Recipe Recap #39

Good morning friends!  Happy Tuesday to you!

I am pleased to be back with Recipe Recap #39, sharing with you the recipes that I posted the week of October 27 - November 2, 2012.  Here are the recipes!

Eastern Chicken

French Canadian Split Pea Soup - Slow Cooker

Hope you will come back next week to check out another recap! Have a great day!

Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #77 & Features

Hello friends!  Happy weekend to you!  How has your weekend been?  Ours has been good.  Friday was a professional development day for our local school district, so our oldest didn't have school.  I took the day off and he and I hung out together - he had a hockey camp to go to in the morning, and then we went for lunch, and then spent some time over at his Great-Grandpa's house.  Was a nice day!  There was more hockey on Saturday, and an adult Halloween/Birthday party in the evening.  We've also got pumpkin carving on our agenda before the weekend is through!  Lots of fun all around :-)

Before we get to this week's party, I wanted to share with you the features from Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #76.  Here they are!

Mexican Carnitas Cobb Salad from Sumptuous Spoonfuls

German Poppy Seed Streusel Cake from Hungry Little Girl

Cookie Butter Donuts from A Peek Into My Paradise

Congratulations everyone!

Now, it's time to party!  Please head on over to the party page for Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #77 and share with everyone your recipes!  

Butter Chicken - Slow Cooker

Yes, it's that time again...Slow Cooker Thursday.  You know that we love our slow cooker at our house, and that Thursday after school is hockey practice day for our oldest, and coming home to dinner ready in the slow cooker makes life that much easier.

Lately I have been craving butter chicken, and we almost went out for some the other night.  But instead, I found this recipe and upon further "investigation", found that we already had most of the ingredients at home, so I decided to make it instead!

Here is the recipe:

Butter Chicken (Source: La Vie Overseas)

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breats, cut into pieces
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoons tandoori masala
6 oz tomato paste
8 oz tomato sauce
14 oz coconut milk
1 cup plain yogurt, plus extra for garnish
Cilantro
Corn starch (if needed)

In a large skillet and over medium heat, melt the butter with the vegetable oil.  Add in the onion, garlic and chicken.  Cook until the onions are soft, around 10 minutes.

Add in the curry powder, cayenne pepper, garam masala, tandoori masala, and tomato paste.  Mix well and until smooth, 1-2 minutes.

Pour the contents of the skillet into your slow cooker.  Add in the tomato sauce, coconut milk and yogurt.  Cook on low for up to 6 hours.

Approximately 30 minutes before serving, taste the sauce and check for preferred thickness.  I found my sauce was a little more runny than what we would prefer, so I added some corn starch to the sauce to thicken it.

Serve with rice and naan bread.

VERDICT:
So stinkin good!  I had tasted the sauce a few hours before serving and figured the kids would end up thinking it was too spicy for them, so I did end up preparing a quick meal just for them.  But they loved the naan bread :-)  Hubs and I devoured our Butter Chicken...I can't wait for the leftovers!

Super Good (and Healthy!) Granola

I love adding granola to my yogurt.  I just love that extra crunch, and I do hope some added health benefits too!  Unfortunately, most store bought granola contains almonds, or the warning that there may be almonds.  And my hubby is allergic to almonds...so I often just go without granola.  And then I realized, hey, I'm a recipe blogger, I should be able to make a granola recipe that I like that is almond free...and here we go:

2 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup pumpkin seeds (raw or salted, whichever you prefer)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt (skip the salt if you use salted pumpkin seeds)

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
3 tablespoons honey

1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pitted dates, chopped

Preheat oven to 300F.  Prepare baking sheet - cover with parchment paper.

In a bowl, mix together the walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut and salt.

In a small bowl mix together the melted coconut oil and the honey.  Add this mixture to the nut and seed mixture.  Stir well.  Spread evenly onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle on the cranberries and dates.  Allow to cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container.

VERDICT:
I took this granola to work, to my team it was an experiment, and they all seemed to like it :-)  My hubby and both like it, as does our toddler.  Our oldest hasn't tried it yet, he seems a little nervous about it.  But hubby and I are happy, and I will make this again (after all, it is almond free - yay!).

Recipe Recap #38

Hello again...you lucky friends you!  I'm back with Recipe Recap #38 (and part two for today!)  October was a busy month last year, and I created one of my "signature" recipes for a party this time last year.  Check it out below, along with the other recipes from the week of October 20 - 26, 2012.

Nutella Cheesecake Bites (I get asked to make these for pot lucks often!)

Rice Krispies Halloween Treats (fun for the family!)

Beef Barley Soup - SLOW COOKER (just finished another pot of this...this one is very popular with my boys!)

And just in case you missed the earlier recap...pop on over!

See you next week!

Recipe Recap #37

Hello friends, welcome back to Recipe Recap.  With the Thanksgiving holiday last week, and with us being away, I got behind on my posts and missed sharing my recap from last week.  So today, you get TWO recaps!  Here is the first...and be sure to pop back later for part 2!

Here are the recipes that I shared the week of October 13 - 19, 2012:

Grilled Vegetable Basket (a staple in our house!)

Chicken Stew with Sweet Potatoes (Slow Cooker)

Now be sure to come back this afternoon to check out Recipe Recap #38!

Finish BOGO Ultimate Kitchen Makeover #FinishYourKitchen

Anyone who knows me, knows that I spend a LOT of time in my kitchen.  After all, I am a recipe blogger, and I test every recipe before I share it with my readers.  Sundays especially are "heavy" kitchen days for me as I try to prepare meals, snacks, etc in advance of the upcoming school and work week. My family spends a lot of time in the kitchen too - whether it is eating meals together or doing homework or playing games at the table, I would say the kitchen is the most used room in our house. 

Lucky for me, I have a kitchen that I am happy with.  It is a decent size with good counter space - always a plus for us (messy) cooks!  The eating area has a huge 8-seater table and the area has 4 large windows and a (windowed) door to outside to the back patio and back yard - which means that I have a bright kitchen and I can see my kids as I work in the kitchen and as they play in the yard.  It was a big selling feature for us when we bought our home, and we have been happy with it.

Of course there are things that I would like to change about my kitchen - I would like a more open concept style into our living/play room, as sometimes I feel closed off from everyone if I am in the kitchen and they are all in the living/play room.  That might be a reno for us once kids toys are gone (otherwise those toys would be all over the kitchen).  We like to entertain, but I don't feel like our current kitchen is a true "entertainer's kitchen".  And I would really like a new stove.  I would love one with a double oven and convection.  I had a convection oven in our last house that I miss.  I feel that our cabinets are a little outdated, but they are in such good shape that I could never justify tearing them out "just because".  I'd also love a built in cleaner...to clean up after all my cooking and baking messes!  LOL

Fortunately for us, I do have help in the cleaning department - we have Finish Quantum in our house.  We switched to the Finish line of products a while back now, and have never looked back.  We have always been happy with the quality of clean that we get from Finish Quantum. 

Right now, Finish and Bosch have partnered and will be turning the dream kitchens of 10 families into reality with their 10 Ultimate Kitchen makeovers valued at $10,000 as part of their Buy One Get One Free with mail-in-rebate promotion!  Head on over to their Facebook page for more details!

Tell me, what would your dream kitchen look like?


Disclosure - I am participating in the Ultimate Kitchen Makeover Blogger Campaign on behalf of Finish.  I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion.  The opinions on this blog are my own.