Coconut Chicken

Slightly spicy with thick creamy sauce, yum! And quite easy to make too. Recipe adapted from Indian Food and Folklore.

Ingredients:

14.5 oz (400 ml) coconut milk
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teasoon turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
~ 200 g mushrooms
1 lb (450 g) chicken pieces, skinned
2 tablespoons oil

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pan and brown the chicken pieces.
Add mushrooms.
Add the coconut milk and all spices.
Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 30 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Sweet Salami

A childhood favorite from socialist times. Recipe from my mom :).

Ingredients:

100 g butter, room temperature
250 g sugar
75 g powdered cocoa
200 g walnuts
250 g graham crackers (cookies, biscuits or whatever those are called in your part of the world)
2 eggs

Directions:

Beat butter, sugar and cocoa together.
Dice walnuts, crush crackers, making sure there are a few larger pieces in there.
Add walnuts and crackers to butter mix.
Beat eggs and stir them in.
Put the sticky mess on a piece of wrapping foil and form it into a roll.
Cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.
Store in fridge.

Ham and Cheddar Soup

Very delicious :). From here.

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed potatoes
1/2 cup sliced carrot
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup frozen peas
3 cups water
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed ham
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put carrots, potatoes, peas and water in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are tender (10-15 minutes).
In a separate dish melt butter and whisk in the flour.
Stir in milk.
Bring to a boil, then simmer stirring continuously until the mix starts to thicken (about 2 minutes).
Add the grated cheese and stir until it melts.
Finally, add the ham and the vegetables with their water.
Bring to a boil again, then take off heat and enjoy.

Fake Sweet and Sour Pork

Sounds positively disgusting, and it's absolutely messy to eat but it's surprisingly good, especially considering the effort that goes into making it. The coke helps create a caramelly glaze and the vinegar in ketchup serves as a tenderizer.

Ingredients:

2 pork chops
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup coke

Directions:

Stir ketchup and coke together.
Poke steaks with a fork (or cut them into bitesize pieces), and cover with marinade.
Leave in fridge for about 2 hours.
Drain meat but reserve the marinade.
On high heat brown the meat for about 2 minutes per side.
Pour in the marinade, cover and simmer on low heat until meat is cooked through.
If you want more sauce, you can make more, just keep the ratio of coke to ketchup at 1:1.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Those are chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese middle - what's not to love about them :D. Recipe from the Joy of Baking website.

Ingredients (for 12):

For the cream cheese filling:
8 oz (227 g) cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup (65 g) white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (essence)

For the chocolate cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups (210 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (210 g) brown sugar
1/3 cup (30 g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed, and definitely not one of those hot cocoa mixes!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240 ml) water
1/3 cup (80 ml) unflavored vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).

For cream cheese filling:
Beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy and smooth.
Set aside.

For chocolate batter:
In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl mix the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients until smooth.

Divide the chocolate batter evenly among 12 oiled muffin cups.
Spoon a few tablespoons of the cream cheese filling into the center of each cupcake.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the cream cheese filling is a little brown and a toothpick inserted into the chocolate part of the cupcake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Egg and Cheese Turnovers

Turnovers are my signature dish for potlucks. They are always very popular, if I do say so myself :).

Ingredients:

1 lb (450 g) puff pastry sheets
1 egg
200 g feta cheese

Directions:

Beat egg.
Crumble feta cheese into beaten egg.
Stir with a fork until you have a homogenous thick mixture.

Take out puff pastry sheet(s).
Cut pastry sheet into 12 2-inch x 4-inch (5 cm x 10 cm) rectangles.
Put one teaspoon of filling on one side of each recrangle.
Flip the other side of the rectangle over the filling and seal the edges with a little bit of water.
Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
Arrange turnovers on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 F/190 C for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Homemade Pizza Crust

Yeah, yeah, there are places like Domino's, that deliver 24-7, and there are places like Little Caesars, that sell a large pizza for $5 but homemade pizza is always better :).

I don't remember where I jacked the recipe from but it's good! The crust is thin but firm enough to hold the toppings, and the work put in is no more than 10 minutes, though you do have to wait for it to rise.

Ingredients for one large crust:

2 cups (250 g) flour
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
1 egg
4 tablespoons oil
2/3 teaspoon yeast

Directions:

Stir the yeast and a pinch of sugar into the milk, beat the egg and mix it into the milk and yeast.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix to form soft dough.
Cover with a towel and let dough rise in a warm spot for about 30 min.
*Or*
Use the pizza setting on your bread maker. Mine is 45 minutes long.

When dough is done, preheat oven to 500 F (250 C).
Put a dab of oil on your hands, form the dough ball into a flat disk, put it in onto a pizza pan and stretch it so it so it covers the whole pan.
Cover crust with your favorite pasta sauce (or spray it with oil), otherwise it gets too dry.
Layer your favorite ingredients.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Mexican Rice

Vegetarian times had an entire Mexican meal spread in their March magazine (which I just got) and I went ahead and made it. Everything was good but the Mexican Rice was especially good. I thought I'd share it, plus it looked so pretty when it was done.

Ingredients:
1 tbs. olive oil
1 cup instant brown rice
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
8 green onions, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced (1 tbs.)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbs. tomato paste
12 ounces or a can of black beans (optional but recommended.)

Instructions:
1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice and saute 3 to 4 minutes or until beginning to brown. Add corn, peas, green onions, garlic, cumin and oregano, saute 1 minute.
2. Spoon tomato paste in 2-cup measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to make 2 cups and stir to combine. Pour tomato paste mixture into rice and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 15 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, add black beans if desired and fluff with fork.

The rest of the meal can be found in these links. I recommend the tacos but warn that if the slaw is made...beware. It's beyond spicy. :-D

Chickpea Tacos
Spicy Orange Slaw - If you don't like spicy foods I recommend skipping the cayenne pepper altogether. It's really good but incredibly spicy.
In-a-pinch Profiteroles - fantastically good. Ice-cream with a coating and chocolate sauce.

Chicken Curry

Recipe from Indian Food and Folklore.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain yogurt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teasoon turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 lb (450 g) chicken pieces, skinned
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons oil

Directions:

Place yogurt, garlic and all spices in a large bowl and mix well.
Add the chicken pieces and toss to cover with yogurt mixture.
Cover and leave to marinade for at least 4 hours.

Heat the oil in a pan.
Add the onion and fry until golden.
Add the chicken and the marinade.
Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for about 30 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Microwaved Instant Enchiladas

Original Recipe Here:

This is so good. This is beyond good. I was unable to contact to the 'net when I made it, so this is how I did it:

Ingredients:
- Refried Beans (they said fat-free. We're not wusses. Okay...so I forgot...)
- Cheese if you want
- Black Olives
- Tortillas
- Spinach
- Frozen Corn

Instructions:
- I took a plastic container out of the cupboard
- I ripped a tortilla into pieces and put it on the bottom.
- I spooned a good amount of salsa on it.
- I topped it with frozen corn.
- I sprinkled cheese on it (bad me, but this was also for X's lunch)
- I ripped up another tortilla and put it on top.
- I spooned on refried beans
- I put on three or four LARGE pieces of spinach
- I sprinkled a little bit more cheese
- Put on another layer salsa
- topped it with the tortillas
- X dumped WAAAAY too much cheese on top (that made it even yummier but STILL), then the olives)
- I covered the container with plastic wrap
- As it was a large container I nuked it (microwaved it) for 4 minutes.
- We ate.
- And it was good.

Black-Jack Quesadillas

These are so, so, so good - and pretty good for you.

Ingredients:
- 16 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained (unless you're like me and prefer to use dried. If you use dried beans you must soak them overnight, then cook for 45 minutes. I normally do large batches of different beans and keep them in the fridge through the week)
- Banana peppers (use to taste, about three per quesadilla)
- 8 oz. package shredded cheese
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1/2 cup salsa

Instructions:
- Dump the beans into a bowl and mash to a pulp.
- Stir in the peppers, salsa, and oregano.
- Cover a tortilla with the mixture, add cheese to the top, top with another tortilla and cook until golden in a large skillet with little to no oil.

These are incredibly filling - I was unable to finish mine.

Spinach, Tomatoes and Chickpeas

I'm a big lover of "frying pan" dishes - dishes where you just dump various items into a frying pan with olive oil and garlic, then simmer. They're particularly good when you haven't a lot in your kitchen and you really want food. (We never have prepared foods in the ho use)

This one turned out quite good, so I thought I'd share it.

Ingredients:

• Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans - A cup to a cup and a half. You can use a can (15.5 ounces is the normal amount in the US).
• Spinach - Four or five handfuls, six if you have small hands. This isn't an exact measurement, but keep in mind that spinach shrinks when it's cooked. It may look like a huge amount when you place it in fresh, but it will quickly change. If you want to measure then use four cups.
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 Can (15.5 ounces) of diced tomatoes.
• three or four garlic cloves
• 3 tsp. of oregano or curry, if you prefer that
  

Instructions:

• Heat olive oil in large frying pan, add in garlic. Simmer until garlic is fragrant.
  
• Add in the tomatoes and garbanzo beans (if you're using raw make sure they're cooked first), then the spinach.
• Stir well, sautée for 10 minutes or until spinach is wilted throughly.

It's very good and filling, plus you can't get get simpler than this.