Low Fat Chicken Jalfrezi (adapted from SW)

Living in Bulgaria means no lovely Indian take-away's I had never cooked a curry in my life till moving here as I still maintain you can't beat a really good curry house, unless you are Indian by birthright.
Also I have a dilemma sometimes , as being on a diet does not go well with eating Curry, so this is a low fat Jalfrezi, addapted from a Slimming world recipe.
If you follow slimming world then it is free on original. Count the rice as healthy extras. If your not watching your weight it is a very healthy alternative.
This is very tasty, & extremely easy to make, serve with boiled rice & make sure you remove all visible, fat & skin.
1 Onion chopped
1 Red Pepper Sliced
1 inch Fresh root Ginger peeled & grated
1 Clove Garlic crushed & chopped
Chicken, skin & fat removed Chopped in bite size pieces
Fry light
3 tbsp med Curry powder
4 Tomatoes core removed & chopped into 8's
1 jar or carton Passander or sml can tomato purée
1 tsp Paprika
Fresh ground Rock or Sea Salt & Pepper
1 tsp Coriander
1 tsp Mint
3 floz water

Spray a large fry pan with frylight. If you don't have this then dry fry in a good non stick pan, or use a little water to stop it sticking. fat really is not necessary. Add onion, pepper, garlic & ginger & stir fryfor5 mins.
Add the chicken & curry powder, stir well to coat everything, & cook a further 4 mins.
Add tomatoes, passander or purée & water. Bring to the boil & simmer for 20 mins. Season & stir in herbs. Serve with boiled rice. 

Glazed Lemon Cookies

There have been fewer home-baked cookies here at the castle lately. 
Sadly, the waistband of my jeans has been complaining.  I believe it was saying --  weakly and a bit melodramatically, if you ask me -- "More spandex, please."  But I am listening to the waistband of my favorite jeans, with the result of fewer treats around here lately.
But these?  These lovely little lemon gems?  I could not pass these up.
And they're small.
So small.
They hardly even count, unless you nibble your way through six or eight of them.
You hear that, jeans waistband?  THEY HARDLY COUNT.
There.  I do feel better.

Glazed lemon cookies, recipe from a back issue of Real Simple magazine.  I made them exactly as instructed; next time I will bake them just a tad less (rather than the 16 - 20 minutes recommended, I will try about 14 minutes).  Delicious.
And small.  Did I mention small?

The Cutest Cup in the World

This is the cutest idea I've come across in ages.

Start with your basic orange.  Score the rind around the center -- just the rind, not the fruit.

Drop the orange into a pot of boiling water.  Boil for five minutes, then remove orange from hot water and let cool a minute or two.  The rind should have separated a bit from the fruit.  Once it's cool enough to handle, carefully pull one end of the rind down (to form the bottom of your cup) and the other half up, to make the drinking part of your cup.

See?  How simple is that?  Would this not be darling for a little girl's tea party?  Or for a picnic lunch with your sweetie?  It doesn't get any "greener" than your own fruit providing the drinking vessel.

By the way, in case you're wondering . . .

. . . flaming cognac, even with  a pinch of sugar, a clove, a cinnamon stick, and served in the most darling cup in the world . . .

. . . is disgusting.  Absolutely disgusting.
Ugh.
If you have any cognac, just pour that stuff right down the drain.
My little handy hint for the day.
But the orange cup?  Priceless.  Next time I'm trying it with warm apple cider.

NOTE:  Idea from The Pyromaniac's Cookbook by John J. Poister.  A very fun book, even if I spit out  the cognac.

Homemade Scotch Eggs

Love the scotch egg & to have a recipe for making our own, well I think that's brilliant. I cannot take credit for this recipe its my friend Sue Edwards that has passed it on to us, thanks Sue! I for one cannot wait to make them for summer parties in the garden, I think it will be a show off factor, with full credit going to Sue as being her recipe I just hope I can make them as well as this photo! Have a go & enjoy.
 6 Hard boiled egg
600g sausage meat
1 Egg beaten
Breadcrumbs
Worcester sauce
Black pepper to taste

Shell the 6 hard boiled eggs. Mix together all the sausage meat with the pepper and Worcester sauce.  Take an egg and wrap it in the sausage meat. Dip it in the beaten egg & coat it in breadcrumbs. Deep fry each egg for 5-7 mins drain on kitchen paper.

Scrummy Cheese Scones

Cheese scones have to be one of the great comfort snacks on a wintry day. I baked these when it was snowing & blowing a gale so as you looked out of the window all you could see was a blizzard & inside smelled like heaven.

Eaten warm straight from the oven spread liberally with butter & you can taste the comfort from the melty cheese.  

500ml flour

15ml baking powder
large pinch salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or dry English mustard powder.
250g strong hard cheese
15 ml sunflower oil
150 ml milk you may need to add more
1 egg
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper or mustard into a bowl. Add the cheese and mix through the flour mixture. Beat egg and milk together in another bowl and add the oil. By using oil you save calories.
Pour the milk,egg & oil mix into the flour mix and using a metal fork, mix the dough until it clumps together, but is not too dry. This is where you may need to use a bit more milk, just add a little at a time.
Press the dough out on a flat clean floured surface until it is about 5mm thick, then fold it over ontop of itself giving the scones the natural break, flatten it again, using your hand.
Cut out your scones out by using a round cutteror a glass. Place them on a baking tray & bake  at 180c (160c fan) for twenty minutes.

Serve, still warm, with butter.

 

Kitchen Wrap-Up

Well it's been a quiet week here in Lake Wobegon, my hometown.
Wait a minute, that's somebody else's opening line.
It's actually been a delightful week here at the castle.
While seeking out homemaking inspiration, I discovered some lovely new blogs , including Jeannine's Grace and Peace, where she writes about her family's Epiphany celebration (a holiday I now have a hankering to celebrate).   She is also a fan of Queen of the Castle, which of course makes her my new best friend. :)
(What?  You haven't read Queen of the Castle?  Click here to see what you're missing.)

With the zeal for decluttering that seems to hit me this time of year, I spent a bit of time cleaning out and organizing one of my kitchen drawers, discovering some napkins, napkin rings, and other assorted treasures I'd completely forgotten about.  I even put down new shelf paper, seeing as the old stuff had been in there since my two manly sons were in diapers . . . Yeah.  That was quite some time ago.

I made some interesting pumpkin-studded bread.
Let's just leave it at "interesting," shall we?

And I discovered this wonderful book, The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn, which I think would make a perfect housewarming gift for young people moving into their first apartments, or newlyweds, or anyone, really, who is even a little bit interested in food and who never got the chance to go to cooking school.  I've been playing in my kitchen for decades now, and I still have soooo much to learn.  In this book, I'm learning about different methods for cooking meat, and different ideas for vegetable cookery. Whether you're a novice or somewhat experienced in the kitchen, there's something in this entertaining book for you.

So I leave you today not with a recipe, but with these inspiring words from author Kathleen Flinn:

"So who says you can't cook?  Not every meal has to be from scratch, nor does everything you consume have to be organic, locally sourced, and pasture raised.  Try to find a comfortable place somewhere between Tuna Helper and Top Chef.  If you burn, scorch, drop, overcook, undercook, underseason, or otherwise put a meal together that's less than a success, in the end it doesn't matter.  It's just one meal.  You'll make another one tomorrow."

So bon appetit.  Enjoy your warm, homey kitchens, wherever they may be. 

Apple Almond Rice Mix

We are only a few days into 2012, and it is shaping up to be a mighty fine food year already.
Mighty fine.

From the authentic Mexican restaurant seafood dish of shrimp and octopus cocktail topped with avocado, an oyster, cilantro, drenched in oyster juice (yum)

to the homemade mocha frappuccino which, turns out, can be blended most adequately at the bathroom sink of your basic Motel 6 room (do I love my happy frappies?  Indeed I do)

to the apple almond rice mix, which can be stirred up ahead of time and bagged for your pantry, ready to be simmered later with water, apple juice, and a touch of butter for a slightly fruity, crunchy, very flavorful side dish.

2012.  Oh yeah.  Bring it on.

NOTE:  I omitted the parsley flakes in this recipe because I didn't have any.  The recipe makes four bags of mix, but you can divide it your first time to see if you like it.  Recipe kindly provided by the USA Rice Federation.