Saturday, December 29, 2012

Indian Chicken with New Potatoes, Simplified

I love Indian Food, but with two small children who do not like spicy foods, we often avoid this cuisine at home.  When looking for a dinner option, I happened upon a recipe that did not seem spicy and had fairly common ingredients that I already had in my pantry.  I did make a few modifications for simplicity and wound up with a dish praised by those of all ages in my household. In the spirit of recording recipes that my family liked, I am preserving this one for future dinners.

Chicken and New Potatoes
Serves 6

1&1/4 lbs of chicken breast cut up (I used Tenders for simplicity)
1 clove of garlic chopped fine
1/2 tsp ground ginger (or fresh grated if you have it)
1 tsp ground corriander
1 medium onion chopped
3 TBSP vegetable oil
1 cup of hot water
1&1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp cumin
2 cans of new potatoes (cut into quarters if whole)
black pepper to taste

Put chicken into glass bowl or dish, rub all over with garlic, coriander, and ginger.  Set aside for an hour or two to marinate.  Heat 2TBSP of vegetable oil in a large frying pan and saute chopped onions for 5 minutes or until softened.  Add chicken and fry until brown.  Add water and salt to pan, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until chicken is tender.  Meanwhile, in another frying pan, heat 1 TBSP of oil.  Add new potatoes to this pan to fry.  Turn the potatoes occasionally so they don't stick the pan.   During the last few minutes of cooking, sprinkle cumin and black pepper on the potatoes and stir to coat evenly.  Combine the potatoes and the chicken mixture and serve.

In addition to being pretty simple and family friendly, it turns out that this dish is fairly low in calories.  The Weight Watchers Points Plus total on this recipe is 6 points plus per serving.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Easy, Cheap, and Healthy Side Dish - Spinach Souflee

A friend asked for easy side dishes.  This is a super easy weekday recipe that is healthy and happens to be low cost.  This side dish is a great way to get those veggies.  This recipe is also open for experimentation, add an egg for more souffle, add 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for more creaminess, or add cooked bacon crumbles for more deliciousness.

Altered from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-spinach-souffle/

1 egg

1/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese or shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste 
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, or a bag of fresh spinach washed, dried, and lightly sauteed in 2 tsp of olive oil or steamed in the microwave until tender.

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a medium bowl whisk together egg, milk, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Fold in spinach. Place in a small casserole dish.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until lightly set.
  4. NOTE: If you are in a hurry, use a microwave safe casserole dish, cover with plastic wrap, and cook on high for 3 minutes. Release the steam, recover, and cook on high for another 3 minutes. Enjoy!
 Serves 4 - about 90 calories and 2 WW points plus per serving

Friday, October 5, 2012

yahrzeit candle for dad - tehdik

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Happy New Year!

I am ready for a new year.   So many things are in transition at this time of the year, new classes, new work situations, people moving, friends who are soon to marry, friends who are soon to give birth, a world of changes and possibility.  I am grateful for this time of transition.  May the next year bring new experiences, new prosperity, new life and as always love.

This is what I am making for dinner tonight.
http://familyoffood.blogspot.com/2008/01/jewish-soul-food.html

L'shanah tovah!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Stickers you can EAT! Food Fun.


At the Studio City Farmer's Market this weekend, I discovered My Fruity Faces.  My Fruity Faces are fun edible stickers for food.  They are natural, slightly sweet stickers that are OK to eat and dissolve in your mouth.



Adam Gerber, Partner and Kidxecutive showed us these edible stickers.  They are designed to make fruits and vegetables more fun for kids to eat.  When I suggested they would make great cupcake toppers, Adam stopped me and pointed out that their mission was to encourage healthy eating and to help fight childhood obesity.  He then gave my kids a couple of stickers on a cucumber slice.  They ate it up (so to speak!)


You can find My Fruity Faces at http://www.myfruityfaces.com/

Thursday, August 2, 2012

WARNING! Zoku Quick Pop Maker

I never imagined a problem like this, so I'm sharing this warning...
The kids had knocked a freezer shelf down so I took all the goods off the shelf so I could put it back in place.  All of a sudden, my dog was flailing around and thumping one of these things

(the Zoku Popsicle Maker) on the ground.  Like the little boy in A Christmas Story who stuck his tongue to a frozen flagpole, my puppy stuck his tongue on the frozen Zoku Quick Pop Maker and could not get free.  Once I figured out what was going on, I held him in place and he quickly got his tongue free on his own.  It was a scary couple of seconds.  The Zoku is designed to freeze anything inside its' metal core very quickly.  It can freeze a Popsicle from liquid and warm to frozen hard in under 10 minutes.  It could freeze a puppy tongue pretty quickly, too.  Warm water would have released the dog if he had not gotten free on his own.

The moral of the story, keep the Zoku out of the reach of pets and probably small children while you are at it, especially anyone who might succumb to a triple dog dare.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

This Family is Inclusive


It has been a while since I have posted, but there is a food related controversy weighing on this Family of Food.  We have mentioned one of our favorite fast food restaurants before, Chick-Fil-A.   Chick-Fil-A was a serious part of my childhood.  There was a franchise at the mall where my parents had a store.  My best friend got her first job there.  Father of Food loved their sandwiches. He had a heart episode (mini attack?) while eating one of them.  Wound up in the hospital for a week.  Though he stayed away for a while, he eventually started eating them again, despite surviving the sandwich that seemed to put him in the hospital.  Mother of food always asks us to pick up some on the way to Vegas. My kids love to play in their indoor playground.  I've day-dreamed about opening my own franchise.

This is why it is painful to say... I can not buy their food anymore.  I won't.  I don't want to give money to people who turn around and use that money for hate.  The president of Chick-Fil-A has proudly stated his disapproval of homosexuality and financial support of anti-gay legislation.  While I appreciate his right to live how he wants to, and say what he wants.  I don't agree with him actively trying to legally limit the lives and happiness of others.  This is not about a difference of religion.  For years I have been disappointed when I forget and show up on a Sunday and I can't get the goods.  Although Sunday is not my Sabbath, I have always appreciated Chick-Fil-A's stance to stay closed that day.  It is about discrimination, plain and simple.  I can not support discrimination.  This boycott is about human rights... American Rights! The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Could this not be the most American of family values?  I stand on the side of love, not hate.

Those of you like me, who love the chicken, but not the chicken seller, may choose to do what I have done.  When you get that Chick-Fil-A craving, make it yourself!


I used Hilah's recipe http://hilahcooking.com/chick-fil-a-copycat/, but you can find others such as this one at Food.com or the one in Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur

The biggest flaws in the Hilah recipe was that maybe it wasn't salty enough, although in fairness, my pickle brine was quite sweet and my chicken tasted more tender because it was of a much higher quality.  I can live with that. 
 

Friday, June 8, 2012

Lightened Spinach Queso Dip

This is a perfect Summer Party Dip.

Queso typically is a Tex-Mex Cheese and Salsa mix popular in parts of Texas.  The recipes shared by our Texas family and friends use Velveeta and Ro-tel Tomatos.  This is definitely a guilty pleasure.

I wanted to make a Queso with Velveeta without so much guilt, so I lightened up a recipe for Spinach Queso found right on the Velveeta Box. Mine turned out to be about a quarter of the calories of the original.

Here's what I used:

1 12 oz bag of frozen spinach
4 oz Velveeta
1 Can Ro-Tel Tomatoes and Green Chiles
2 TBSP Philadelphia Whipped Cream Cheese
1 Can Black Eyed Peas (optional)

This also makes a nice side dish for a dinner. Split into four

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

10 Best French Fries in LA

I have to share this link with my Angelenos!  The LA Weekly reviews The 10 best Fries in LA.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/06/top_10_best_french_fries_los_a.php?page=2

Friday, May 18, 2012

Typical Kindergarten Lunch


It's almost the end of Kindergarten and I wanted to show the typical lunch I am making for the girls now.  The meals are bigger, boxes are bigger, and there are less food "pictures" as they get pretty jumbled in the backpacks. 
Their lunches also include a snack - on the side: 1 Frozen Gogurt & 1 canister of water.
 .

These lunches included:
Pepperoni and provolone with lettuce and Miracle Whip on wheat bread - 1/2 Sandwich
1/2 Banana
Broccoli Crowns
Green Pepper Slices
Grapes
Cheddar Goldfish Crackers
Chewy Granola Bar
Raisins

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

White Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies


It has been a while since I posted, and I have been baking for the school bake sale for weeks now.  Yesterday was the last bake sale of the season and we did great. After, I was asked for the recipe for some cookies and I was going to just e-mail it, when I realized, hey I have a blog for that sort of thing.  Everyone can share this yummy recipe!

White Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

1 stick (1/2 Cup) of Butter or Margarine
2/3 Cup of Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1&1/2 Cup of Oats (Uncooked Plain Oatmeal)
1&1/2 Cup of Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1&1/2 Cup of Dried Cranberries
1 Cup of White Chocolate Chunks or White Candy Melts



Preheat Oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
With a Kitchen Aid Mixer or electric mixer beat the butter or margarine and brown sugar until fluffy.
Add eggs and beat thoroughly.
In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well.
Add this dry mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mix in portions, always mixing well after each addition.
Stir in Cranberries and White Chocolate Chunks at a high enough speed to break up some of the chocolate.
Drop by large overflowing rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Press down cookie balls so they are more disk shaped.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until some browning on the cookies. Makes about 24 cookies.



Variations:
For a richer cookie, add 2/3 cup of butter or margarine instead of 1/2 cup.
For a lower fat cookie, add a banana and only 1/3 cup of  butter instead of 1/2 cup.


For variety: Add 1/2 cup of walnuts or pecans, or milk chocolate chunks instead of the white chocolate.
For a moister cookie, refrigerate dough for 24 hours before baking.  This allows the fats to really distribute throughout the dough.


Saturday, March 17, 2012

Faith and Begorah!


A Leprechaun named Seamus, left this lov-er-ly Green Shamrock Waffle on my plate!
 
I've found a four leaf clover at breakfast.
Faith and Begorah,
What a lucky lass am I!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Friday, March 16, 2012

Cricut Cake Frosting Cutter


This is a precision cake frosting cutter.

Ridiculous Right?

I don't know if this is food porn, or tech porn or what.


Now if only I can learn to do this with it...


Cricut Christmas Cake
Or This...



Or This...



 
Or This...


Elegant Birthday Cake


Or This...


IMG_0937  
 

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A Cupcake ATM is coming to Beverly Hills

I don't forward stories too often, but this is just insane... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/29/sprinkles-ice-cream_n_1311300.html?ref=food&ir=Food

A Cupcake ATM?!

It's so beautiful and so evil all at the same time.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

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