I haven't updated the blog with a new recipe lately because there's been a lot of this going on lately:
The Littlest One is climbing the stairs, and sliding down on his belly!
Not to mention this!
The Mad Scientist is working on doing some extensive home repair! Thankfully, the bathroom is now complete :)
And having to make this...
Yes, that is mold growing in our grout lines, and on our shower floor.
Into this! (Do you require power tools to clean your shower, because we do.)
Okay, so it's not picture perfect, but at least I don't need a shower after my shower.
In the midst of all this craziness, I'm still trying to maintain my sanity, work, and write cookbook reviews! Needless to say, I'm looking for simple, easy, and delicious ideas that will get me from fridge to table a little faster. While a cookbook is great for planning out meals, and trying complex new recipes, I find that winging it gets dinner to the table a little faster. Enter this BBQ Chicken Pasta Bake. This recipe is basically a new spin on Baked Ziti, which was one of the first dishes I learned how to cook without a recipe. It's a super simple recipe if you've got leftover chicken on hand (which I always do lately due to my obsession with beer can chicken.) You've got tender pasta, ooey gooey cheese, virtuous vegetables, juicy flavorful chicken and tangy barbecue sauce. In less than ten minutes of time, you've got dinner in the oven, and you can get back to life- like wiping the boogers off of your son's face.
So, if you need a recipe when life comes knocking, try out this BBQ Chicken Pasta Bake.
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BBQ Chicken Pasta Bake
by Hannah Rounds June-4-2014
Just about the easiest meal you will make this week :) BBQ Chicken, pasta, veggies, cheese sprinkled with cilantro and a dash of love.
Ingredients
12 Oz Penne Pasta
2 Cups Shredded Chicken
1 Cup Bell Peppers Chopped
1/2 Red Onion Chopped
6 oz Grape Tomatoes Diced
4 oz Colby Jack Cheese Shredded
1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce
1/4 Cup Cilantro
Instructions
1. Boil Pasta according to package instructions minus one minute (pasta should be very al dente). Meanwhile pre-heat your oven to 3502. Mix thoroughly Pasta, vegetables, chicken and bbq sauce. You may want to add more or less bbq sauce to suit your tastes.3. Pour pasta mixture into an 8X8 glass baking pan, and top with a generous layer of cheese4. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 until cheese is just starting to become brown. Pasta will be tender, and everything will be delicious.5. Top with fresh cilantro to serve.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 4 Servings
Proving once again, that Britain may have turned a culinary page, I introduce you to the creamy, scrumptious bowl of curry goodness... Chicken Tikka Masala.
I used to think that movies/TV and other non-reading media were horrible methods for learning, then the internet happened. It turns out that you can learn a lot from the TV, as long as you are paying attention. The reason I never paid attention was that "educational" TV is boring. However, food shows are very interesting! For example, several months back I learned about the curry tradition in Great Britain from watching The Supersizers on Hulu. It turns out that despite the British tradition of making just horrible foods for literally centuries the Indians have been trying to fix Britain's palate one dish at a time. Thank goodness for India is all I have to say. Recently, Great Britain actually named their national dish to be Chicken Tikka Masala, which is only a little ridiculous considering it definitely was not developed in Jolly Old England, but they do consume a lot of curry dishes there and Madhur Jaffrey started a decidedly British curry revolution. Whether this falls into the category of Faux-Indian or just Indian food, Chicken Tikka Masala is one of the easiest, most scrumptious, velvety pile of tantalizingly spicy goodness that you will ever have the pleasure of eating. Honestly, this is not a spicy dish, but it is aromatic. The spices and flavors have the power to transport you to your happy place, where nothing can interrupt quality time with a bowl of Yum!, Chicken Tikka Masala's texture is velvety, almost creamy. And when the whole thing is piled high on a bed of basmati rice and topped with cilantro, you know that things don't get a whole lot better this side of heaven. Traditionally Tikkas are cooked in a Tandoor, but I have been working with this recipe from Foodie with Family for two or three years now, and I think the crockpot method is the best method that I've come across. Despite the fact that the crockpot does most of the work, this is still a bit of a time consuming dish, so be sure to set aside a bit of prep time and don't just plop everything in the crock pot and hope everything comes out all right. I've never gone wrong with this dish, make it and love it today.
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Chicken Tikka Masala
by Hannah Rounds May-5-2014
A scrumptious, velvety smooth, tomato and chicken curry, made easier by some love from the crock pot.
Ingredients
8 Thighs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs- Diced into 1/4" pieces
1 Cup Full Fat Greek Yogurt
2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Coriander
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon Allspice
1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
1 Teaspoon Tumeric
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Medium White Onion- Diced
6 Cloves Garlic - Pressed
2-3" Fresh Ginger Grated
24 Ounces Crushed Tomatoes
1 Jalapeno- Finely Diced
2 Tablespoons Sugar
3/4 Cup Half and Half or Cream
2 Teaspoons Corn Starch
5 Tablespoons Butter
Instructions
1. Mix yogurt and all spices2. Marinate chicken in yogurt mixture for at least 30 minutes3. Melt butter, then brown chicken4. Add chicken/butter mixture to a crockpot along with all remaining ingredients except half and half and cornstarch.5. Cook on low for 5-6 hours, then add half and half and cornstarch6. Cook on low for another 45 minutes then serve with rice, peas and cilantro
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 6 Servings
A few months back, I met a lady named Princess. I like this lady's mama; she had no qualms letting the world know that her daughter would be a complete diva! To be fair, Princess is not a diva in the Kim Kardashian sense of the word, but she is confident and very funny, and we share a mutual love of food. Our first conversation was about kale. She and I had both recently converted to kale, and I mentioned that my favorite method to consume kale was in a kale salad, and she said, "Uh uh... kale is just too chewy for a salad." I worked her through my recipe for delicious kale, but she seemed unconvinced. However, last Sunday in church (the service had already started), I felt a tug on my arm. "I had kale salad," she whispered, "it was good." Double thumbs up. Unlike most people who grew up attending church, I never mastered the just loud enough whisper, so I gave an awkward smile and returned the double thumbs up. Apparently my attempt to communicate my happiness was not sufficient because after the service, Princess sought me out, and said again, "Did you know that now I really love Kale salad. I've eaten it every day this week. I used your recipe!" "Yeah, you told me about thirty minutes ago. That's awesome! I'm glad to have a kale salad buddy." "Okay, I thought you might be mad because your face looked all scrunchy when I told you." ...Awkward pause... "So, frisbee tonight?" Now, while I tell you about this kale salad, I want you to not picture my face. Because I think if you do that, you will be more likely to try it, and you will not regret the decision to eat more kale. The kale is crisp and cool, and covered in a tangy, sweet coleslaw dressing. Then the salad is piled high with sweet crunchy goodies like cucumbers and apples, and little tart but chewy bits of craisins and raisins. Finally the whole thing is topped with zingy red onions and a generous crumble of feta cheese. And since I made it a meal, I threw on a little bit of shredded chicken which launched the whole thing past the outer atmosphere of healthy delicious and into zero gravity delicious. How can you resist it? You cannot, and you should not because you will feel great eating this. I can feel my skin getting clearer already. What's that stop talking and just give me the recipe? Okay, but first, a picture of Littlest who preferred playing with the garden hose to eating even a single element of this salad.
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Kale Salad
by Hannah Rounds April-30-2014
A delicious and healthy entree salad that is loaded with all kinds of salad goodies.
Ingredients
1/4 cup Mayo
2 Teaspoons Red Wine Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Sugar
3 cups Kale- washed and cut into bite size pieces
1 Apple- Diced
1/2 Cucumber- Thinly sliced
1/2 Red Onion- Thinly Sliced
1/2 Tablespoon Raisins
1/2 Tablespoon Craisins
4 Tablespoons Feta Cheese
1 Cup Shredded Chicken
Instructions
1. Whisk together mayo, vinegar and sugar2. Toss dressing and kale3. Add the other ingredients and eat immediately
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 2 Servings
When you make the broth yourself, Ramen is still delicious, and it won't kill you!
Do you ever have a crystal clear partial memory? Where you remember a certain detail vividly and you remember exactly 0% of the context? That happens to me a lot. I have no idea why my brain latches on to certain minutia, but it does, and today you will get learn about a detail that I remember from seven years ago. I was in my Freshman Residence Hall, but in the basement. I smelled something funny (this is not unusual since it was a male hall with no natural ventilation) and I followed my nose to an athlete whose name/sport I never knew, and I told him "Your room smells atrocious." He looked at me and said, "I made ramen with Gatorade for the carbs and electrolytes, but it was gross, so I poured it down the sink." I glanced into his sink from across the room, saw a pile of ramen noodles and some yellowish residue (probably the gatorade powder). That's the end of my memory, but this incident had such a profound effect on me that I did not eat ramen for my entire college career. Why would you put Gatorade powder in your Ramen, are you really that desperate for electrolytes, or just dumb? After college, I didn't eat Ramen either because I became independently wealthy and can afford to spend more than $.12 per meal. However, a few weeks back I saw this blog post from Buttered Side Up, and I was inspired to give Homemade Ramen a try. The soup has to be called Semi-homemade because I didn't make the noodles, I don't think I would ever attempt that sort of thing. I was hoping to be fancy and use soba noodles, but Food Lion and Aldi don't carry those things, so plain ramen it was. Now, you can eat Ramen any way you please, but if you don't want to kill yourself, repeat this mantra, "I will throw away the seasoning packet." The reason that this Ramen Soup is so flavorful and delicious is that I substitute high quality homemade chicken broth for MSG. The components of this soup are extremely easy, chicken broth (spiked with fish sauce), vegetables, chicken (in Penzey's Sate Seasoning) and boiled eggs, but the flavor will blow you away. Combining both chicken broth and fish sauce makes this almost a mock pho (not quite that deep of a flavor, but close), and I wish I would have had jalapenos, thai basil, and bean sprouts to throw in. Almost any broth would work, and I hope to make this again soon with a pork based broth. Typically when I eat broth based soups, I think, "Good appetizer, where's dinner?" But this soup is so full of goodies (and protein) that it actually filled me up. Going forward, I won't think of this a soup but as warm hug for my belly. It's the perfect antidote to spring rain, and almost delicious enough to make me forget about Gatorade Ramen... almost.
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Semi-homemade Ramen Soup
by Hannah Rounds April-24-2014
This ramen soup is a delicious way to get your noodle fix, and as a bonus, it won't kill you :)
Ingredients
3 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Tablespoon Sriracha
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1/2 White onion thinly sliced
3 Stalks Celery julienned
2 Carrot juilenned
3 Chicken Thighs diced
1/2 Tablespoon Penzey's Sate Seasoning
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Cup Kale sliced into bite size pieces, stalks removed
2 Packages Ramen Noodles
3 (or 6) Boiled Eggs
1/8 bunch Cilantro
Instructions
1.Add chicken broth, fish sauce, sriracha, celery, carrots and onion to a pot with plenty of extra room. Bring pot to a slow boil. If you haven't boiled your eggs yet, you can actually do it in this pot if you want.2. Cover chicken in seasoning then heat olive oil in a large frying pan and cook chicken over high heat until chicken is completely cooked (5-7 minutes)3. When the chicken is done cooking, add ramen noodles and kale to your broth and allow broth to continue to boil for 3 minutes.4. Serve ramen in a bowl and top with chicken, boiled eggs and cilantro.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 3 Servings
When leftovers get married and have a baby, its chicken fried couscous.
These fancy frugal foodie posts are not very popular. I think it's because the pictures always look pretty bad, but the pictures look bad because I make this food later at night and out of leftovers, so my lighting isn't as good and the colors are never as vibrant, but the food is good, so I will share on. If ever become a great photographer, this won't be an issue anymore.
Now that the needless self-deprecation is out of the way, I will tell the six of you who are still reading an amusing story about grocery shopping during our early marriage.
Before we ever met, the Mad Scientist was a mad couponer. He even subscribed to a coupon matching service that would help you figure out which coupons to print, which to clip and where to shop. Coupons tend to be for processed foods and hygiene products both of which I tend to avoid (kidding); this means that even the best couponers have to supplement their stockpiles with things like produce, meat, and herbs and spices (the savvy couponers get these on sale with same as cash store coupons).
This is not a story about coupons, but about grocery shopping, so I digress. Usually when it came time to do our weekly grocery shopping, the Mad Scientist made a list of items to buy for pennies on the dollar at three different grocery stores, and I skimmed the weekly circulars and mentally made a meal plan with virtually no consideration for the things the Mad Scientist purchased.
Over time, our stockpile grew quite large, and we were not eating very much of it (except the cereal. We were making our way through that at pretty good clip). This large stockpile of food grew and grew, much to my dissatisfaction, but being both female and of Scandanavian descent I thought a passive aggressive approach would lead my husband to quit stockpiling (marriage tip- this is not helpful).
So to send the message that we should quit stockpiling since we really aren't preppers (and if you are don't you think this should have come up in pre-marital counseling), I decided to start a stockpile of my own. I guess my intention was to fight fire with fire.
Unfortunately my frugal nature would not allow me to commit to heavily to this plan, so on the first round, I bought an extra head of broccoli, and a twenty pound bag of couscous which I had never tasted before. I will also allow that even at the time my decision seemed ridiculous, but passive aggression can make a person do some strange things.
That night, I made couscous for the first time - it was gross, and the flood gates of emotion opened.
"I bought twenty pounds of couscous because I don't like macaroni and cheese or brownies," I blubbered. "And I don't know any recipes for sweetened condensed milk, and cereal is not a healthy breakfast choice, and I am so sorry that I bought couscous to make you feel bad, and now I hate couscous."
Needless to say, the Mad Scientist stared in bewilderment as I cried about about the fact that I didn't like couscous, and he couldn't quite make the connection to why couscous might make him feel guilty, but he forgave me. We talked through my feelings, and over the next few weeks, we ate through a lot of the stockpile; we ate through all but the couscous.
That bag of couscous has remained in our marriage for over two years, and has largely been untouched until now!
After running out of basmati rice, I committed to using up the couscous before buying more rice, and so I bring to you Chicken Fried Couscous. Not only does this recipe use up an ingredient that I am not overly fond of, but it also utilizes leftovers. A double frugal win! Best of all, it tastes great! Its reminiscent of fried rice, but the unique pearly texture of couscous yields a slightly different flavor profile. Even Littlest enjoyed it!
Chicken Fried Couscous
by Hannah Rounds
Using up leftovers and couscous in one recipe, and it tastes amazing! You can substitute for almost any veggies or protein you would like.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 2 Servings
Ingredients
1 Cup Couscous
2 Cups Chicken Broth
3 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/2 Large White Onion- Chopped
3 Garlic Cloves- Minced
2 Carrots- peeled and diced
3/4 Cup Broccoli- chopped
1/2 Cup Mushrooms- Sliced
1/3 Cup Frozen Corn
1 Cup Cooked Chicken- diced
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Sesame Seeds
Instructions
1. Cook the couscous in the chicken broth until all the broth is absorbed (this takes less than five minutes) 2. In a large frying pan or wok, heat the oil to a high temperature then add onion, garlic, carrots, sesame seeds and broccoli, stir frequently for 3-4 minutes 3. Add mushrooms, soy sauce (any additional seasonings as well), corn and chicken and cook 2-3 additional minutes 4. Make a large well in your crockpot and crack egg into it. Scramble the egg, and slowly incorporate into the couscous mixture. 5. Serve with your fried rice favorites (Soy Sauce, Sriracha, cilantro, green onion, etc.)
Anybody who knows the Mad Scientist knows that he secretly loves little home improvement projects. Not the enormous projects that take weeks and months to plan, but the perfect wall hanging, a small herb garden or fixing the garbage disposal are right up his alley. The funny thing about the Mad Scientist is that he doesn't leave his science at the lab; he approaches these DIY projects with exactitude.
Last week, the Mad Scientist decided that it was time to fix the Garbage disposal. While Littlest and I spent the morning in the office scoping requirements for a work related project (well, that's what I was doing, Littlest was taking hotel shampoos and conditioners in and out of a Tupperware container), The Mad Scientist was literally re-doing our plumbing.
Based on the Mad Scientists calculations, the only way to achieve an efficient garbage disposal and under sink fung shui was to re do all the things. It took him about eight hours, but we have the world's best garbage disposal. It is quiet; it grinds quickly; it's amazing. I told Mad Scientist that I would put a picture on this blog, but to be honest, he doesn't read it, and I think a garbage disposal is boring, so I will put a more beautiful DIY picture on my blog.
This is a wall sconce in our living room. Isn't it beautiful? I was hoping to also post a picture of Littlest today, but he was very wiggly, so no pictures for you.
You may be wondering how all this DIY talk relates to food? Well, my connections have always been tenuous at best, but this is the meal that we ate the night that the Mad Scientist fixed the garbage disposal, and about 200 other times.
Beer marinated chicken sandwiches (and the accompanying sauce) is probably the food that my friends associate with my mom. This is the food we ate almost weekly growing up, and we ate it for every large group event ever hosted at our house in the summer. The chicken is unbelievably moist and flavorful. The combination of beer and ginger gives the chicken a rich almost citrus like flavor, and this sauce is the stuff of legends. Nobody knows why its so good, but everybody loves it!
Get ready to enjoy this mind blowingly simple and tasty meal.
Beer Marinated Chicken
By Mary Decker
These are the best grilled chicken sandwiches in the whole world. My mom made these all the time in the summer.
1. Marinate chicken in a covered container in your refrigerator in a mixture of beer, soy sauce, ginger and pepper overnight (12-24 hours) 2. Grill chicken for 4-5 minutes per side (longer if using breasts rather than thighs) or bake at 450 for 20 minutes 3. Mix Mayo, mustard, Worcestershire and Green Onion in a dish and allow people to make sandwiches with sauce, chicken and sandwich buns.
Do you remember Flamin' Hot Funyans?" the Mad Scientist asked as we continued a three day long conversation about whether it was the advent of having our own child, or our unwillingess to buy a TV that is making us old. Thankfully, reliable Wikipedia taught me that Funyans predate both of us, but here's a list of 25 Snacks that date me. These days the kids are drinking Lemonade Brisk not surge, and they are eating Hot Cheetos and Takis rather than 3D Doritos. If you don't know about Hot Cheetos and Takis here's a YouTube video that went viral last summer.
I thought becoming an old person would be difficult, but here's a list of five things that I don't mind leaving in the past:
Even though I was an awkward teenage in the 2000s, I love that the decade made the world a lot smaller place, and I survived to become the work in progress that I am today. Because of the turn of the century decade, I can sit in my house today and learn about other people and other cultures from my computer. However, culture is meant to be experienced not Googled which is one reason that I am learning to cook. I want to travel and eat out and experience culture, but bedtime is 7:30PM around here, so this at least somewhat authentic recipe is a great option for the housebound adult.
This Tandoori Chicken is a flavor explosion (obviously, there are about 15 different spices), that marinates overnight and bakes to perfection. I always thought Indian food was difficult to make, but now I realize that you just need a lot of aromatics which I had on hand anyhow. I hope you take the time to make this recipe because you will not regret it.
Tandoori Chicken
by Hannah Rounds
This classic Indian meal is one of the easiest ways to make chicken night something to look forward to
Ingredients:
2 Chicken Quarters (skin on)
1/2 C Greek Yogurt
1/2 Lemon worth Lemon Juice
5 Cloves Garlic- Minced
2" Freshly grated Ginger
1/2 Yellow Onion- Minced
1T Cumin
1t Coriander
1t Cayenne Pepper
1t Cinnamon
1t Nutmeg
1t Allspice
1t Paprika
1/2T Chili Powder
2t Salt
Instructions
1. Combine yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, onions, ginger and all spices in a bowl 2. Poke chicken in several places with a fork or knife (this allows full marination) 3. Thickly layer yogurt mixture over chicken in a dish, cover and marinate overnight 4. Bake at 450 for 45 minutes. Check that chicken is completely done before eating 5. Service with rice, red onion, cilantro and lemon
