Delicious Chicken Curry.

It’s time to share one of my favorite recipes.

I’m sharing this because It’s cold outside, and I’ve caught a cold that has made me feel awful.  I’m at that point in the winter where I am ready for it to be over. 

This nice little recipe totally warms me up on a cold yucky day. It is full of those yummy good for you veggies, and it’s one that my kids beg for.

This is a recipe that I put together when we lived in the Caribbean.  I put it together because that’s when I discovered how much I loved curry, and I wanted to learn how to make it.

Every recipe that I read was different, so I took several recipes and took what I loved from each and put them all together.

What I love about this recipe is that it is a one pot recipe.  You can make everything except for the rice in one pot.  I hate when I have to dirty lots of pots and pans for one meal, so this one is awesome.

I love making this recipes in this pot.  It is my Pioneer Woman enameled Dutch oven.

Here is are the steps to this deliciousness:

What you will need:

2 T. olive oil

1 Large onion

2 cloves garlic

4 t. ginger

8 t. coriander

8 t. curry powder

2 t. cumin

1/4 t. turmeric

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

1/4 t. black pepper

3 t. salt

1 can petite diced tomatoes

3 cups water

3 t. chicken bouillon powder

8-12 chicken tenders or 4 chicken breasts

4 potatoes

1 yellow squash

A handful or two of baby carrots sliced in half

1 zucchini

1 sweet potato

3 cans coconut milk

Basmati Rice(must use basmati; this is what makes the curry taste so wonderful)

Chop onion into fine pieces, and heat oil.  Cook chopped onion until brown.  Add garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.  Add all the spices and cook for one minute more.  It will get really fragrant.  This will look like a lot of spices.

This is what makes it sooooo good.

I like to gather all the spices before I begin so that I’m not running around looking for them when it’s time to dump them in.

Add water, and thinly sliced potatoes, with chicken bouillon.  We like to slice the potatoes with a mandolin so they slice really thin, and cook faster. 

If you don’t have one, just chop them into smaller pieces.  Add the squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, baby carrots, all the same way, and at the same time; and then add 2 cans of coconut milk to it. 

Cover it for about fifteen minutes and let it cook down and simmer over medium heat until the vegetables soften. 

After 15 minutes, add the chicken.  The chicken needs to be added in small pieces as well.  You can slice it, or I like to use kitchen shears and cut it in to small chunks.

 

Cover it again, and let it stand for 15 more minutes.

Once you add the chicken, you should start preparing your rice in your rice cooker.  If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can just prepare this in a normal pot.

Add your last can of coconut milk to the pan, and add  2 more cans of water to the rice cooker or your pot.  Then add 2 cups of rice to the rice cooker, or the pan.  Hit cook on the rice cooker or follow the cooking instructions for the stovetop on the rice bag for the stovetop.

Basmati rice can be found in the grocery store by all the other rice.  It is a little bit more money, but it is so worth it. I promise!!

After fifteen minutes and your chicken is cooked, stir in the can of tomatoes; and serve over the hot rice.

 

You guys will die this is so good.

It is even better the next day.  It makes great leftovers, and I really don’t even like leftovers.

That's what January 2nd is for!!

{So.. I had planned for this post to go up on Wednesday, but it's going up today, because my whole computer is on the fritz.  I want to get this up before I loose all this work.  I am taking my computer in to be fixed tomorrow.  I am typing this in blogger which I never do.  I always use a program called Live Writer which is not working, and I use a host for my photos; so lets just hope they look sharp and crisp.  If they don't you know why?  Oh, Computer, computer; you makin me mad.  Anyways... here is Wednesday's post today.  I also posted about these adorable Christmas sacks today.  Check that out here; if you missed it.}


The ten pound effect/That's what January is for:

I always say that I won’t gain weight over the holidays, but…

we have this silly tradition of making treats together.

Our kids look forward to it every year.

We spend a few evenings making several delicious treats.

Then we spend an evening packaging them all up.

…And then we spend an evening delivering them to family and friends.

Sometimes we even package them up and mail them to family and friends that are far away.

Yes!! this may seem like a lot of work.  It is!!

…But, it is the kind of work I want to do.

It’s teaching my kids so many valuable lessons.  They are learning to cook.  They are learning to clean up.

They are learning to organize.  They are learning to give. 

They have an opportunity to give to others.  The best part is that they are learning that homemade gifts can mean so much.  We don’t always have to give what we buy at a store.

…and we are spending time together, having fun while we do it.

This year, we put together 97 boxes of candy.  This is our most yet!

I thought it would be fun to share some of the different candies that we make and a link to the recipe; just in case your family would like to try to make one of these.

…and because I wish I could bring treats to all of you; this is my way of sharing them.

These are all kid friendly recipes, and I assure that my kids had a hand in making all of them.

Our family favorite is a recipe that I make every year.  They are called
Christmas Caramels 

I have been making them every year.  This year Stella made them.  She is 11, and she handled the whole process.  She was even able to determine when it got to the soft ball stage.

This is our recipe:

1 C. butter

2 1/4 Cups Brown Sugar

1 C. light corn syrup

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

dash of salt

Combine ingredients into a heavy sauce pan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon.  Keep at a rolling boil and cook till soft ball forms in a cold bowl of water(this takes between 10-15 minutes of rolling boil.) It will begin to get thick.  When it does, spoon a small amount into your bowl of really cold water.  Touch with your hand and see if you can roll it into a soft ball.  If it becomes really hard, you have let it boil to long, so check it consistently.  Once it hits soft ball, pour it into buttered 9x13 pan.  Cool, and then cut.  Makes about 75 pieces.

We also tried a new recipe that we added our caramel recipe too:

Christmas Turtles

We followed this recipe and idea, but used our own family caramel recipe; taking it to soft ball stage again.

The little kids had the job of laying out the pecans, while Stella made the caramel.

Another family fav, is molded mints:

Molded Christmas Mints

I got this recipe from my friend Krysta.

It’s super simple.  Melt a whole bar of almond bark.  You can do this in a double broiler, or slowly in the microwave.  Once it’s melted, add food coloring of choice, and a peppermint flavoring.  I buy mine at our local cooking store.  It’s not the regular peppermint that you buy at the grocery store.  It has more of a butter mint taste.  Then you will need some Christmas molds. I also bought these at the local cooking store.

Lay out your molds and spoon the chocolate into the mold.  Then place the molds in the freezer.  Once they have hardened, pop them out. The kids are big helpers when I am making these.  They love to pop them out, and help me rotate them through the freezer. When we make these, we like to make 2 colors.

We must really love mints, because we also like to make:

Cream Cheese Mints

You can find a link for those here.

This year we tried a new treat:

Christmas Cookie Bark

The kids enjoyed breaking up all the goodies that went in the bark.

Then they enjoyed breaking it into pieces when it had hardened.

When we were done with the Cookie Bark, we used the left over Oreos and made:

Chocolate Dipped Oreos

This is so simple.  You use what’s left of your white chocolate from your almond bark, and dip your leftover Oreos in it.  Then sprinkle on some pretty sprinkles.  This is certainly a kids job.

My kids favorite treat to make are:

Rolo-ed Pretzels, and Pretzel Hugs

This is something that the kids can do completely on their own.  It does require the use of an oven so it would be hard for smaller children when it gets to that step.  Stella is 11, and made these with the kids when I wasn’t home.

We also tried out these yummy:

Gingerbread Bars

this year!! Yummy in my tummy!

Isaac even made the cream cheese frosting all on his own.

We normally just make Ginger Snaps, but we tried them with frosting this year.  I thought they were yummo!! The kids are used to the traditional gingersnap and they want me to go back to that next year.  Some traditions just stick, making change hard.

Then we made some:

Christmas Bar Cookies

We just like to use our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but then we spice it up.

The kids love dumping in m&ms, and toffee bits, and chocolate chips, and our secret ingredient?

Carmel bits.  Yep!! they are little bits of Carmel for melting.  We use them when we make Carmel apples.

We love how they taste in the cookies.

A few sugar crystals on the top of the cookies, and they look very festive.

Here is a recipe similar to the one we use.

The last and easiest cookie we made were:

Red Velvet Peppermint Cookies

Isaac mixed these cookies all on his own.

It’s so simple, he dumped these 3 ingredients into the mixer:

A red velvet cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup of oil

Then he mixed that up.

We then scooped out cookie size portions with our cookie scoop.

We baked them at 350 for about 8-10 minutes; just until they crack.

We let them cool some, and then we stuck that peppermint kiss right in the middle.  They are delicious!  These would also be so good with white chocolate chips.

Happy Baking friends.

WARNING: Christmas baking has the ten pound effect.

If you make these recipes, you may put on ten pounds during the holidays!!

Want to know what I say about that?

That’s what January 2nd is for.

{It’s Tradition}

I turned five a few weeks ago.

My mom threw me a princess party.

You may remember seeing it here on her blog.  We had my friend party a few days before my real birthday.

The best part about turning 5 is that I got to share my real birthday with my family.

My mom says traditions are important.

I’m not sure what that means, except I know that because of it; I get to eat my breakfast in bed every year.

This year I had a cake batter waffle.

A lot of people have asked my mom for the recipe.  It is super simple:

All you need is:

funfetti cake batter mix

all the ingredients that cake mix calls for

frosting

syrup and powder sugar if you like

This is how you make it:

You follow the instructions on the cake mix for ingredients and mixing.

Heat up your waffle iron and add 1/4 C. of batter to hot waffle iron.

When it’s all cooked, my mom likes to put a scoop of frosting in the middle.

She always drizzles a little syrup, sprinkles a little powdered sugar, and sticks a candle right in the middle.

Yummy Yummy. Lots of sugar in my tummy.

I opened lots of fun gifts on my birthday.  My favorite was a book that uses a special Elsa wand to add sound effects.

Another fun gift was from my Aunt JoDean.  She lives close to me, so she came and read me the book Chrysanthemum.  She gave me the book to keep.  It was fun to listen to her read me the story.

 

I really like that book.

My mom says it’s tradition to have a special birthday dinner.

I get to pick what ever I want to eat.

I picked Raman Noodles.

My mom laughed.

I don’t know why.

She said, “that doesn’t sound like a very special birthday dinner.  Are you sure you want Raman noodles?”

I was sure, and the birthday girl always gets what she wants.

I helped my mom make the cupcakes to share with my family.

I like being in the kitchen with her.

Stella helped my mom get the cupcakes all frosted.

Every year on my birthday we decorate Halloween shaped sugar cookies made by my mom.

My mom says, “it’s tradition.”

I love decorating the cookies.

So do my brothers and sisters.

It’s fun to give the cookies away to a few of our friends; that’s tradition too.

Sometimes we take them to our school and give them to our teachers.

The day was so busy with breakfast, presents, Raman, cupcakes, and cookies.

My mom said “wow” It’s already 7:25pm:

 

That is how we roll on birthdays. 

Well really that is how we roll on most days.

We started decorating cookies at 7:30 at night.

My mom says when Jex was 5 he was in bed by 7:30.

I guess I’m one lucky 5 year old because I never go to bed that early. 

It is so fun being the baby.

My mom says I’m spoiled.

I think I’m just well-loved.

We made a big mess in my mom’s kitchen by the time we were all done:

My parents gave me some face paint pens for my birthday.  Stella tried them out and turned me into a butterfly.

My family always sings “happy birthday.”

…and I made a wish.

I love being five.

I am thankful that we always do the same special things on my birthday.

I think that’s what my mom means by tradition.

see y’all later

love,

Tessa Mae

 

Crockpot Enchiladas

I have recently discovered my crockpot as my newest cooking tool.

Who needs an oven?

Not me.

I don’t have time for it, and it just heats up my little house.

So I have converted a whole bunch of my family favorites to be made in the crockpot.

This little recipe is simple and can be made in a skillet on the stove top.  As it is called skillet enchiladas.

However, I decided to give it a go in my crockpot, and they turned out great.

What you need:

1# ground beef

1/4 C. chopped onion or minced onion

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can mild or medium enchilada sauce

1/2 cup milk

one can chopped green chilies

18 corn tortillas

pam cooking spray

2 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese (I used mozzarella and Mexican blend, because that is what I had.  I would also say that I used more then 2 1/2 C.)

Sour cream

The reason for the use of my crockpot is that I like to get things done in the morning so that I have less to do during that crazy afternoon time when kids are getting home from school.  This is also the time we seem to be running to all things kids.  You know everything they are involved in.  Oh, and I do throw a little Zumba in here too.  I guess I do add to the crazy.

I started this recipe in the morning.

I started by browning my hamburger with the chopped onion.  I often keep it simple and just add minced onion.

When I am finished with my meats, I always rinse them in hot water.  This rinses off all the fat and grease.  Some say it looses it flavor, I say it looses some calories.

Next up, add that to your crockpot with: soup, enchilada sauce, green chilies, and milk.

Give it a good stir and put it on low for the day.

See, I had this all done by 8:51 a.m. (kitchen cleaned and everything)  There is still more steps to this recipe, but to be finished later in the day.

Around 3 in the after noon, I finished this little recipe up.

I started by spraying a cookie sheet with cooking spray and laying down 6 tortillas.  Then I sprayed some more spray and added another layer, and one more layer spraying the top of that layer.

Then I put them in my oven on 200 for about 6-8 minutes.  Just long enough to soften them.  This allows you to roll up the tortillas without them cracking(corn tortillas like to crack)(oh, and don’t look at my yucky oven.  It is old)

My original recipe suggests dipping them in hot oil to roll them.  That makes me want to gag.  My tortilla drenched in oil… yeah that sounds good for you.

So this is the method I came up with, and though you are spraying them with a little cooking spray that seemed less crazy then drenching them in oil.

 

Next pull the tortillas out and add a layer of cheese in the middle and roll it up.

Add it to the crockpot,

 

and push it down in the meat mixture.

Continue to do this until you have a layer of enchiladas.

 

Cover that with cheese.

Repeat this process and make another layer.

  Cover that layer with cheese.

Once you have all your enchiladas in the mixture, cover them and put it on your keep warm setting. (ok and also embarrassing is my yucky crockpot.  It is getting a lot of use)

We went to piano lessons this night and didn’t get home until 6:30.  They were perfect when we got home.

They tasted just as good as they do in a skillet.  The problem for me with the skillet is that we were at piano and I didn’t have time to make them, so my crockpot did it for me. 

Thanks crock pot.

Top with sour cream.

Enjoy!!