Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry

This one is awesome, just ask Hope.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
 ( I used minced ginger from the jar)
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp curry powder
1 bay leaf
1 ½ cups red lentils (Red lentils seem a bit hard to find so you might have to look at some sort of specialty store. They sell them near us at Wholesome Choice. Let me just tell you that red lentils are way better than your average lentils! You must give them a try to rid yourself of all your preconceived notions about this wonderful legume)

Directions:

1. In a saucepan or kettle, bring 3 ½ cups of water to a boil.

2. In a large saucepan over high heat, warm the oil. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens, and 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Add the sweet potato, ginger, garlic, curry powder and bay leaf and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in the boiling water and stir in the lentils. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the lentils break down and the sweet potatoes are tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Season with salt.

4. Serve with warm pita bread. Serves 4.

The second recipe also calls for sweet potatoes, so it would be smart to include both of these meals on your menu for the weeek.

Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups canned kidney beans, drained
2 cups water
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (suggest peeling then boiling the potatoes. Don’t microwave them like I did—it was a mess)
12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.

3. Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet.

4. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve.

I’ll tell you right now what made this dessert so delicious. One word. Butter. Butter in the crust. Butter in the filling. Butter in the crisp. Mmmmmm.

The recipe was my own concoction. A combination of a few recipes. Because I only had one pie crust, I improvised and used a crisp recipe for the top. And for the filling I used a recipe from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1-9 inch pie crust
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
8 Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored and sliced

Crisp Ingredients:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. Peel, core, and slice apples. Set aside in large mixing bowl.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in 3 tablespoons flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

Pour sauce mixture over apples and stir to combine. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, ground cloves, and nutmeg. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle crumble mixture over the apples.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350°. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Ingredients:

Tortillas (corn or flour work)
cooking spray
kosher salt or cinnamon & sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Using a pizza cutter, cut tortillas into triangles. Spread in single layer on baking sheet. Spray tortilla triangles with cooking spray. Sprinkle a pinch of salt (or cinnamon & sugar) over chips to taste.

Bake in oven 10 minutes or so until chips are golden brown and crispy.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh blackberries
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
(or 2 cups frozen mixed berries)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a medium bowl, gently toss together blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and white sugar; set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in butter until crumbly. Pour berries into baking dish. Sprinkle crumble mixture over the berries.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown.

A few nights ago Miles and I were craving baked goodies. I was craving brownies in particular. It was a strong urge and I came very close to making the trek to Albertson’s to buy a brownie mix. But I was so comfy in my jammies and I really didn’t want to leave the house. So instead I searched for a brownie recipe online. And I found a good one!  It was my first attempt at making brownies from scratch. And it turns out the homemade variety takes about the same amount of effort as the boxed. Less if you calculate the time it would take to run to the store.

These are not too cakey or fudgy. They’re just right. The recipe claims to yield 16 servings. Ha! I ate basically the whole pan by myself over 1 1/2 days (with a little help from Miles). They were awesome with cold milk, or served a la mode with blueberry ice cream. Oooh, they makes me smile!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2 oz a dark chocolate bar, chopped (optional)
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
 
In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in optional chopped chocolate, sugar, eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan. 

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

This week I bought bone-in chicken breasts on sale at Albertsons for $.99/lb. I made oven fried chicken and used the left over chicken in this recipe. It worked out perfectly. I threw it together during Link’s afternoon nap and had dinner ready by 5:00pm. I’ve been eating left-over chili everyday for lunch since. Mmmmmmm. In my mind it definitely beats a traditional chili.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs chicken, cooked and shredded
3 (15 oz) cans Great Nothern Beans, rinsed and drained
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 (4.5 oz) cans diced green chile peppers
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (can be the bottled variety)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Garnish with:

sour cream
avocado slices
shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips

Directions:

Place beans in a slow cooker; mash with a potato masher until beans become a thick soupy consistency. About 1/3 of the beans should remain whole.

Add chicken to beans in slow cooker. Stir in chicken broth, un-drained chile peppers, onion, cumin, garlic, ground red pepper, and salt.

Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours.

Garnish and serve.

Yields 6 main-dish servings.

Ingredients:

6 extra-large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 tablespoons very good cocoa powder
pinch of salt
2 cups milk
1-ounce very good semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

On medium-high speed, in electric mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment, beat egg yolks and sugar until light yellow and thick. On low speed, add cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring milk to a boil in a medium saucepan. With mixer on low, slowly pour hot milk into chocolate mixture. Combine well, then pour mixture back into the pan.

Cook mixture over low heat, stirring constantly with whisk until thickened. If mixture begins to curdle, remove from heat and beat vigorously with wire whisk. Remove pan from heat, add chocolate, butter, vanilla, and heavy cream. Mix until the chocolate and butter are melted.

Pour into serving bowls. Place plastic wrap directly on the top of the pudding, and chill thoroughly.

P.S. I don’t usually like fish or fish tacos. I guess those go hand in hand. But I loved these!

Ingredients:

4 frozen breaded fish fillets (cod or tilapia work best)
1 avocado, sliced
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup mango salsa (I used TJ’s fresh papaya and mango salsa)
4 corn or flour tortillas (we like flour, its the American in us)

Directions:

Bake fish according to directions on package. Warm tortillas on griddle (or in the microwave if you must). Layer taco with shredded cabbage, warm fish, avocado and salsa. That’s it baby!

I doubled the recipe and it served about 8-10 adults and a few kids. I think everyone had more than one glass.

6-7 lemons produce about a cup of juice. I used between 18-20 lemons.

It was really delicious by the way. We’re still sipping on it today at home, and I’d say it tastes better the second day.

1 3/4 cups white sugar
8 cups water
1 1/2 cups lemon juice

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained
and chopped
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the stuff in the green can works great)
3/4 cup mayonnaise (can substitute half of mayo with sour cream)
1 pinch garlic pepper (just used a little garlic and some freshly ground pepper)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a medium bowl, mix together the artichoke hearts, Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, and garlic pepper. Place chicken in a greased baking dish, and cover evenly with artichoke mixture.

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center and juices run clear.