Indian Coconut-Curry Chicken Thighs

Just caught this one on the Podleski sister's facebook status one day, from their September 2012 newsletter and not from one of their Looneyspoon cookbooks.  I just made it, smells good...will have to give the taste review at a later time!

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
2 lbs (907 g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 ½ cups chopped onions
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp EACH freshly grated gingerroot, medium curry powder and Garam Masala (Say what? See tip below.)
1 can (14 oz/398 ml) light coconut milk
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp brown sugar (optional)
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups peeled and diced sweet potatoes
1 cup green peas (fresh or frozen)
2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro

Directions

You’ll need a large (12-inch) non-stick skillet with a lid for this recipe.
Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces and brown on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
To same skillet, add onions and garlic. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir until onions begin to soften, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add gingerroot, curry powder and garam masala. Mix well. Add coconut milk, tomato paste, brown sugar (if using) and salt. Cook and stir until mixture is bubbly and well blended. Stir in sweet potatoes. Return chicken pieces to skillet and spoon sauce over top. It won’t look very pretty at this point but hang in there. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in green peas and cook for 5 more minutes, just until peas are heated through. Stir in cilantro and serve hot.
Recipe Tip: If you’ve never tried Garam Masala spice blend, now’s your chance! It’s a highly aromatic blend of roasted, ground spices used in Indian cooking: coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and black peppercorns. We love it and you really must try it! Look for McCormick brand Garam Masala in the spice aisle of your grocery store. (You’ll also find it in just about any gourmet food shop.) Like really spicy food? Then add a pinch of cayenne pepper to this recipe.

Makes 4 to 5 servings

Per serving (based on 5 servings): 388 calories, 16 g total fat (6 g saturated fat), 39 g protein, 20 g carbohydrate, 3.7 g fiber, 151 mg cholesterol, 445 mg sodium

"Deceptively Delicious" Sloppy Joes

This is from Jessica Seinfield's "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook.  I used a sweet potato/squash puree and also added optional chopped carrots.  Meal Deals group requested an alternative to beef, chicken, or turkey, so used lean ground pork and veggie ground round for vegetarian option.  I served it on whole wheat hot dog buns as seam from hot dog bun "held" the filling in best!

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound lean ground turkey or sirloin
1/2 cup sweet potato puree
1/2 cup butternut squash or red pepper puree
raw, finely chopped carrots (optional)
1/2 cup reduced-fat low-sodium beef broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
8 whole-grain hamburger or hot-dog buns

Directions

1. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil. Add the onion, celery, and garlic, and cook until the onion starts to soften (not brown), 3 - 4 minutes.

2. Add the meat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, and cook until no longer pink, 4 - 5 minutes.

3. Add the vegetable purees, raw chopped carrots (if using), beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the liquid is reduced by about one-half, 15 - 20 minutes.

4. Spoon the mixture over buns and serve.

Serves 8

"Miss American Thighs" Chicken Thighs with Grape Jelly Sauce

A favourite at our house from the Looneyspoons cookbook.  Easy to assemble.  Made it this time with bone in thighs and removed skin before cooking.  Prefer the ease of using skinless boneless thighs.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup grape jelly
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup minced onions
2 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. dry mustard
3 lb. chicken thighs, skin removed

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small saucepan, stir together grape jelly, ketchup, onions, vinegar, and dry mustard. Heat over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a boil and jelly is melted. Remove from heat.

Arrange chicken pieces in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Pour sauce evenly over chicken and turn pieces to coat both sides. Bake uncovered for 1 hour, until chicken is very tender. Makes 4-6 servings.

Chicken (or Turkey!) Divan

This is my hubby's favorite recipe!  I think it is his favorite part of a big turkey dinner, knowing that we will have turkey divan the following day.  I first received this recipe from his mother and since then I have experimented with a few variations of this recipe from online sources, but this is probably the simplest and easiest version out there - and it tastes great, too!  It should be served over a bed of rice to make it a meal.

2 bunches cooked broccoli
4 cups of cubed, cooked chicken (or turkey)
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 cup of grated cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1 tbsp of butter

Cook broccoli and spread into a buttered casserole dish (I used Pam spray).  Top with turkey. Combine soup, mayo, lemon juice, curry powder and cheese.  Pour over meat.  Top with butter and bread crumbs.  Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.  Cut in squares to serve (I find it more soupy than dense, so we usually just scoop it out on our rice).

The vegetarian version substituted sauteed mushrooms for the chicken and cream of mushroom soup instead of chicken.  You could experiment with any cream soup and flavors you like.  This recipe didn't originally call for curry but I added it after trying another divan recipe that used curry, and really liked it!

Sundried Tomato Pesto Veggie Pizza (now that's a mouthful!)

This is one of my favourite homemade pizzas and I was happy when T suggested it for the next swap. It's really the pesto sauce that makes the difference. There's no recipe per se, but I'l walk through what I did.

So you'll need pizza dough and pizza sauce. I used the Kraft boxed set - dough, sauce, Parmesan cheese, spices.

Mozzarella cheese. About 1-1.5 cups. Depends on how cheesy you like it! I've had it with just the parm alone or with cheddar instead of mozza. All have been good.

Veggies - whatever you like. I find this mix has the best combo of flavors - fresh mushrooms (about 8 sliced), red, yellow, orange pepper (1/4 of each chopped), green onion (1 bunch chopped), 1/2 white onion chopped. I also really like artichoke hearts, but didn't use them this month because I wasn't sure how the kiddies in the families would take them. For the meat eaters of the group, chicken is the one to add.

The magic ingredient - About half a bottle of Classico Sundried Tomato Pesto.   It's usually on the top shelf with the pasta sauces. Small bottle. There's a straight up pesto one as well, but the sundried is better for the pizza. I've used more or less depending on the size of the pizza and amount of veggies. Essentially, you want them all well coated.

Make the dough according to the package. Once I have it in a nice ball, I usually let it sit in a covered bowl in a warm oven for 10-15 minutes. Spray pizza pan. Spread dough on a pan. Once I have it spread as much as I can, I put it back in the warm oven for 2-3 minutes and then take it out to finish spreading. The warmth makes it much more pliable.

Toss the veggies (chicken if you're going that way) and pesto together in a bowl.

Spread pizza sauce over dough.
Spread veggies over sauce.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over veggies.
Sprinkle spices over cheese.
Top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake according to the pizza box. I just check the dough to make sure it's doing ok. I imagine baking from frozen will need a little extra time. I didn't cook these pizzas before freezing them.