3 days of Indian Feasting

So Sunday was a big day.  I tried a new recipe for Crockpot Butter Chicken.  I'd share it here, but it wasn't great.  I mean, it was okay but not OMG THIS IS AWESOME.  I looked up many recipes, picked the one that matched what I had in the house (mostly), substituted Trader Joe's Thai red curry sauce for the red curry paste + coconut milk.  I know what you are thinking - Thai curry in an Indian dish?  Yeah, maybe that should have been my first clue.  Anyway, I think the problem was *mostly* the garam masala.  I don't really care for it, and this recipe seemed to have a LOT of it.  Even though I cut it down, it was still too much.

So back to the drawing board for butter chicken.

I served it with red lentil curry and roasted potatoes and cauliflower, and we ate it for days.  It was still pretty good.

Funny, when I searched my very own blog for cauliflower to see if I'd posted the roasted potato/cauliflower recipe, I found a link to a crockpot butter chicken recipe, that I apparently made 2 years ago.  I never repeated it, so it also must have been "meh".  Ah well, the search continues.  I don't know why I'm obsessed.  Well, not obsessed, but - I attended an Indian wedding about 10 years ago, and they had butter chicken, and it was awesome.

In any event, the roasted cauliflower and potatoes recipes is pretty simple: chop your veggies.  Start the oven at 400F.  Toss with the following spice mix and oil of your choice (coconut, olive, etc.):

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp cayenne

3/4 to 1 tsp salt

Roast until your desired amount of doneness, for me, that's 30-40 minutes.  It's especially delish tossed with chopped cilantro.

Flavors of Winter

I happened to be shopping at the Farmer's market on Saturday, looking for avocados.  I only had twenty bucks.  I happened to spend all $20 on other things that took my fancy (including avocados).

The first thing I got a gander at was kabocha squash, marked down to $1/lb.  Man, this stuff is so good.  The same stall had these beautiful heads of delicate lettuce, so I snagged one of those.  And some pistachios made their way into my bag too.  But they were up a buck from last week.  Ouch.

I've really been trying to up the produce intake lately.  I generally eat a lot already.  But it's cold and flu season, so I figure that more veggies will help with keeping the immune system strong.  Alas, I caught the cold my husband had, so it's my third of the season.  There are several folks out at work with the flu, so here's to hoping I don't get that.  The whole family has gotten the flu shot, but the baby only got his less than a week ago, and it takes 2 weeks to take effect.  I'm a little bit paranoid about the flu, mostly because some people are stupid and they go to work sick.  But I digress...

A taste of what we've been eating this week:

Kabocha squash, roasted

Sauteed green beans (originally frozen) and mushrooms in a garlic-soy glaze.

Here's the squash alongside chicken, potato, and pea curry.  So I discovered this red curry sauce from Trader Joe's...yum!

Roasted red potatoes.

I also roasted the red potatoes last night with broccoli and carrots.  Today I was home sick (but working).  My husband came home early to take a nap.  Because he was home, I was able to cook dinner (or we'd have been SOL!)  I made skillet pasta (except I don't have the right kind of skillet anymore, so I use my dutch oven) and a salad.  We now have enough pasta for dinner for the next two nights - score!

Tastes like...

I could say "chicken".  Because we grilled chicken this weekend (it was black on the outside and raw on the inside...not our best work).  And I made my standard Trader Joe's breaded frozen chicken on Tuesday.  And Wednesday we had leftover Crockpot Butter Chicken from last week (I froze it) over the mashed potatoes we had on Saturday. (The most successful dish of the "burned chicken" night.)

But what I really mean is to channel Biz and say "tastes like ass".  Because this weekend I bought some fruit at Ralph's. And it sucked.  I bought pears which were hard and tasteless, and apples that were mealy and gross.  I mean, it's October.  Apple season, right?  Ugh, how can the apples be mealy and tasteless?  They were galas.

The last two pears and the apples are getting turned into applesauce with some better fruits this weekend, from my boss's tree and the CSA.  I bought the apples before the boss brought in the fruit.

I am a fruit snob.  From now on, I will stick to Trader Joe's for apples (pink ladies, never mealy) and cantaloupe, the farmer's market, the CSA, or my boss's trees.  Actually, last week I bought pears at Tri County Produce, and as expected (based on the store name), they were quite good.

The rest of the week has gone along as planned:

Saturday: burned chicken, mashed potatoes, salad.  At 8 pm we were eating the still burned but no longer raw chicken, that was finished in the oven.
Sunday: More of the chicken made into quesadillas with guac, green beans, mashed potatoes
Monday:  The last of the chicken and some frozen meatballs, broccoli, mashed potatoes
Tuesday: Chicken fingers, tater tots, Indian spiced cauliflower

Wednesday: Crockpot Indian Butter chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed cauliflower with feta.  Now, why I didn't make the Indian spiced cauliflower the same night as the Indian butter chicken...I dunno, I'm weird that way.

Thursday: The last of the Indian chicken with some mashed potatoes and maybe more potatoes if we run out of mashed.  And...it looks like carrots.  I think that's the only veg left in the fridge.
Friday:  Wow, I thought the curry chicken would take me until then, but it probably won't.  So probably we'll have grilled cheese sandwiches with a vegetable.

Lunch for the adults is Spaghetti Amatriciana.  I cooked up a pound of pasta and it makes 10 lunches.  Plus we're eating leftover veggies, hard boiled eggs, and carrot sticks.

Breakfast for the kiddo has been pancakes that I made on Sunday morning and froze.  I've been eating yogurt with fruit or toast, depending on whether it's a workout day or not.  Toast if it's a workout day.

The mashed potatoes were quite good and not really pictured.  You can kinda see them under that curry chicken.  We got chives.  So, they have chives, butter, milk, cream cheese, and sour cream.

The Indian spiced cauliflower was great.  I used the aloo gobi spice mix.  I steamed 1/2 head of cauliflower (it was a big head) for 3 minutes in the microwave.  I then sauteed it in one Tbsp oil in a skillet until it started to brown.  Cauliflower absorbs a lot of oil.  Then I added the spices and stirred (I used 1/4 of the spice mixture, because the full recipe has a full head of cauliflower AND potatoes), and added 1/4 cup of water, covered, reduced heat, and simmered about 5 minutes until done.

On that note, I still have a kid's lunch to pack before bedtime.  On a new-mommy note, I'd like to add that my 3 month old baby has slept 8-10 hours for three nights in a row.  From about 7:30 to 4:30 or 5:30.  I may have to revise my statement that he's the hard baby.  His big brother didn't sleep that long until 8 months.

And he's so snuggly.  I'm lovin' the snuggles I get from my boys.  Pure heaven.

Potatoes and Fennel

I'm going to fess up: I don't like fennel.  I've never really liked it.  My family feels even more strongly than I do about it.  But the last 2 weeks at the CSA, we've gotten 3 bulbs of fennel.  And the only thing in the trade basket?  More fennel.

So I brought it home.  This week we also got 1 lb of new potatoes (yellow and purple).  We also got an email on how to make great fennel.  And an email on what to do with purslane.  Which is still in the fridge, staring at me when I open the door.  I think the answer to that may be: put into compost.

Anyway, I mixed together the fennel recipe with my roasted onion and potatoes, then threw in some chard because...I never know what to do with chard.  It was delicious!

Roasted potatoes, fennel and onion with steamed chard:
1 lb potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 bulbs fennel, sliced 1/8 inch thick and heart removed
1/2 onion, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, sliced
one sprig rosemary, chopped
salt, pepper, olive oil

1 bunch steamed chard
3-4 Tbsp grated parmesan

Prepare the vegetables, garlic, and rosemary and put in a parchment lined pan (if you hate cleaning) and toss with salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Roast at 400F for 30-40 minutes, or until they look right to you, stirring at least once.  Mine looked like this half way through:

Meanwhile, steam the chard, cool it, and chop fine.  When the roasted vegetables are done, stir in the chard and toss with parmesan cheese.

If you forget the garlic and rosemary, like I did, you can add it half way through the cooking time.

Pesto Potato Salad

I made Joanne's pesto potato salad, and it was delish!

I made adjustments based on what we had.  I used new potatoes (purple and yellow).  No pine nuts (didn't have them), no scallions (ditto), a teeny bit of red onion, and I used tarragon vinegar instead of white balsamic.

My garlic is STRONG though - holy cow.

I think my mother in law would be aghast at using new potatoes...those are to be boiled and served with dill and butter.  Period.  Still good though!

Falafel and Homemade French Fries

The falafel was my fave recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, with a small adjustment - I didn't feel like going into the dark to see if I have fresh parsley still living, so I used dried.

And I sliced up potatoes and made homemade oven fries.

Vegan meal, at least until I dipped the fries in ranch.

There's a distinct lack of green on the plate, but I did have cole slaw for lunch and sugar snap peas for lunch also.  It was a really long day yesterday, culminating with my work computer getting a virus.  So I left with no email account and no computer.  I ended up going back in for 2 hours using someone else's computer, but I only had access to about 1/2 of the programs that I needed.

Potato burritos and Kabocha

It's the squash time of year again!  Last year, I finally tried kabocha squash, after reading about it all over various blogs.  I'm a butternut kind of girl (and delicata).  Well, kabocha is delicious!  Maybe even a little better than butternut.

So at the market last weekend (farmer's market), I bought one.  Last night I simply cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, and sliced it (okay, that's a pain).  Salt, pepper, olive oil, roast it 30 min at 400F.

I served this with potato, onion, and cheese burritos.  The CSA starts up next week, so by Thursday we're running low on veggies.  I fried up some onions and potatoes and shredded cheese.  I had two HUGE avocados for guacamole.  And that, my friends, was dinner.  I forgot to take pics at the beginning.  Oops!

Turnip and Potato Gratin

See here.

Except, no collards. And half of the potatoes were substituted with turnips. Finally, a good turnip recipe! All I have to do is bury them in cheese. :)

These were quite delicious.

I'd like to tell you more about them, but...kinda busy. Go Steelers!

Eggplant and Potato Curry

Finally, a delicious recipe that I can take credit for. Kind of. You see, there's this little Indian restaurant here with a great eggplant curry dish. I haven't eaten there in at least 5 years. But for about that long, I have wanted to try eggplant curry. Now, considering how many vegetarian/vegan/Indian cookbooks I have, you'd think I'd find a recipe easily. Not so. In the end, I found a vegan eggplant stew, an "Indian eggplant dish", and one other eggplant and potato dish in various cookbooks. I decided to make it vegan and use only the items that I had. And I wanted to have a tomato based curry.

This recipe is basically a combination of the three. I used the spices that I had, the ingredients that I had and like. And ... it was very tasty. My husband said "this is great!" unsolicited. Not that he doesn't appreciate my cooking normally, but it's nice when he pops out with a compliment on a new dish.

We ate this over cooked brown rice and quinoa, and topped it with avocado. I had a feeling that it would be better with something creamy/fatty...like avocado, yogurt, eggs, or nuts. And I got a bunch of delicious avos at the farmer's market this week.

Eggplant and Potato curry
4 T canola oil: 0.16
1 chopped onion: 0.18
1 eggplant, diced in 1/4 to 1/3 inch cubes: 0.90
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
2 cloves garlic, pressed: 0.10
1 T fresh ginger, grated: 0.05
1/4 tsp turmeric: 0.05
1/2 tsp garam masala: 0.05
1/4 tsp chili powder: 0.05
1 tsp cumin: 0.05
1 lb potatoes, diced small: 0.10
1 14oz can diced tomatoes: 0.58
1/2 tsp salt
Total: $2.27 for 5 generous cups, or $0.45 per generous cup.

Saute onion in 1 T canola oil until soft, and then add garlic and ginger and saute one more minute.

Add the spices and cook another minute. Or, forget to do that like I did. Add the eggplant and 1/4 tsp salt and the rest of the oil, and cook for 5 min. Add the water, reduce heat, and cover. Then remember that you forgot the spices. Add the spices, stir, and cook, covered, 20 min.

Meanwhile, peel and dice the potatoes and steam (I did in the microwave) until cooked.

Puree the tomatoes and add to the eggplant after the 20 min are up. Add the potatoes. Cover and cook 10 more min or until potatoes are fully cooked. Add the 1/2 tsp salt.

We served this over rice and quinoa, which was $0.85 for 4.5 cups, or $0.19 per cup. I generally eat 1/2 cup, spouse eats 1 to 1.5 cups. The avocado for the topping was $1.05

All told, this will be 2-3 meals for two and a half people, for $6.27, and that includes the three avocados.

Au Gratin Potatoes with Collards

This recipe is the same one that I made here, except I added steamed, chopped collard greens. Because, why not?

It's also the perfect opportunity to use the food processor.


Au Gratin Potatoes with Collards

2 lb yukon gold potatoes, organic: 1.20
1 onion: 0.20
salt and pepper
2 c. milk: 0.32
5 oz cheddar cheese: 0.78
2 Tbsp butter: 0.13
2 Tbsp flour: 0.01
1 bu collard greens: 1.00

Total: $3.64 for about 6 generous servings (8 side dish servings): $0.46 to $0.64 per serving.


Wash the collards and remove stems. Steam for 10 mins.

Fire up the food processor, you'll need all the attachments except the one to make dough. Slice the potatoes, put in a bowl.

Slice the onions. Saute the onions in the butter until soft and browning.

Chop the steamed collard greens. Add to the potatoes in the bowl.

Shred the cheese.

When the onions are sauteed, add the flour to make a roux, and cook a couple of minutes. Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly. Add the potatoes and collards and salt and pepper (and nutmeg, if you've got it). Stir. Bring to a boil, and then the sauce will start to thicken.

Add all but 1/4 cup cheese. Stir. Put in a greased dish. Bake 1 hour at 375F, uncovered. Then cover and cook 20 min. Remove cover, add remaining cheese and bake 5 mins. You can add some breadcrumbs to the topping if you like, and if you are me and have a ton of breadcrumbs.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

So, I've got some leftover potatoes in a bag. And a bunch of vegetables. I decided to make shepherd's pie. I think because it was part of a challenge on Top Chef last week. And it's finally not 91 degrees here.

I looked up a bunch of recipes on the 'net, and the one common thread was "use whatever you've got". So, here goes:

Veggie Shepherd's Pie (most veggies are from CSA, and hence the amts are estimates)
1/2 cup dry brown lentils: 0.25
1 T. canola oil: 0.03
3 small carrots, diced: 0.30
1/2 red onion, diced: 0.25
2 small summer squash, diced: 0.40
1 small bell pepper, diced: 0.50
1 cup frozen peas: 0.60
1/2 pt. cherry tomatoes, quartered: 1.50
2 cloves garlic: 0.10
1 Tbsp soy sauce: 0.10
pepper and sage to taste: 0.15
1 piece veggie bouillon: 0.50
1 T. cornstarch

1.5 lbs potatoes: 0.20
1/2 cup milk: 0.07
1 Tbsp butter: 0.06
4 oz cheddar cheese: 0.50
S&P&garlic powder to taste:

Total: $5.51 for one 9x13 pan, 12 servings. $0.46 per serving. Served this with collard chips.

Rinse the lentils. Cover with water (at least one inch, maybe more), bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, cook for 20 min. Drain.

Saute onion, pepper, carrots, summer squash in oil until browning and carmelizing (great flavor). Add cherry tomatoes, peas, and garlic and cook until tomatoes give up their liquid. Add bouillon cube, sage, soy sauce and pepper.

Mix cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. When well-blended, add to veggies and boil until thickened.

Meanwhile, peel potatoes, cut into large pieces, and put in a pot covered with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer 20 mins or until they are pierced easily with a knife. Blend with a hand mixer, adding milk, butter, salt and pepper.

Grease 9x13 pan. Spread veggie mixture on the bottom. Spread mashed potatoes on the top. Top whole thing with shredded cheese and bake at 375F for 30 min. I used 375 because that's what the collard chips need. You could use 350F.

This was a keeper. Cheap and delicious. Yum yum yum.

Potato and Chickpea Curry

I love chana masala. I have a recipe...somewhere...from my friend Shithi, from Bangladesh. I need to find that. But in the meantime, I decided to surf the web for some potato and chickpea curry recipes.

I had a couple of promising recipes from my shelf - World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey has a Caribbean version and a few other good options. But I was missing a few ingredients. I figured if I was going to adjust the recipe right off the bat (which I almost always do), it should be by a minimal amount.

Then I stumbled upon this recipe from Simply Recipes. It was delicious! Now, I made the following adjustments:

Used 22 oz of diced potatoes (I bought a 10lb bag)
Used dried chickpeas (1.25 c.) that I cooked in the pressure cooker.
Pureed the diced tomatoes and added about 1/2 a small can of paste (I like it thick).
Added a clove of garlic.
Increased the cumin and coriander to 1.5 tsp each because of the increased potato.
Sauteed the onion until browning in canola oil, then added hot peppers, garlic, and ginger for a couple of minutes, then added the other ingredients.

It was yummy!! Definitely a keeper.

Cost breakdown:
2.5 c water (instead of broth): free
22 oz potatoes: 0.49
1.25 c. dried chickpeas: 0.65
1 onion: 0.20
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes: 0.57
1 clove garlic: 0.05
2 tsp. ginger: 0.10
cumin, coriander: 0.15
diced hot peppers: 0.20 (I used poblanos that I roasted last summer from the farm)
salt: 0.01
canola oil: 0.04
tomato paste: 0.12
Total: $2.63 for about 9 cups, or $0.29 per cup

wow that's cheap

Au Gratin Potatoes

2 lb organic potatoes (1.00)
5 oz cheddar cheese, shredded (0.63)
1 onion (0.15)
2 c. nonfat milk (from dried) (0.30)
2 T butter (0.13)
2 T flour (0.01)
salt and pepper

8 servings, 0.28 each

Slice potatoes in food processor. Saute onion in butter until it begins to brown. Add flour and cook a few minutes. Slowly add milk, stirring regularly. Add potatoes. Bring to boil. Add all but 1/4 c. cheese. Stir to blend. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour into greased baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 375F for 1 hr. Cover and bake 20 min. Add remaining cheese & bake 5 mins until melted.