Easy Chicken Sweet Potato Curry

Chicken Sweet Potato Curry

1 can coconut milk
2 T Thai red curry paste
2 T fish sauce
1 T soy sauce
2 T light brown sugar
1 lb diced sweet potato
1/2 cup toasted cashews
3 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
sea salt
1 white onion, diced
2 T dried basil (or fresh)

Spoon out some of the thicker part of the coconut milk (about 3 T) and heat in a pot.  Whisk in the red curry paste, and cook until fragrant and slightly darker.  Add the rest of the coconut milk, the fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, and 1 cup of water.  Stir well.  Add the sweet potato and cook about 8 minutes until softened.  Salt the chicken.  Add the chicken and the onion.  Cook about 5 minutes until the chicken is done.

Meanwhile, toast the cashews in a small pot over medium heat until dark in some spots (about 4 minutes).

Toss the cashews and basil into the dish just before serving.

What did you make for dinner last night?

Weekend

This weekend was pretty busy.  On Friday after work we had sandwiches and veggies before heading out on the town to run errands.

We were pretty tired and hungry when we were done, so we picked up take-out from Angkor.

On Saturday we were up early to eat a quick breakfast and then run around a bit more.

We later ate some leftovers for lunch, and I tried Christopher's sardines (which I haven't had since I was a kid).

Dinner was homemade spaghetti and meatballs, using Emeril's basic red sauce recipe.

We had a busy weekend, but we got a lot done.  Next weekend ... vacation!

How was your weekend?

Ham Dinner

On Tuesday we cooked a bone-in ham, which we enjoyed with hash brown casserole and salad.

This casserole is really easy, and I think most people have have some version of this.  Kid's love it, and although it is not healthy, it tastes good!

Hash Brown Casserole

2 lbs frozen hash browns
500 ml sour cream
2 cans mushroom soup
1/2 cup melted butter
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
parmesan cheese (to sprinkle on top)

Mix first 6 ingredients in a 9x13 casserole dish.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 F for 90 minutes.

We broiled the top for about 5 minutes to get it really browned, which added another dimension of flavour.

Then there's the ham ... ooooooooh boy!  I put some apple juice in the bottom of the roaster, rubbed the ham with brown sugar, stuck some cloves in the top, and cooked it for about 90 minutes at 350 F.  It was perfect:

All together now:

Have you made hash brown casserole?  Is your recipe similar?  What are you up to this weekend? 

Lamb Shawarma

On Monday evening we were feeling ambitious, and tackled a multi step recipe for shawarma that I saw in my Fine Cooking magazine.  

This recipe took a while to make and we followed it exactly. You can find the full recipe here.  Most of the ingredients are easy to find, or things that you'll have on hand, except the pomegranate molasses, which is an integral part of the dish.  Luckily, we randomly had pomegranate molasses in the cupboard; I got it in this food box back in March.  Nice!

We made pickled cabbage and dough on Sunday evening.  On Monday we seared, then braised a rack of lamb:

We also made yufka (Turkish flatbread) by rolling the dough very thinly and cooking it in a touch of oil.

Lastly, we made a tahini/Greek yogurt based sauce.  And we snacked on veggies with hummus because it seemed like the right thing to do ...

We assembled the shawarma, rolled them up, and then grilled them on one side to make them slightly crisp.

These were really tasty, but they were a lot of work, and we decided that if we wanted shawarma again, we'd probably just go to Regina Kebab House, because it's that good.

Do you like shawarma?  Have you made it before?

National Kale Day: Kale Sausage Soup

Today is National Kale Day!  I looooooove kale, and drink it in my smoothie most mornings during the work week.  

I have a great, very easy recipe to share, but before that, here are some facts about kale that you may not know:

•  kale is full of carotenoids which are linked to levels of optimism
• kale grows late into winter, and becomes sweeter after a frost
• one cup of raw kale contains 134% of your RDA for vitamin C, 684% for vitamin K, and 204% for vitamin A; and nearly 3 grams of protein (source)

For more facts and other information about kale, including recipes, head over to this site.

The other day we made a soup in honour of National Kale Day.  This soup is really easy to make, but it is so good - give it a try!  It doesn't take much prep, and it makes a large batch.

Kale Sausage Soup

2 T olive oil
450 g Italian sausage (hot or mild; if in casings still, squeeze it out)
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinced
1 liter chicken broth (we used organic)
1 liter water
1 bunch kale (or about 2 cups), stripped from stems, torn into bite sized pieces (*note - kale doesn't shrivel up when cooked like spinach does)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Heat the oil in a dutch oven.  Brown the sausage, breaking up a bit.  Once mostly brown, add the celery, carrot and onion.  Cook about 8 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and cook another few minutes.  Add the beans, broth and water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 40 minutes or so.  Add the kale, salt and pepper and simmer 5 minutes more, then serve.

Did you eat kale today?

Ten on Tuesday

1)  We're still eating that giant zucchini!  Dinner the other day was a tofu, veggie mixture with mushroom risotto on the side.

2)  When there are snacks like this in the staff room at work, I. Can't. Stop.  Won't. Stop.

I have a weakness for salty deliciousness.

3)  My sister started her blog back up!!  I'm pretty excited, because I love it.  Check it out here.

4)  Tomorrow is national kale day!  I'll be sharing an awesome recipe with y'all, so check back. 

5)  On Saturday we ate some simple, store-bought sushi, but Christopher was pretty excited about it:

6)  Speaking of sushi, I had lunch the other day at I Love Sushi, and they have terrible sushi ... but their buffet is pretty good!

7)  Confession:  I can easily polish off a shrimp ring on my own, and have done this on more than one occasion.  I did share this one though:

8)  Is anyone else sad that this is over?

What incredible character development in this series!  Now to start House of Cards.

9)  We've been loving omelets for weekend breakfasts ...

10)  On Saturday evening we went out for supper to Bushwakker, and then headed to The German Club for Oktoberfest!  It was a really fun evening.  We were out on the town all weekend!

What are your Tuesday things?  Did you, or will you celebrate Oktoberfest?  Do you like kale?