in the medium sized pot, then add the blender mixture into that. Add in the chile powder, coriander powder, salt, garlic, and ginger. Stir together over medium heat and cook in a covered pot until the oil separates from the spices (I’d say about 3-5 minutes)
Add the yogurt, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken pieces, cook for 3-5 minutes in a covered pot until the chicken starts to look a little bit white.
Add 1 cup of water and cook for 20-30 minutes in a covered pot. (Since I didn’t have dark meat with bones, I used chicken broth instead of water. I cooked it for about 45 minutes, with the lid off for the second half.)
