Curried Chickpeas with Spinach

I made this so fast for a quick and healthy lunch this week. I wasn't expecting much, but since it was healthy, low cost and really fast, I figured that was good enough reason to make it. 

I had some leftover brown rice that I was looking to top and this was a super easy option.

So I assembled it nice and quick and left it simmering on the stove while I finished up cleaning the kitchen. It smells pretty good and I was looking forward to lunch.  I tested it with a small spoon to check the seasonings. I didn't want it to have a huge Curry flavor, so I had been a little stingy with the curry spice and when I use plain tomato sauce, I sometimes feel like things need a bit more salt after they have simmered for a while. 

So I checked the seasonings with a small spoonful of sauce -  Holy Cow!  It was amazing! I couldn't believe how good it was. How could something with so few ingredients, not really anything "special" and put together so quickly taste so Fantastic!  I don't know, but it sure does. 

Greek Skillet with Turkey, Rice and Olives

I am a complete push-over for any recipe that says "Greek".  I absolutely can't get enough of the flavor combination of the bright lemon, the salty olives and the oregano. It gets me every time. 

I have been making a lot of skillet meals lately, because they are just so easy to throw everything into one pot, get the added deliciousness of the flavors blending, less dishes and I can pretty much pack in as many veggies as I can find in my fridge and freezer. 

There is a little bit of a skill to it, and that has kept me from making them very often, but once I got brave and started experimenting. they are as easy as can be. 

Food Sense has an Amazing  Create a Skillet  step by step help for when you are ready to try your own. 

Sweet Potato and Chorizo Skillet Meal

I just love meals that get made all in one pot (or skillet)  My kids do a pretty good job of doing the dishes each night, but the pots and pans always seem to stack up along the side of the sink ... for days, until somebody (me!) finally just washes them all by hand.  Sound Familiar?

That makes meals that get made all in one pan even more appealing, because that means less work for me. 

You are going to love this recipe. Aside from chopping the sweet potato there is almost no prep-work and while dinner simmers away on the stove, you have lots of time to prepare a green salad, or read a good book. 

The sweetness of the potato mixed with the spice of the chorizo is an incredible compliment and I use green salsa in my recipe, because I think that combination with the tartness of the tomatillo salsa just brings everything together like a spicy gift in a skillet. 

I made this on a Saturday and it was such a HUGE hit with my family that I put it on menu plan for the upcoming week and bumped the spaghetti. It was incredible. 

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil 

1 medium sweet potato (1 lb.)

1/2 lb Mexican chorizo 

15 oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 cup uncooked long grain rice (whole grain brown rice preferred)

1 cup salsa (red or green) 

1 3/4 cup chicken broth

1 cup shredded cheese

2-3 green onions, sliced

Directions

Peel and dice the sweet potato into 1/2 to 3/4 inch cubes.

Sauté the sweet potato cubes in a large skillet with olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes have softened about half way through.

Squeeze the chorizo out of its casing into the skillet with the sweet potatoes. Sauté the chorizo and sweet potatoes together, breaking the chorizo up into small pieces as it browns.

Once the chorizo is fully browned, pour off any excess grease if needed.

Rinse and drain the black beans. Add the beans, salsa, and uncooked rice to the skillet. Stir them into the sweet potatoes and chorizo until everything is well combined.

Add the chicken broth, stir briefly, then place a lid on the skillet. Allow the contents of the skillet to come up to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. 

Let the skillet simmer on low for 30 minutes. Make sure it is simmering the whole time (you should be able to hear it quietly simmer away). If it is not, turn the heat up slightly.

After 30 minutes the rice should be tender and have absorbed all of the liquid. Turn off the heat, fluff the mixture, sprinkle the cheese on top, then return the lid to trap the residual heat and help the cheese melt. Slice the green onions while the cheese is melting, then sprinkle them on top and serve.

Sweet Potato and Quinoa with Black Beans

Dinner can be simple and still be so delicious. This is so filling and good for you, it has ingredients from your pantry and can be on the table in the time that it takes to roast the potatoes. 

That's my kind of dinner! 

Chickpea, Spinach and Sweet Potato Buddha Bowl

In my healthy food reading, I have been seeing a lot of Buddha Bowls, I have been really curious about them, since they are so beautiful to look at and so full of healthy ingredients. 

But I have wondered what makes a Buddha bowl different than a rice bowl or a large salad. 

It turns out that a Buddha Bowl is -- a bowl of food, so full, it reminds one of the round belly of a Buddha. The meaning tends to lean toward them being filled with Veggie goodness, but the recipes for rice bowl that I have found usually are. 

So essentially - it is a giant bowl of food?  YUP!! I'll take that. I love giant bowls of food. 

This recipe is really delicious and a little bit different that it used Chickpeas as the protein and well as spinach.  The chickpeas don't take a ton of time to cook and they add a great texture to the creaminess of the roasted sweet potato and crunch of the spinach. 

You can make a few of these on the weekend and have lunches all week that your coworkers will be envious of. Of you can serve a quick healthy meal to your family. 

Ingredients:

Vegetables:

** Roasted

2 Tbsp olive, melted coconut, or grape seed oil

1/2 red onion, sliced in wedges

2 large sweet potatoes, halved

1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

**Fresh

1 cup Spinach for each bowl

Chickpeas:

1 15-ounce chickpeas, drained, rinsed and then patted dry

1 tsp cumin

3/4 tsp chili powder

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

1/2 tsp oregano 

1/4 tsp turmeric 

Tahini Sauce:

1/4 cup tahini -- If you don't want to go buy tahini just for this, you can totally use hummus!

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1/2 lemon, juiced

2-4 Tbsp hot water to thin

2 cups cooked rice / or other grain (quinoa, bulger, brown rice)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and arrange sweet potatoes and onions on a bare baking sheet. Drizzle both with a bit of oil, making sure the flesh of the sweet potatoes are well coated and placed skin side down on the sheet. Roast for 10 minutes and then flip and stir - then another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft in the middle and crispy outside. 

While vegetables are roasting, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add chickpeas to a mixing bowl and toss with seasonings.

Once hot, add 1 Tbsp oil and chickpeas and sauté, stirring frequently. If they’re browning too quickly, turn down heat. If there isn’t much browning going on, increase heat. They will brown the best if you made sure you got them really dry after you rinsed them.

Once the chickpeas are browned and fragrant, remove from heat and set aside.

Prepare sauce by adding tahini, maple syrup and lemon juice to a mixing bowl and whisking to combine. 

Add hot water until a pourable sauce is formed. Set aside.

To assemble the bowls, place a 1/4 cup of rice in the bottom of each bowl. 

Add a big handful of spinach to your bowls, It is going to wilt a bit when you put the hot vegetables and chickpeas on, so you'll lose some of the bulk. 

Divide the roasted vegetables between the bowls and top with chickpeas.

You can then top with the dressing, or serve in on the side. - I like to keep the dressing on the side if I am making these for lunch so that things don't get soggy. (just a tip)

Cafe Rio Salad on a Sweet Potato

I love when those happy kitchen experiments turn into something wonderful and you think - We should have been doing this all along.

I like to make a big batch of Pulled Pork, Cilantro Lime Rice and Spicy Black Beans  and some Cilantro Ranch and then we'll eat it a few different ways during the week. We'll have the traditional loaded salad and then make burritos later in the week. 

But this time, Joseph and were home along working for our usual Friday lunch and I got up to warm up the leftovers and finish the last of our salad fixin's  - except were were completely out of lettuce. Not a green leaf in sight. So, Plan B, except we were all out of tortillas. 

At this point, I have been looking forward to these flavors all morning and I was hungry. Lunch was supposed to be a quick warm-up and I had work to do, I didn't want to stand in the kitchen and make a whole meal from the beginning. 

So I had a little spark of an idea, I thought I remember seeing someone making "bowl" recipes on top of baked sweet potatoes. 

Joseph loves sweet potatoes and so I thought I would be the perfect time to try it - and the flavors would probably go really well together. 

So I put the sweet potatoes in to cook, you can use the microwave, the oven, I used the insta-pot here, because potatoes are the only thing I have figured out how to make in it so far. 

Then while they were cooking, I started warming everything else up. When I had all my topping ready, I opened the sweet potato and filled it full with our leftover salad ingredients. 

I was so pleased with how this turned out and Joseph was over the moon about it. I also discovered that eating it this way cuts down on the cost, since I can use sweet potato more and less of the pork. 

The flavors mix together perfectly and it is absolutely delicious. I am anxious to see what other rice bowls and salads that I can add to sweet potatoes to make "new" dishes. 

Cooking once and eating twice is an important part of how I make my time / budget in the kitchen work and this is going to be a great way to stretch those ingredients one meal further. 

Tandoori Chicken

I love recipes like this. Yes, they take a little more work than a casserole or a stir-fry, but sometimes dinner can be a little bit of a production. (as long as someone else is doing the dishes)

I made this one a while back and my family went so crazy over it I made it again, they went so crazy over it again, that I decided that I had to share it with you. 

Make this with your spouse for a cooking date night. Make this for a special "I think You're Special" dinner for your kids.  It isn't an every night thing at our house, but when I make things like this, I think "yeah, I am finally getting this"

Plus, I'll let you in on a secret - this is super duper easy. (wink!)

Ingredients:

1 Chicken (cut up or you can use boneless chicken breasts and thighs)

1 tsp. Coriander seeds

1  Yellow onion

1 tsp. Fresh grated ginger

1 tsp. Garlic powder (or fresh garlic)

2 tsp. Garam Masala powder

1 tsp. Chili powder

1 or 2 chopped Tomato (I just used a can of diced tomatoes)

2 sweet potatoes cut into cubes

2 tbsp. Oil

Salt to taste

Cilantro leaves for garnishing

Marinade: 

1 ¼ to 2 tsp. Chili powder (depending how hot your chili powder is and how hot you want the dish)

1/2 tsp. Turmeric powder

2 tsp. Ginger powder (or fresh grated ginger)

2 tsp. Garlic powder

2 tsp. Coriander powder

Juice of 1 whole lemon

Salt to taste

Directions:

Mix the marinade ingredients in a ziploc plastic bag and then add your chicken.  Cover and keep in refrigerator for 15 minutes to an hour.

While the chicken is marinating, chop the onion, and dice the sweet potatoes, measure out the spices and chop the tomatoes.

Heat oil in a large pot or heavy dutch oven on the stove top. 

Add coriander seeds to heat and let some of them pop.  Then add onion and sauté, until they turn translucent.  (You might remember we did these steps when we made Basic Anything Curry)

Add ginger and garlic powder, garam masala, coriander powder and chili powder and sauté for a minute.

Add tomatoes and sweet potatoes. (you can also add any other veggies you want cauliflower, white potatoes, bell peppers). Add chicken pieces and sauté for a minute. Then add 1/2 cup of water.

Put lid on and let it cook away. Depending on whether you use boneless or a whole chicken will vary your cooking time. And if you want to reduce your cooking time, you can even dice your chicken into small pieces. For diced chicken - you'll want to cook it for 20 minutes. For chicken breasts cook for 30 minutes. If you have used a cut up whole chicken, you'll want to start checking at 40 minutes and use a thermometer. (remember chicken needs to be cooked to 165)

To serve - Place chicken on plate, spoon up the tomatoes, sweet potatoes and onions, and sprinkle with cilantro.  Serve over rice.

Super Power Bowls with Lemon Tahini Dressing

I hope you guys are enjoying making bowl meals as much as I am. I have been prepping on Saturday and then packing lunches for the week. 

I have been using the ingredients that I have had on hand or found on sale during the weekly store ads. 

Making a bowl meal is much more of a method than a recipe. All you need is some bulk at the bottom. You can use rice, noodles or even salad greens. 

Then just top with anything that suits your fancy. I try and do something sweet, something crunchy, a protein and as many fruits and veggies as I can pack in. 

The lemon Tahini dressing was a new one for me.  I actually liked it a lot. We went to the health food store and actually bought tahini, but when we run out, I will just use hummus to make the dressing again. Instead of buying an expensive ingredient that I am not sure how much I'll use. 

Ingredients:

Lemon Tahini Dressing: 

⅓ cup tahini 

⅓ cup water

¼ cup lemon juice

1 clove garlic, crushed

½ tsp cumin 

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp salt

Bowl: 

2.5 cups cooked rice or other grain 

15 oz. can chickpeas 

4 oz. bag baby greens or your lettuce of choice ( I used romaine)

2-3 small beets 

2 zucchini

3 carrots

1 small red cabbage

1 avocado

½ bunch green onions

½ cup sunflower seeds

Instructions:

To make the dressing, put all the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. If you don't have a blender, mince the garlic, then whisk the ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate the dressing until ready to use.

Cool the cooked rice, if needed.

Drain the can of chickpeas.

Wash the beets, zucchini, and carrots well. Use a food processor or large-holed cheese grater to shred the beets, zucchini, and carrots. Remove any wilted outside leaves from the cabbage, then cut into quarters, and remove the core. Shred the cabbage using a food processor, or slice thinly with a knife.

Slice the avocado and green onion.

To build the bowls, place about ½ cup of the cooked rice in a bowl along with about ¼ cup of chickpeas. Add a handful of baby greens, shredded beets, zucchini, carrots, and cabbage.

Top with a few slices of avocado and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds and sliced onion.

Finally, drizzle the lemon tahini dressing liberally over the bowl, then eat.

Easy Anything Curry

I hope that I am not the only person out there that has been confused by the word "Curry"  - is it a spice, it is a complete dish, is it a method of cooking?  What does it contain, why are there so many different colors and heats and why can't I understand it!

So I did some research and it turns out that any dish that starts with some chopped onions, garlic, ginger and chilies and then fried with spices mixed in and finished by adding canned tomatoes - Makes a Curry!

The spices that you use can very the color, the eat and even the name of the dish. But as far as making a simple curry - There you have it. 

It is not wonder people are making these everyday of the week. I feel so out of the loop. 

I started my curry sauce and then let it simmer while the rice cooked. That means dinner could be done from start to finish in 30 minutes. 

Ingredients : 

Since Curry can vary so much - I have put in Italics that ingredients that you don't Have to have. 

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 medium red onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced 

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced

1 or 2 green chiles, seeded and diced 

1 tbsp cumin powder 

1 tbsp corriander powder 

1/2 tsp chile powder or cayenne pepper 

1/2 tsp turmeric 

1 can of petite-diced or crushed tomatoes

2 tbsp fresh, chopped cilantro (for garnish)

Instructions

Heat the oil in a sauce pan, dutch oven or pot until it gets really hot (i.e. when a drop of water hits the pan, it sizzles like crazy).

Add the cumin seeds and fry until they start to brown. (You may not be doing this if you don't have cumin seeds)

Add the onion and stir well. Mix it up occasionally. When the onion starts getting soft and translucent, it's cooked enough.

Add the garlic, ginger and chiles. When the garlic turns light brown, it is time for the next step.

Put in the spices, stir well, and cook for another minute or two.

Pour in the tomatoes and stir occasionally. You want to make the tomatoes' water evaporate, so the sauce is thicker. Aim for something roughly as thick as tomato sauce; not too watery and not too thick.

** Now - Add your anything ingredient. 

This can be anything that you can think of -  from canned red beans to zucchini to pieces of leftover chicken. 

I chopped up some raw sweet potato and use a bag of frozen stew vegetables. 

Stir well, to let it absorb the ingredients. If the sauce starts gets too dry, just add some water and mix well.  - Since my sweet potatoes and the potatoes in my frozen stew veggies were both uncooked, I have to simmer mine for 20 minutes or so. 

Add the cilantro as garnish (cooking destroys a lot of its flavor and fragrance) and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with long-grain rice and the fantastic homemade naan from yesterday.