Easy and Awesome Freezer Meal:

Coconut Curry Chicken

My Crockpot is a close second to the most important thing in my home! I enjoy cooking and making new dishes, but I hate the time and the cleanup that comes along with it.
So naturally when Pinterest came about and all these awesome crock pot recipes started surfacing, my level of Betty Crocker-ness shot through the roof!

I have tried just about every slow cooker recipe out there, and there are some that are GREAT and then there are some that are...... m
                               e
                                    h.

Now, I love FLAVOR! 

I savor the taste of peppers and spices and meat and well, just about anything that will slap me across the face with it's bold delicious flavor. If a meal is bland, I want to gag. Plain and Simple. I really just hate bland food. You get my point? If not I'll say it 1 more time..... I HATE BLAND FOOD!
However, a lot of the "frugal" slow cooker meals out there are just that.... BLAND.

Until I came across my now absolutely FAVORITE dinner!!

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken found from Kristy over at the Sweet Treats and More blog . 

I seriously love this dish so much I just had to share it! And I have found that this makes an excellent freezer meal!! So yummy, so fast and so EASY!

Now a lot of my friends and family tell me they hate anything curry; and I will admit curry is definitely an acquired taste. I remember the first time Brett took me out to authentic Indian cuisine a few years back, I was far from impressed. But after a few more times learning my way around the flavors and dishes that I like I have come to LOVE Indian Cuisine; and don't even get me started on Naan..... I heart Nann!!!!

And Kristy over at Sweet Treats and More had a similar experience... *note her hubbs name is Brett too!

"The first time I ever tasted curry was shortly after Brett and I got married; our friends talked us in to trying a Thai restaurant that was nearby and happened to be open late.  I was skeptical- I had never tried Thai or curry, and the fact they were open late made me wonder if they were desperate for business?  But we gave it a try.  Our friends told us exactly what to order–a couple of different curries with rice and noodles.  And we loved it! " 

- Kristy

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken -- Serves 6

Ingredients

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs, cut into cubes

5 large carrots, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 large bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used a green pepper)

1 (5 oz ) can tomato paste

1 (14 oz) can coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp garam masala

1 jalapeno, seeded and halved OR 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 tbsp water

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

Grease your slow cooker with Pam. Place the chicken and carrots on the bottom of slow cooker.

Place the rest of the ingredients (except water and corn starch) in a food processor or blender and process together until mixture is mostly smooth. ***If your food processor is too small to hold everything, use a blender.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and carrots, mix well, then cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.

An hour or so before serving, mix cornstarch and water together in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour mixture into the slow cooker, stir to combine, and continue cooking for another hour. **This will thicken up the sauce. When the sauce is to your desired thickness, turn slow cooker to warm setting until ready to serve.

Notes

*if you want you can chop the bell pepper into larger pieces and place in with the chicken and carrots rather than processing into the sauce. This is what I did and we loved the different textures of the carrots, chicken, and pepper in the sauce.

Serve over rice, with Naan, and garnish with cilantro.

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Now here are some things I do to adapt it to me and my family:

• I love to freeze this meal! And the first time I made this dish, I found that it makes a lot of sauce. So I like to make the sauce and divide it in to 2 freezer bags. I then throw in the chicken and carrots and freeze it. But if you have a bigger family, you can just do the 1 bag and just add more chicken. When ready to cook, pull out of freezer and let it sit at room temp for 30 min. Then put it in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
• Kristy mentioned how she likes to cut the bell pepper into chunks instead of processing it in with the sauce. I like to do both. Puree the bell pepper into the sauce and leave out a bit of chunks too. I love the flavor the pepper brings to the sauce, and I use a red bell pepper not green. *Just a hint though, if you DO puree your bell pepper into the sauce you DO NOT need to thicken the sauce with cornstarch like it mentions above. You can if you want, but it's not necessary; the pepper adds just the right amount of thickness.
• When I make this a freezer meal, I use chicken breasts (the pre-frozen ones in the big bags). Then about an hour or so before I am ready to serve I take my kitchen shears and I cut the breasts into chunks and let them finish cooking.
• Now like I said I LOVE flavor, but throat burning heat? Not so much. And because I am also feeding a toddler, I leave out the jalapeno. This makes the dish a lot more mild on the heat scale. So instead I put in the crushed red pepper flakes. My 2 year old loves it!!
• and FINALLY, you can find the Garam Masala in the spice isle. I thought it was going to be some crazy thing that I was going to have to pay tons for and hunt around store to store to find it. But nope, it was right there with all the other typical spices. 
• Also, here is the link to my favorite Naan recipe!

I hope you all are brave enough to give this dish a try, I know you will LOVE it just as much as we do. Seriously, we have eaten it 4 times in the last month! And if you do, leave me a comment telling me how you liked it?!

Peppermint Peek - A - Boo Cookies

Get out your holiday stretchy pants! 

Cause these yummy-gooey oh-so-easy-to-make cookies will be gone before Santa checks his list TWICE!

I was in a bind the other day; needing a holiday treat for our ward Christmas party, because what I originally wanted to make fell apart... literally.

So I hurried and threw together these Peppermint Peek-A-Boo Cookies and man was I proud of myself!


Here is what you will need...


Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses (Unwrapped) 



Cookie Dough Recipe:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cups cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (soft but NOT melted)
1 tsp vanilla

Once again, unwrap the kisses before you start. This is the most time consuming and difficult part ;) Oh and this recipe made about 30 cookies.

Beat Sugars and Butter until FLUFFY! Add Vanilla and Egg. Beat until combined. Add all other Ingredients and beat until dough is formed.

Take a small amount of dough and flatten in the palm of you hand. Take a Candy Cane Kiss and place it in the center of the flattened dough. Form the dough around the Kiss and roll into a ball. Repeat.

Place Cookie Balls about an inch or two apart on Sprayed or Parchment Paper lined cookie sheet. *Note: I always use Parchment Paper! I can't live with out it! But I seemed to be out of many things in my kitchen this day and Parchment Paper was one of them.

Bake @ 375 for 7-9 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet 1 min. then transfer cookies to a cookie rack to finish cooling.

I always try to do any baking during nap time, otherwise I have this hungry creature begging for "treats" !

For Added Pleasure; You can roll balls in powdered sugar, or sprinkles before baking. I did not do this because I was short on time.

Enjoy!

Colman's Hot Sweet Mustard Recipe

The holidays are upon us people, ready or not?!
And with that means yummy holiday baking!!

MMMmmmm


Last week (as I shared in an earlier post) we decided to go to SeaWorld for Thanksgiving.
That meant forgoing yummy Turkey Dinner and bypassing the chance to douse that yummy turkey in Hot Sweet Mustard :( sigh



But after getting home from THE BEST FAMILY VACATION EVER!!!!

I couldn't help it, I wanted to surprise Brett w/ Thanksgiving Dinner. And so I thought I would share a family favorite staple in our home for this time of year.

Years ago Brett's grandma gave me a few of his favorite recipes from his childhood. 

His favorite being Colman's Hot Sweet Mustard. 

He seriously BEGS for it every Thanksgiving and Christmas.

You know that feeling you get when you get your hands on a family recipe. You want to shout it out to the whole world, but yet you don't want to share with anyone because you don't want anyone else to gleam in your food happiness?
Or do you have a recipe that you feel is so unique, so unknown to the outside world; that you don't want anyone to get their grimy hands on it, in fear that the recipe will no longer be a secret?

Well this is how I feel about Colman's Hot Sweet Mustard!

So few people know how good it is on a Christmas ham or how many recipes you could actually use it with!

If you are a fan of Asian food and have been daring enough to try the "yellow stuff" that is always on the table in a tiny bowl, then LISTEN UP. Because your mind is about to be BLOWN!

Colman's Hot Sweet Mustard

         What you will need:

• Colman’s Mustard Powder *must be Colman's, otherwise it just doesn't round-house-kick you in the face. I don't know why, I have tried making it with McCormicks mustard powder, but it just wasn't the same.
• Cornstarch
• Salt
• Water
• Sugar
• Vinegar

First Mix Mustard Powder w/ about 2 tsp water. Just enough to make a slight paste. Set Aside.

In a small saucepan mix Cornstarch, Sugar, Salt and remaining Water, (no heat needed yet) whisk until smooth.

Add Vinegar. Cook on LOW heat, stirring CONSTANTLY for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Add Mustard paste, whisk well. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.

Hot Sweet Mustard can be used with many great dishes. Try it with your favorite Asian delights, Sandwiches, Summer Sausage, Turkey or that mouth watering Christmas Ham!

Recipe:

• 1/4 cup Colman's Mustard Powder
• 1/2 TBS Cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup Vinegar 

*The measurements in this recipe Yields 1 cup. I typically 1/2 the recipe, unless I am taking it to a party to share.

however........

WARNING!

Hot means HOT! 

*This bundle of deliciousness may cause burning of the throat, watering eyes, and gasping for air the most satisfying mouth watering feeling your belly has ever experienced!

Though a dab is all you need.....
unless your stomach is made of rocks..... 
nuff said

DIY Menu Stand

 

So a few months ago when I was trying to give my bland boring apartment kitchen/dining room some oomph, I really wanted to makeover my MENU board. 

As you can see in this BEFORE photo I was in dire need! 

I made this one about 3 years ago; and I'm sure everyone can attest to how fast things go in and out of style these days. Another reason for the overhaul was that in my home before I had it hung on the wall, but now I have a tall bar that I wanted to display it on. 

There's always something that can be improved or glamorized, right?!

 So I hunted for something that would be a great pedestal. I was an original Goldilocks for weeks. Not too tall, Not too short, Not too fat, Not too skinny.... But juuusssttt right!

I originally wanted one made of wood, because I imagined I was going to need to cut at some point to make it the way I imagined.

It took me a few weeks until I found the perfect one! Can't beat a $2.99 candlestick @ ROSS!  

However this one made me settle for metal it was my only choice and I was getting impatient! Luckily I have a hubbers who will lovingly spend an hour or two.... or three sawing metal in an awkward fashion for me in the middle of the night. (J/K it didn't take him all that long.)

Unfortunately I deleted the only photo of the candlestick, in original form, I had. So you will just have to imagine with me.

First I disassembled the candlestick as to make workflow go smoother.

I wanted my frame to sit snugly inside the top of the candlestick so that it looked like it was all one piece. This is where the metal cutting hand-saw came in handy (see I told you I would be needing to cut something)

So I measured and used a sharpie to mark my lines. I wanted a good solid line that I could see well while cutting, and I was just going to paint over the pink anyways. I know, I know, who doesn't want pink in their kitchen?! Minus my cute grandma who had a pink strawberry kitchen back in the day :)

 Then my manly Brett took over the cutting because I wasn't strong enough (due to a recently broken hand at the time) to grip the metal piece and the saw to use enough force to cut.

After he cut to the end of my marks I folded in the tabs to create a support for underneath my frame.

This is what it looked like after reassembling the candlestick.

        

The top of the candlestick was like a bowl, so to make it flush I stuck some foam that I got at the dollar store into the hole on both sides. I then epoxied around the edges to fuse the candlestick and frame together to create a solid piece.

I then had the dilemma of choosing which color of blue I wanted, 

BLUE OCEAN BREEZE or TRUE BLUE.

 I had recently painted some picture frames to go in the dinning room with these colors, so I didn't have to spend any more money! YAY!

I then hot glued a matching piece of felt over the foam, and it made for a nice little shelf to hold my dry erase marker........ 

AND HERE IT IS!!

I love both colors so much that I made a mason jar candy dish to go next to my menu stand. I couldn't give up one blue. I LOVE BLUE!!

Oh and FYI; yes I update the menu every week! It helps me have motivation to cook and plan ahead :)