recipes

Now that we've settled back in at home, in the spirit of weekly meal planning (which we messed up by ordering pizza on Monday, it's amazing how many things I eat now that I wouldn't touch before, like anchovies on pizza):

I searched the web and found a few recipes for massaman curry, picked out this one because it seemed simple and concise, and then preceded to change it up a bit since I couldn't find tamarind or curry paste at the Mexican market.

I am getting pretty good at changing and tweaking recipes, even though I usually am a by-the-book kind of person. Anyway, my chicken peanut/massaman curry (can you still call it curry if you leave out the curry paste?) came out really good, and was really easy, and here is how I made it last night:

3 large baking potatoes

3 large carrots

1/2 large yellow onion

2 cans coconut milk

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 c. skinless boneless chicken breast (eeww!)

Ginger

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. fish sauce

1/3 c. peanut butter, creamy (one giant spoonful)

2/3 cups peanut halves (I forgot them, but I think it would have been better with them)

A Taste of Thai peanut sauce mix (I used both packets, but next time would only use one.)

1 Tbsp. lime juice

1. Peel and cube 3 large baking potatoes, peel and thickly slice 3 large carrots, cut 1/2 a large yellow onion in really thick slices. Put all this in a big pot on medium heat with 2 cans coconut milk.
2. Cut up about 3/4 pound of chicken breast tenders into tiny pieces. (Omg, this is so disgusting, I hate touching raw meat, especially chicken, and I wound up throwing about half away because of the really gross white stuff running through it, eewww.) Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add chicken, sprinkle with ginger, and cook 5-8 minutes.
3. Add everything else (except lime juice!) to big pot and stir. Pour in chicken (and oil) from skillet. Add more sprinkles of ginger. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer. Cook 20 minutes or so until potatoes and carrots are soft, stirring often. Add lime juice, cook 5 more minutes.
4. Make some rice while you are cooking the curry. This is the first time I've successfully made (instant) rice. I think the trick is making sure it is really, really boiling, not just a few bubbles before you turn off the heat, and not opening the lid for anything.

This made enough for 4 people, or 2 people and leftovers. It tasted way better than it looked:

I'm so glad it's fall. This morning I made, pumpkin spice lattes from this recipe, that were supposed to taste just like Starbucks, but totally didn't, and pumpkin honey walnut muffins that are so, so good, moist and delicious. I got the recipe here last fall, but this is how I make them (with way more pumpkin!):

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

15 oz. canned pumpkin

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. honey

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1/4 c. self-rising flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center, and put in eggs, pumpkin, oil and honey. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. Add self-rising flour and stir in along with the walnuts. Spoon into muffin cups.
3. Bake for 18-20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.

Happy October!