Tomato Curry Lentil Stew

Every week I try to make a soup. It's a nice quick lunch when we're busy, it's something Kevin can take to work if we don't have leftovers from the night before, and they're filling and generally inexpensive. I actually made this recipe when I made the masoor dal, in case it wasn't filling enough. No one else ate it but me that night, and in the days since I can say that this is definitely a make ahead dish. It has gotten MUCH better while hanging out in my fridge!

Here is the recipe.

1-1/2 cups dry lentils
3 cups water
15 ounces stewed tomatoes
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons chopped onion
6 stalks celery, chopped, with leaves
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
9 cloves garlic, minced
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Combine lentils and water, bring to a boil.
Lower heat to simmer, add tomatoes, onion, and celery. Cover and let simmer 45 minutes. Check every 15 minutes to stir, and add water if necessary. Add spices last 15 minutes to taste. Taste and re-spice if necessary before serving.

I like allrecipes.com because they have the option of changing the number of servings and they give you an altered recipe. It really takes the guess work out of it, which is fantastic. I made this recipe with 6 servings, so that I could buy a 15 oz can of stewed tomatoes (I hate recipes that only call for 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste when the smallest can you can buy is 4 or 6 ounces!) Anyway, I probably wouldn't use stewed tomatoes again, they're basically whole tomatoes that have been stewed, so you have some really big unwieldy blobs of tomato hanging out in your soup. I'm not a fan of needing to cut your soup (unless it's matzo ball soup!) so I'd probably substitute a can of diced tomatoes. I added about a cup of water at the 15 and 30 minute mark as well.



This is a tasty soup, and with the few changes I've mentioned, I think it's a real winner for a make ahead soup. The recipe was really cheap to make, and for those on WIC, this is a great way to use the dried beans you get (and the beauty of lentils are that they don't need to be soaked overnight!)

Masoor Dal

A friend of mine was telling me that incorporating a vegetarian meal at least once a week into her menu has helped cut her grocery costs. I think that's awesome, and I'd heard of "Meatless Monday" in the past. I love Indian food, and it's hard to get the family on board when we're looking for somewhere to go out to eat (they NEVER want to go!) so I decided to take matters into my own hands and make some at home. My husband likes lentil soup, so I figured this would be a fantastic recipe to try because there's nothing in it that he doesn't like (except for ginger, but tumeric is a heavy spice, so I figured it would blend in.)

I went to Sprouts and got the tumeric and cumin seeds by the ounce. I think it cost me like 30 cents for the spices, and I had much more than I needed.

Here is the recipe.

1 cup red lentils
1 slice ginger, 1 inch piece, peeled
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 teaspoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon cumin seeds

Rinse lentils thoroughly and place in a medium saucepan along with ginger, turmeric, salt and cayenne pepper. Cover with about 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that forms on top of the lentils. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender and soupy.

Meanwhile, in a microwave safe dish combine oil, dried onion and cumin seeds. Microwave on high for 45 seconds to 1 minute; be sure to brown, but not burn, onions. Stir into lentil mixture.


Again, I did a variation on the recipe. Looking at the reviews, someone said it's better to use fresh onion (I wasn't about to buy dried onion just for this, even though I could get it by the ounce) and I'd NEVER heard of anything browning properly in the microwave, so I browned the onion and garlic in the oil on the stove while the lentils were doing their thing. The recipe had great flavor and only my 2 year old refused to eat it (she just wanted to eat rice.) My 5 year old LOVED it, and my husband liked it, so I call it a win. The lentils can be bought by the ounce as well, and I think it was only $2 for the lentils I needed for the recipe (note, the recipe yields only 4 small servings, but can be altered on the page, they do all the work for you, yay! I highly recommend making more, it was very tasty.)



Obviously I served it over rice. It doesn't look like much, but it packs a lot of flavor. The great thing about lentils is that they're one of the highest vegetarian forms of iron, and when paired with rice, they make a complete protein dish. In short, this dish is tasty, easy on the wallet, AND good for you!

Jalapeno poppers!

I found this recipe for yellow peppers stuffed with quinoa, corn, and feta cheese and wanted to try it. While grocery shopping at Fresh & Easy, I saw they only had a big bag of jalapenos as opposed to selling them by the piece. I grabbed the bag and some neufchatel cheese, and figured I'd make baked jalapeno poppers. We had some that were lackluster from Buffalo Wings and Rings the night before, and I figured I couldn't do much worse! My husband talks about these poppers that the wife of a coworker from a previous unit (5+ years ago!) made, and I was a little jealous to be honest. If he's going to be talking about someone's poppers, I want them to be mine, dang it! I tried 2 different recipes, one mixing cheddar cheese, cream cheese, garlic, and paprika, and the other just straight cream cheese. Both are wrapped in delicious bacon, I highly recommend getting nitrate free bacon, this way you can feel super good about your choice to nosh on deliciousness.

Recipe #1

5 large jalapenos (or more if they're smaller)
1/2 c cream cheese
1 c shredded cheddar
1 t salt
pinch of pepper
3/4 t smoked paprika
1 clove garlic, crushed
5 slices bacon

So, I don't think I ever really follow recipes exactly. Between a picky husband and kids, and my love of garlic, I'm always making changes. In this one, I used neufchatel cheese in place of cream cheese (in a fruitless attempt to make them better for me, heh!) and used about 5 cloves of garlic. Don't worry, it's not too much! Basically, this puppy is easy, I cut the tops off the jalapenos, slit it down the middle, and scraped out the membranes and seeds. I mixed the cream cheese, shredded cheese, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic all together, then stuffed those bad boys. I would recommend you not stuff them too much, a lot of it ended up on my baking sheet, which really sucked, even though I tried hard not to stuff them too much. You wrap them in bacon, and keep it in place with a toothpick.



I took this picture while Kevin was taking them off the roaster (so the bacon fat would have somewhere to go!) I followed the recipe's guidelines, and it wasn't enough time. It was all pale and not so tasty, the bacon was stretchy and blech. We popped them back in the oven for another 10 minutes at 375, I would say a MINIMUM of 30 minutes in the oven.

Recipe #2

Now, this recipe is super simple. Cut the jalapenos in half, scoop out it's guts, fill with cream cheese and wrap with 1/3 of a strip of bacon then secure with a toothpick. Again, we followed the directions on the recipe for cooking time, and they came out much better.



Excuse the messy plate, but as you can see the bacon is much crisper looking. This was tasty, but we were missing the flavor of the first one.

Side by side pic


Verdict?

I would follow recipe # 1, but use a longer cooking time, and add way more than the 4 garlic cloves that I added (but then again, I love garlic!) If you're doing it for a game day situation, I'd do the recipe #2 situation (1/2 a pepper wrapped in 1/3 slice of bacon) to help stretch ingredients, but still use the filling recipe from recipe #1.

Tomatillo Avocado Salsa

I'm planning on having a jewelry party sometime in November and like a total food minded person, I'm already scanning my magazines for tasty noms for the party! Last time I had Wheat Thins Tuscan Herb flatbread crackers (OH MY GOSH! So tasty and NO HFCS or hydrogenated oils, only problem is the commissary stopped carrying them!), some alouette brand spinach and artichoke cheese spread, sliced cucumber and carrots, homemade mango salsa (don't ask for the recipe, my friend made it and she's not sharing it unfortunately) and tortilla chips and salsa from the local Mexican market. The spread cost less than $20, and everyone loved everything. This time I wanted to make more of it myself since we won't have guests this time around and I can devote a little more time to cooking or preparing food.

Anyway, I got this recipe from Diet & Nutrition magazine, which is a pretty amazing magazine if you've never heard of it. I made a half batch of this recipe and gobbled it down all by myself. I didn't use the cilantro or the cumin seeds, though next time I make it I'll have to give it a shot!

8 oz tomatillos, papery husks removed, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 1/2 avocados, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 scallions, white and light green parts only, minced
1 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded if you wish (a must if you don't like it too spicy), and minced
3 tbsp minced cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground toasted cumin seeds (optional)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil

To make the salsa, combine all the ingredients except the vinegar and oil in a bowl. Mix well but gently, taking care not to mash the avocado. Whisk together the vinegar and oil until emulsified, and add just enough of this to the salsa to moisten it. Reserve any leftover vinaigrette to use in other salad dressings.

Here is a picture of the finished product:


Now, on to the menu. I'm thinking of getting tortilla chips from the Mexican market, serving this, mango quesadillas, and chicken tortilla soup. Any thoughts on the menu?

Giveaway!

The Thrifty Mama is giving away 4 copies of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred! If you want instant gratification, it is on sale on Amazon for $8.49, it's eligible for Super Saver shipping, and if you order it now, you can get it in time to join in the fun of the 30 day shred going on with other bloggers.

I haven't been the best blogger, but this month I'm going to try to join in on the blogging fun, so starting Monday I will be definitely posting more often!

So, it's been awhile

Summer has been pretty busy for us. My husband has basically been working nonstop, which means little break for moi. Food has been pretty rudimentary, simple grilled protein, rice, and veggies for the most part. I have had a chance to try a few new recipes and I'm very eager to share them with you :)

First, we have cashew noodles with tofu and broccoli. I got this recipe from a Whole Foods "The whole deal" coupon book. I don't go to Whole Foods all that often, but I do know that they have some fantastic recipes in them, and I wish I had found out sooner that they have budget friendly recipes online. Click here for the link. Here's the recipe:

Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 large head organic broccoli, stemmed and cut into small florets
3/4 lb 365 Everyday Value Wide or Extra Wide Enriched Egg Noodles
3 tbsp 365 Everyday Value Organic Ginger Soy Vinaigrette, divided
3/4 c roasted, unsalted cashews
1 8-oz pkg Thai or Teriyaki baked tofu, cut into 1" cubes

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add broccoli and cook until al dente, 3-4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer broccoli to a large plate; set aside. Return water to a boil; add noodles and cook until al dente, 7-8 minutes; drain well. Meanwhile, put vinaigrette, cashews and 1/2 cup water into a blender and puree until smooth. Return hot noodles to pot along with cashew mixture, broccoli and tofu and cook over medium heat, tossing gently, until heated through, 1-2 minutes more; transfer to bowls and serve.

Serves 4, $2.77 per serving.


Ok, I'm going to confess right off the bat, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. First of all, I didn't drive all the way across town to get their specific noodles and vinaigrette. I got Drew's brand soy ginger dressing and marinade. I baked my own tofu because I couldn't find it. Sometimes I get myself into situations where I don't think something is too hard and then find myself up to my eyeballs in trouble. This wasn't the case, luckily. I took a pound of extra firm tofu, cut it into slices, and marinaded it in a mixture of 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp yellow mustard, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tsp ginger (I used the dried powdered ginger from the spice aisle, would probably taste awesome with fresh!) for 30 minutes, flipping it over at 15 minutes. I baked it at 350 for about 80 minutes, flipping it every 20 minutes until it got to the texture I liked. This is subjective, and I recommend doing a test batch, but I love baked tofu and will definitely be making this more often.


I didn't like that the recipe has you basically discard the stems of the broccoli. I like to peel it with a potato peeler and slice it into coins, I also peel the stems of the florets, it takes away the tough texture and makes the broccoli a nice soft texture. In a practical area as well, I find it greatly diminishes the likelihood of broccoli farts. I did this while the tofu was baking.

Anywho, I boiled the broccoli, then the noodles. I added the broccoli to the noodles in the big pot I boiled the noodles in. I added the dressing to taste, and when the tofu was done I cut it up into smaller bits and added it. The cashews I sprinkled on top as I wanted (seriously, why get the blender dirty too?) The kids didn't like it very much, and the hubby refused to eat it. For once I was happy with their pickiness, more for me! Here's a picture of the finished product:



There are some more recipes that I've tried that I'll be sharing with you very shortly, but time is short right now, so I've got to go!

Chicken parmigiana, awww yeah!

My husband has been out of town, so I invited 2 ladies that I know over for dinner, and decided to make chicken parmigiana. Most of the time when I make chicken parm, I'll take some shortcut, whether it be prebreaded chicken or bottled sauce, but this time I decided that I wanted to go all the way. I wanted to make the sauce and the chicken myself. I've been reading a lot lately about the benefits of brining poultry before cooking, the two biggies were that it speeds up cooking time and it almost guarantees (if you don't overcook it) a moist piece of meat. Here's what I did:

1 gallon cold water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
Healthy sprinkling of Italian seasoning (I like the mixture of basil, oregano, thyme and margoram)

I boiled half a gallon of cold water, the salt, sugar, and Italian seasoning. I let it cool for a little while then added the other half gallon. I poured some of the brine in a ziploc baggie with the 4 chicken breasts I was going to use for the parm and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

While the brine was doing it's job, I prepared some roasted garlic for the sauce. My base sauce recipe (what I go off of and add to it as I see fit) calls for 2 cloves of garlic, but I think that's really weak! I'd been wanting to roast garlic for awhile, and now that I've done it, I'm definitely doing it more often (after I buy more garlic!) It takes the bite out of the garlic and leaves a deep comforting flavor. Eating a garlic clove would be disgusting, but if it's roasted, you wouldn't have a problem with it!

I took about 3/4 of a head of garlic, cut the bottoms off, and separated it into individual cloves. Then I put in it a pocket of tin foil, drizzled olive oil on it, and closed up the tin foil pocket. I roasted it at 250 degrees for an hour, and when it was done the roasted garlic came out of the paper skin easily.

So, now it's time for the sauce! 2 turns of a saucepan of olive oil, add a few cloves of chopped garlic and 1/2 a yellow onion. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes, don't let it brown! Add 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, the roasted garlic, and then I like to blend it so I don't have to worry about picky eaters getting mad that I didn't cut the onions smaller (while my eyes are burning and tears are streaming down my face... onion cutting isn't something I like to do!) I then drain a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (I like the fire roasted ones) and add it to the sauce for texture. Add as much basil as you like (tear it or cut it, I like to cut it into strips myself), salt and pepper.

Now the chicken!

Take your chicken out of the brine and pat it dry. Beat 2 large egg whites, and coat the chicken breasts with the egg whites, then coat in a mixture of 1 cup of bread crumbs (I used panko) and 2 tbsp of Italian seasoning. A little olive oil and a screaming hot pan, 4 minutes on each side. While the chicken is cooking, spray your baking pan with some cooking spray (or coat with oil) and put a little sauce along the bottom. Place chicken in the dish and pour remaining sauce evenly over the chicken. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake until bubbly, about 25 minutes.

I served mine with garlic bread and spaghetti noodles. My 2 year old was shoving it into her mouth while asking if she could have some of mine. My 5 year old was scarfing it down. Sometimes chicken parm comes out with dry chicken, but the brine really helps.

Shopping list!

Chicken breast
kosher salt
sugar
Italian seasoning
Garlic
Olive Oil
Eggs
Panko bread crumbs
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Onion
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
14 oz can diced tomatoes
Fresh basil
Parmesan cheese


Seriously though, go to the link above (brine's job), there's a lot of good information on brining.