Chana Masala

I love Indian food.

I have a pal who goes to eat delicious Indian food with me at least once a month. My favorite dish to get is called Chana Masala, which is a spiced garbanzo (chick pea) and tomato dish with the consistency of a hearty stew or chili.

Actually, I marketed this to Tones as "Indian Chili". He liked it! I think the real name would have scared him off from trying it.

Be warned, this dish is SPICY. There are, however, ways you can reduce the spice. For example, don't use the membrane and seeds of the chili pepper used, and reduce the amount of cayenne pepper by half (or more).

I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, and only tweaked it a little bit. It's an outstandingly easy dish to prepare, particularly now that Uncle Ben's Rice has a 90 second microwavable Basmati rice product!

Chana Masala

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 small onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Serrano chili (or any other chili), diced

1 inch of fresh ginger, diced

1 Tbs ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp garam masala

1 can whole tomatoes, diced, juices reserved

2 cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 c water

Juice from 1 lemon

Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat about 1 Tbs oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, chili pepper and ginger. Sautee for about 5 minutes, or until tender and onions are translucent.

2. Add the spices, and stir to incorporate. STEP BACK. When the cayenne pepper is heated it can cause irritation to mucus membranes (i.e. it makes me cough). Just be careful :). Cook another 2 minutes or so on medium heat.

3. Add tomatoes and juices, garbanzo beans and water. Stir well, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste.

Serve with flatbread, naan, or basmati rice.

Quick and Easy Steak Nachos

These nachos are perfect for game-day (not that I really know what that means), as an appetizer for a get-together, or a fast weeknight meal.

Use the recipe for Kaye's Steak Marinade to cook the steak, and from there, it's all about layering what you want.

I'll go through what I normally put on our nachos, but you should feel free to add what you like. Fan of pico-de-gallo? Onion it up. Like green peppers? Add some color. The possibilities are endless. I will suggest if you like adding things like sour cream or guacamole to your nachos, that you should do that after the cooking process. No one enjoys runny guac.

Easy Nachos

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4-6 cups of your favorite tortilla chips (about 1/3 of a 1 lb bag)

1 lb steak, marinated and cooked like so

1/2 cup low fat refried beans

1/2 chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup sliced olives

1 small can diced green chili peppers

1 cup shredded cheese (I like to use cheddar and monterey jack)

1/4 cup sour cream

Preparation

0. Preheat oven to 400F. Place rack towards top of the oven.

1. Assemble! I like to start with a base of the chips, then dollop on the refried beans. From there, it's pretty much just throw everything on.

2. I always like to end with the cheese on top, but that's just a personal preference.

3. Bake at 400F for about 3-5 minutes. Keep a watchful eye on this. Nothing is worse than burnt nachos. Well, maybe a burnt kitchen. When the cheese is melted, these babies are good to go.

4. Add sour cream, salsa or guacamole, then serve immediately!

Freezer Calzones

These calzones are a perfect make-ahead-and-freeze dish. No, they aren't the healthiest of meal options, but if you serve them with some fresh veggies, you might be able to wash away some of your carbohydrate related sins.

Plus, you can put whatever you want in them!

I've come up with a few filling pairs that would be delicious to try out:

White-Spinach Calzone:

Alfredo sauce

Cooked spinach

Parmesan cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Meat Lover's (blech):

Marinara sauce

Italian sausage

Ground beef

Pepperoni

Mozzarella

Greek:

Alfredo

Cooked spinach

Kalamata olives

Feta cheese

Mozzarella

Veggie Lover's:

Marinara sauce

Mushrooms

Black Olives

Green peppers

Onions

Roma tomatoes

And the options are endless! The recipe is simple to follow. Just prepare the crust (recipe below), and fill with whatever your heart desires!

You can cook the calzones right away by placing in a pre-heated 350F oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling out and the crust is a light, golden brown. You can also place them in individual zip-loc freezer bags and freeze for later. To cook later, just heat the oven up to 350F and cook for about 28-35 minutes.

Enjoy experimenting with this recipe!

Calzone Dough

Makes about 8-10 calzones

Ingredients:

1/2 packet active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

4 cups flour (I use unbleached all purpose)

2 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

Procedure:

1. Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water in a bowl.

2. Mix the flour and salt thoroughly in a separate bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil and mix with a spoon until incorporated.

3. Stir the yeast in the water, then add to the flour mixture. Mix until the dough forms a ball.

4. Coat a large bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, and transfer the dough ball to the bowl.

5. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set in a warm area for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has nearly doubled in size.

6. Prepare an area to work with the dough. Coat area with a light dusting of flour. Divide the dough into about 8 balls (in between the size of a golf ball and the size of a tennis ball...).

7. Work the dough into a rectangular shape. Fill one diagonal half (does that even make sense? look at the photo!) with sauce and toppings, taking care not to overfill.

8. Fold over the un-sauced half, and crimp the edges together with a fork or your fingers.

9. Place in freezer bags to freeze, or pop in the oven right away!

Cooking times:

Frozen: 350F, 28-35 minutes

Fresh: 350F, 15-20 minutes

Enjoy!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Cakes

Sweet potatoes were on sale at the grocery store the other weekend, and I sought to find a recipe that was new (i.e. not just baked/mashed sweet potatoes) that I could serve as a main dish. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, and I decided to try it out. Stupidly, I didn't really have all the ingredients I needed, so I had to tweak the recipe quite a bit. Sigh.

My verdict about the recipe is that the lime sour cream topping really makes these cakes extraordinary. By themselves, they were a little dry. Perhaps a little more tweaking and experimenting is in order...

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Cakes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Lime Sour Cream:

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsp lime juice (I used from concentrate, fresh is probably better)

1 tsp diced green chili peppers from can (or 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, fancy pants)

Bean and Potato Cakes:

1 Tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small can diced chili peppers

1.5 tsp ground cumin

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup of raw sweet potato, grated

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup bread crumbs (all I had was Italian bread crumbs, and it worked out fine)

Procedure:

1. Prepare lime sour cream first. Mix the sour cream, lime juice and peppers well, and store covered in the fridge to meld the flavors together.

**Turn on the broiler**

2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, chili peppers and cumin until fragrant and golden. Be careful not to burn the garlic, as it has a bitter flavor when it is burnt.

3. In a large bowl mix the black beans with the chili-garlic mixture. With a potato masher or a fork, mash the black beans with the peppers. Mix in the sweet potatoes, egg and bread crumbs until patties can be formed.

4. Take a large spoonful of the mixture and roll into a 1.5 inch ball. Place on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart from one another. With the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand, flatten the balls into patties.

5. Broil about 8 minutes on one side, then carefully flip over using a wide spatula, and broil another 3-5 minutes on the other side, until crispy.

6. Serve with a dollop of the lime sour cream.

Baby Portobello and Spinach Whole Wheat Lasagna

Whew. I need to update this baby. Sorry for the silence, but things are busy. We've been eating a lot of sandwiches, and fake-meat tacos. Yum.

This particular lasagna recipe is great because you don't need to boil the noodles beforehand, which really cuts back on the preparation time for this dish. Feel free to substitute the veggies with cooked ground beef or Italian sausage!

Baby Portobello and Spinach Whole Wheat Lasagna

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 large bag of fresh spinach

8 oz cremini (baby portobello mushrooms), sliced

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles

16 oz cottage cheese (or ricotta, fancy pants)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

26 oz pasta sauce (about 1 jar of your favorite brand)

Italian seasoning blend for garnish

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Saute the mushrooms for about 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat in a skillet, until they are deeply colored and fragrant. Transfer them to a plate, and return the skillet back to the heat.

3. Wilt the spinach in the skillet for about 3 minutes, then when dark green, transfer to a plate.

4. Spray a 9"x11" baking dish with cooking spray. Begin to build the lasagna.

5. First, coat the bottom of the baking dish with a thin layer of pasta sauce. Place three noodles, not overlapping, on the sauce. Add equal amounts of spinach and mushrooms as the next layer. Top this with dollops of the cottage cheese and about 1/2 cup of the shredded mozzarella. Coat with sauce, then continue the pattern until ingredients run out. Top the final layer with mozzarella and cottage cheese if there is any left. Be sure that the top layer of noodles are coated with pasta sauce, otherwise they will not properly cook.

6. Bake at 350F for about 35-45 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is nice and melted.

Aloo Palak: Pureed Spinach with Potatoes

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'm kind of in a cooking funk. I'll get over it soon, hopefully.

My friend, Sophie, came over recently and we tried our hand at cooking an Indian dish. The result was...okay...but not as good as something you would get in a real Indian restaurant. I didn't have cumin seeds, only cumin powder, so that might have interfered with the taste a bit. It was spicy, thanks to the peppers, but didn't have that traditional Indian flavor we were looking for. Oh well, it was worth a shot!

Aloo Palak

Adapted from Recipezaar

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 bunches spinach

1 red onion, diced

2 green chili peppers (we used jalapenos...heh...), diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 large Russet potatoes, cubed

1 tsp turmeric

4 Tbs butter

1 tsp cumin powder (or seeds, if you have them)

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ground coriander

Procedure:

1. Cook spinach with onion, peppers and garlic until wilted and fragrant, about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes with the turmeric for 8-10 minutes, or until fork tender. (They turn yellow from the turmeric---cool!)

3. Puree the spinach mixture in a food processor or blender.

4. Heat the butter and the cumin in a large skillet over medium heat until the cumin is fragrant--be careful not to burn the butter!

5. Add the spinach mixture and simmer for about 5 mintues. Then add the drained potatoes, and heat for additional 2-5 minutes.

Serve with basmati rice and naan! Yum!

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Bake

Ok, this recipe is painfully easy...and um, well painfully bland. Tony and I talked about ways to jazz it up (like using REAL cheddar cheese instead of the cheap-o brand), or adding other seasonings like cumin and chili powder.

I think that this recipe is totally customizable, and flavor can come in a variety of ways. Want a kick? Use Spanish rice and add some fresh or canned tomatoes. Want a hearty, savory dish? Add some meaty mushrooms (like baby portobellos) and use wild rice. Want to be a fancy-mc-fancy-pants? Use some foo-foo cheeses.

The possibilities are endless, my friends.

Here's the bare-bones way I cooked the dish this weekend:

Cheese Broccoli and Rice Bake

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice (I used Minute rice because I'm horrifically lazy)

1 large head broccoli, stemmed and cut into florets

1.5 cups shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese

Procedure:

0. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

1. Cook the rice as directed on the package, and steam the broccoli for about 5 minutes in a steamer basket, or until bright green.

2. Spray an 8"x8" baking dish with cooking spray, and layer rice, broccoli and cheese, then repeat the layers.

3. Grind some pepper on top, and place in the oven for 20 minutes until bubbly.

Serve this as a main dish with a big salad, or as a side dish to accompany a more traditional home style meal!

Wonton Wrapper Ravioli

This recipe is painfully easy. It's also impressive. Easy + impressive = honkin' AWESOME in my book, though I don't know about you all.

Who makes their own ravioli? Awesome people, that's who. This recipe is great, because it's completely customizable. Do you have a meat lover in the family? Fill the ravioli with seasoned Italian sausage and mozzarella. Health conscious vegetarian? Fill the ravioli chock full of mushrooms, spinach, diced asparagus, olives or whatever other veggie tickles your fancy.

Here, I've chosen to blend healthy with, well, moderately healthy. Using cheese in any of your recipes will increase the caloric value of the meal, but some people loooove their cheese, me included.

Give this a try--the benefit outweighs the risk! I found out that using TWO wrappers per side of the ravioli makes for a sturdier, and less likely to burst pocket. I've shown you pictures of the carnage to prove my point...

Wonton Wrapper Ravioli

Adapted from ideas by Rachael Ray and around the Internet

Ingredients:

1 bunch of spinach, washed and chopped roughly

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 cup cottage (or ricotta, fancy pants) cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella, and extra for garnish, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan, shredded

1 package wonton wrappers (the pack I used had 60 wrappers, each about 2"x2")

Procedure:

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, and when it begins to sizzle, add the spinach and saute for a few minutes, until wilted, then transfer to a large bowl. Meanwhile, Start a large pot of water boiling.

2. Combine the cheeses with the spinach until thoroughly mixed.

3. Prepare a floured surface for the wonton wrappers. Set a small bowl of water and a pastry brush (or you can use your finger) nearby. Lay out the wrappers on the surface (in stacks of two if you wanted them to hold together), side by side.

4. Place a dollop of the filling mixture in the center of each wrapper, then trace the outside 1/4" of the wrapper with a brush or finger dipped in water, and do the same to the wrapper you place on top, water sides facing each other.

5. Align and press down the top wrapper on the bottom wrapper. I chose to decorate the edges by going around them with a fork, but I didn't do the control experiment to see if they would hold together without the fork scoring. Sigh.

6. Place the sealed ravioli one at a time (to prevent initial sticking) carefully in the water, and allow them to boil for about 2 minutes. They will float to the top when ready (just like dumplings!).

7. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce (or whatever goes well with your filling of choice!).

Lasagna Roll Ups

Lasagna roll ups are made with the same ingredients as traditional lasagna, only the assembly is a little different. I think they're a fun way to change up a dish, without going through the labor pains of experimenting with something that is not broken to begin with. I will caution you that these are a little bit more messy than traditional lasagna, but are worth a try if you want to pep up an old recipe!

I made this particular dish with broccoli and olives--not typically what you'd find in lasagna, but still pretty tasty! I recommend using fresh spinach, sauteed with a little garlic, and mushrooms for a first try. The broccoli's odd shape made these roll ups even more messy (and frustrating for Tony), but the combination of broccoli and olives was delicious!

Lasagna Roll Ups

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 whole wheat lasagna noodles

1 large crown of broccoli, cut up into bite sized florets

1 small can of sliced black olives

3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

1 cup marinara sauce (your favorite kind)

Procedure:

0. Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Boil lasagna noodles until al dente, about 8-10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water, then coat with a little olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking to one another.

2. While the noodles are boiling, steam the broccoli in a steamer basket until bright green and slightly tender. Drain and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, combine olives, broccoli, cottage cheese and parmesan. *If you would like, you can also add 1/4 cup of the marinara sauce to this mixture*

4. Lay out a lasagna in the palm of your hand. Fill the middle with a heaping spoonful of the mixture, then form into a roll, and put the seam side down in a greased 8"x8" glass baking dish.

5. Add any of the leftover filling mixture to the top of the rolls. Cover evenly with the marinara sauce, and top with extra cottage or parmesan cheese as desired.

6. Bake at 350F for about 25-35 minutes, or until bubbly and the cheese on top is melted.

Fiesta Chicken Breasts

When I was in high school, my mom made this marinade for chicken breasts often, and because it was so versatile, we rarely got tired of the recipe! I say "we" very loosely, my dad always complained when we had chicken, irregardless of how well my mom cooked it. I guess he was always more of a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy.

My mom served this chicken as a main dish, over salad, in wraps with sour cream, wild rice and pepperonci peppers (which I took to my crappy job in high school every day), and sometimes in tacos. This recipe is really easy, and if you have a grill skillet (which is how my mom and I make this recipe), you can enjoy this chicken dish any time of the year!

Fiesta Chicken Breasts

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Marinade:

Juice of 1/2 lime or lemon (~ 1 Tbs)

1 Tbs honey (or agave nectar)

1/2 tsp cumin (or Zesty Spice Mix)

1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro or parsley (1 tsp if using dried herbs)

2 Tbs olive oil

Procedure:

1. Pound the chicken breast halves to uniform 3/8"-1/2" thickness between two sheets of wax paper (this helps prevent the spread of salmonella, and keeps the kitchen cleaner in general).

2. Mix the marinade, and coat the chicken well on each side, and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *Do not allow the chicken to sit much longer than 5 minutes, as the acidity of the lime/lemon can degrade the meat if left too long.

3. Grill or broil until lightly browned.

4. Serve with Zesty Oven Fries as a side dish for a mini-barbecue, top a salad or make some fast and fresh chicken tacos! Be creative!

Kaye's Meatballs

I've never really been a huge fan of meatballs, and only in the last few years have I even eaten them at all. When I was little, my best friend LOVED my mom's meatballs, and always requested them whenever she came over for dinner. Now I understand why she was so crazy about them!

My husband said that these are the best meatballs he's had in a long time! My mom, Kaye, always had a special secret that made her meatballs the best: she'd simmer them in the pasta sauce for a while before serving, adding flavor both to the sauce and to the meatballs!

Kaye's Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 1b lean ground beef

1 small chopped onion (or about 1 tsp onion powder)

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 Tbs dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

0. Preheat oven to 375F.

1. Mix all ingredients until homogeneous, but do not over-mix or compact the meat too much.

2. Shape into golf ball sized balls, being careful not to compact the meat, as this makes for very dense, less tasty meatballs.

3. Place the meatballs evenly on a slotted rack over a drip pan lined with aluminum foil. This allows for the fat (gag), to drip through.

4. Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are brown and sizzling.

5. Serve immediately by simmering for about 10 minutes in pasta sauce, or freeze for later use.

Spicy Tacos

Man, these were some spicy tacos. Ordinarily, they would not have been so spicy. It just so happens that my rookie note-taking ability made me capitalize the "T" in tsp of chili powder, leading me to think it was a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon.

We were sweating.

Profusely. But boy, was it delicious. I recommend using 2 teaspoons of chili powder instead of 2 Tablespoons. Also, you may want to use 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper instead of 1 tablespoon. I'm writing the recipe below as I should have done it, not how I did it. If you like spice, and are adventurous, go for it: use 2 Tbs chili powder and 1 Tbs cayenne pepper, but have some water nearby :).

Spicy Tacos

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

Taco seasoning mix:

2 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp paprika

(mix spices thoroughly before adding to ground beef)

1lb lean ground beef

1/3 cup hot water

4-6 flour tortillas, warmed

1 diced roma tomato

4 leaves of lettuce, shredded

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, colby-jack, monterey jack, whatever you like)

Procedure:

1. Brown the ground beef in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Drain, and return to skillet.

2. Add the spices and water to the ground beef in the skillet. Cook over medium heat until the meat has absorbed the flavors, and the sauce has thickened. Remove the pan from the heat.

3. Build the tacos in whatever way you enjoy the most! I like to add the meat first, then the other toppings, not really in any particular order. Be creative!

This is a picture of a taco that was made a while ago...I guess I was too hungry whenever I made these tacos to take a picture of the final product!