Thai Red Curry Chicken

I'm just going to not talk about my lack of frequent posting today and instead talk about yoga.  Just for a quick change of pace, and because this dinner was eaten at 10 pm so that I could go to yoga before I ate.  I'm lucky the Monkey Scientist grew up in a household where they almost always eat late dinners because this is becoming a more and more frequent occurrence for us, especially since my Tuesday and Thursday yoga classes are at 8.



Like this blog, my yoga journey started in DC.  When I was living in DC for my "intern summer" (my DC readers know what I'm talking about), I was working in a government affairs lobbying office on F Street for a huge IT company.  My family friends have always been huge into yoga, but I'd never been to a real class of my own.  I discovered this amazing yoga studio in Dupont Circle that I would walk to once or twice a week for class.  More importantly, I discovered a yoga teacher who was patient and wise and made me leave with such a sense of calm and happiness that I had never felt in any other type of exercise.  I dragged others to her class with me and enjoyed it all summer long.

I moved back to Michigan at the end of the summer to finish school and tried a yoga class here and there.  In January, I moved back to DC to find that my yoga teacher was off on a long journey that would eventually bring her to settle in Costa Rica.  My yoga studio had been turned into a nail salon (like seemingly many storefronts in DC).  I tried a few other studios, but they were so crowded that I didn't feel the personal centering I had felt before. And then I joined Stroga.



Stroga is meant to bring together strength and yoga.  Instead, I felt like it pulled them apart for me.  When I was going there, there was a big divide between the "strength people" who did group fitness classes and the "yoga people".  We were on different floors and there didn't seem to be a lot of overlap between people taking the different classes.  And so I got really into group fitness.  I learned to love (and hate) kettlebells, medicine balls, and TRX.  And I never ventured down to the yoga floor - in fact I kind of drew away from yoga.  By the time the infamous NY Times article came out, I was done with yoga.  Me and my kettlebells had moved on.

And then I moved to Chicago.  I was dying to join a studio with group fitness classes, like Stroga had been for me in DC.  There is actually a studio that's really similar to Stroga right across the street from my house, but I couldn't justify spending hundreds of dollars per month on a gym membership.  So I joined the regular gym across the street (for less than $40 per month) and tried to bring everything I'd learned at Stroga to my own gym routine.  I saw yoga classes on the schedule, but until I had a big push from my roommate, I had no interest.  But he pushed me, and I'm glad he did.



I am so lucky that yoga at my gym is wonderful.  I've been to what I call "gym yoga" classes at other gyms where they push you and don't correct you, and I think these are the types of injury-laden classes the NY Times was talking about.  Even though one of our weekly classes is yoga sculpt, our wonderful instructors correct me constantly and have pushed me far beyond any limits I felt before.  In fact, my yoga sculpt class is where I am CONSTANTLY being yelled at to plug my shoulders into my back, which has improved my arms stands and head stands tremendously.

So I'm back into yoga.  I feel like I'm getting a lot stronger from it and I'm starting to find that peace of mind back that brought me to love yoga in the first place.  Still, some weeks, I have no interest in going. But others I find myself on the mat three times a week.  For someone who has never been big into working out, that's huge for me.  It makes me earn this curry dish.  With regular coconut milk.



Thai Red Curry Chicken
from Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1″ knob ginger, peeled and grated
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks
3 tbsp red curry paste
3 cups coconut milk, light or regular
1 1/2 cups water
2 baby bok choy, chopped
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped snow peas
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and julienned or diced into 1/4″ thick pieces
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp salt
cooked rice or quinoa for serving

Instructions
1. In a dutch oven over medium high heat, melt the coconut oil.
2. Add the grated ginger and saute until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.  Don't let it start to brown.
3. Throw in the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is seared on all sides but not cooked through.  Add the curry paste and continue cooking and stirring for 2 minutes.
4. Pour in the water and coconut milk (be sure to shake or stir the coconut milk before adding) along with the bok choy, bell pepper, snow peas, and sweet potatoes.  Bring to a boil.
5.  Once boiling, add the sugar, fish sauce, lime, and salt.  Turn the heat down to medium or low and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Serve over rice or quinoa.

Paella Shrimp

It has been a long time since I last made paella! Honestly, living in Chicago, I never thought we'd make it again.  This isn't exactly the seafood capitol of the world, and I am lacking a paella pan (we used my friend's last time).  So when the roommate suggested it, I was... well, I was asleep. Solidly napping. I didn't even click the link in his text, I just send back the letter K and possibly a "stop texting me I'm napping."  Hey, we had a busy morning eating endlessly and playing Bocce to celebrate the Monkey Scientist's parents' anniversary!  The Monkey Scientist and I deserved a nap!



Anyways when I finally re-entered the world and looked at my phone, I figured out we were having paella and I was actually really excited. Nervous about how to make it without a paella pan, but excited.  As it turns out, you can TOTALLY make paella in the cast iron skillet. So even though I'd totally gorged myself on the all you can eat buffet that morning, I was ready for a big paella dinner.



I should start by saying, this recipe is totally different than my other paella recipe.  If you live by the water and have access to great seafood, I'd probably tell you to stick with that one. It's just so loaded with goodies. But for paella in the Midwest, aside from just making a meat-based paella with chorizo, this one is pretty awesome.  The flavors are great. The rice cooks perfectly.  And the shrimp are briny and perfect. Plus artichokes? You can never go wrong with artichokes.  I just might fall asleep and let someone pick my dinner more often!



Paella Shrimp
from What's Cooking America?

Ingredients
1 to 1 1/2 pounds raw extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined (save the shells!)
Ground sea salt
2 1/4 cups bottled clam juice or fish stock
3/4 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup uncooked Spanish or Arborio Rice
2 tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons Spanish paprika
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (for garnish)
Lemon wedges

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sprinkle the shrimp with ground sea salt.
3. In a large saucepan over medium-heat heat, heat the clam juice or fish broth, wine, and saffron; reduce heat to low and keep broth hot (not boiling. (I love making my own fish broth, but we didn't have the time so we used bottled clam juice. However, since we didn't have enough, we also boiled the shrimp shells in some water to make extra broth. Like I did here. Easy a pie.)
4. In a large Paella Pan or heavy cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Add onion and red bell pepper. Stir to mix and cook 3 minutes or until slightly softened.
5. Remove pan from heat. Stir in garlic and rice and continue stirring until garlic is fragrant and the rice is evenly coated with oil, about 1 minute.
6. Stir in tomatoes, paprika, and salt. Toss 30 seconds or so.
7. Stir in hot clam/saffron broth mixture. Return to heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer (stirring and rotating the pan occasionally) 10 to 15 minutes or until rice is no longer soupy but sufficient liquid remains to continue cooking the rice in the oven.
8. Stir in shrimp and artichokes hearts.
9. Transfer paella pan/cast-iron skillet to the oven and cook, uncovered, about 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is almost al dente and until almost all liquid is absorbed. (NOTE: Never cook paella until the rice is completely done. If you do, it will be mushy by the time it reaches the table. Remove from the oven when the rice grains are no longer hard but still have more bite than you want and a crust forms around the edge of the pan.)
10. Remove from oven, cover with aluminum foil, and let sit 5 to 10 minutes or until the rice is cooked to taste. Paella must rest after being removed from the oven, during which time the final cooking takes place.
11. To serve, sprinkle with chopped parsley and arrange lemon wedges around the top of the paella. Serve immediately. To eat, squeeze lemon juice over paella.

Makes 4 servings.

What we had for dinner this week

OK I'm still behind on blogging.  I have no pretty pictures for you.  But I wanted to share the recipes we made this week to give you cooking inspiration!

Sunday night: Bibimbop from Cooking Light  We used steak instead of tofu (the Monkey Scientist is from the Midwest, I can't just be feeding him tofu!).  Bibimbop is my favorite Korean dish.  My favorite is from Kang's in Ann Arbor - I love how the hot stone makes the rice at the bottom crispy.  This recipe simulated it well by crisping up the rice in the cast iron skillet.  Lots of wonderful Asian flavors.

Monday night: Roasted Chicken with Red-Skinned Potatoes and Carrots
Washed a 5 1/2 lb chicken, covered in olive oil, chicken seasoning from the Christmas Tree Shop, and freshly ground black pepper, inside and out. Stuffed it with a lemon, cut in half.  Filled a dish with quartered potatoes and carrots (did nothing else to them beside clean and cut) and then put the chicken on top.  Baked at 475 for 25 minutes and then at 400 for 45 minutes.  I cooked it breast-side up for the first 45 minutes and then flipped it for the last 25.  Perfection, and still eating leftovers for lunch.

Tuesday night: We ate at Tesoro in Van Ness.  Not overly impressed.

Wednesday night: Spicy Chicken Thighs with Cucumber Avocado Salsa from Cookin' Canuck  - I'm now completely obsessed with this recipe.  Took 15 minutes to throw together, including cooking time, and tastes AMAZING.  The ancho chili powder (which I got at World Market) and cumin have almost a cinnamon-like spice to them.  The honey in the salsa is the perfect amount of sweetness and the lime gives just the right tang.  I loved the load of vegetables on top of the chicken - I didn't even need to make a grain to fill us up.  We made it on a cookie sheet with sprayed with olive oil rather than a rack and it was fine.  Definitely give this one a try!

Thursday night:  BBQ night!  Our friends have been organizing barbecues every Thursday at my apartment building.  This week I'm bringing Peanut Butter Cup S'mores Bars from Mel's Sweet Life.  The assembly wasn't so easy (forming that last bit into an 8x8 square? All I had was crumbs.)  But they've been sitting on my counter overnight and I'm quite confident they'll be delicious.

Hopefully I can get you some full recipes and pics over the weekend... I will do my best!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

As I have mentioned, the Monkey Scientist frequently brings up the stuffed peppers I made for him back in April as one of his favorite meals I've made for him.  I ought to make them again - they were really fantastic.  But since it finally dipped below freezing this week, I decide to make a soup version!



Although this is a Skinny Taste recipe, which means it's lightened up and healthier, it is absolutely filling.  I did make some adaptations, so it doesn't fit the nutritional facts on the original recipe anymore, but I think I may have made it even healthier by substituting the red meat for chicken.  The Monkey Scientist had a big bowl and said that he was actually full, but he kept eating because he felt like he should.  For us ladies who aren't trying to keep up with a ridiculously fast metabolism, you'll be plenty full with one low fat, low calorie bowl.  It's exactly the kind of meal that makes you feel good about yourself during the holiday season.



I'm usually not a big fan of tomato-based soups, but I found this one particularly savory and delicious.  I added red pepper flakes because when I asked the Monkey Scientist to hand me the salt and pepper, he handed me salt and red pepper flakes.  (Why do I feel like that one act perfectly sums up my boyfriend's eating preferences?)  It turned out to be a great addition and I loved the kick it gave the soup.



Overall, a true winner.  We both thought it was warm, comforting, savory and great tasting.  It had all the flavors of our favorite stuffed peppers, but was a great winter substitution that warmed us right up.  It would be a perfect soup to bring to the ski mountain in your Bubba Keg (OK, that comment was directed straight at my Mom).

Now we're on a kick - which of my other recipes can we turn into soups?



Stuffed Pepper Soup
adapted from Gina's Skinny Taste

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked brown rice (I used long-grain)
2 tsp olive oil
1 lb ground chicken (or any other low-fat ground meat)
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely diced onion (I used frozen chopped onions)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz each) cans petite diced tomatoes
1 3/4 - 2 cups tomato sauce (I used one 14.5-oz can and 8-oz can of Hunt's)
2 cups reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth (I used Cottage Inn)
1/2 tsp dried herbes de provence
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt and fresh pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat oil then brown ground chicken on high heat and season with salt.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low, then add peppers, onions and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes on low heat.
3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, herbes de provence, red pepper flakes, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
4. Serve about 1 1/3 cups of soup in each bowl and top with 1/2 cup cooked brown rice.  You can also sprinkle parmesan cheese on top if you like.

Ratatouille? A peasant's dish?

Round here, we LOVE Ratatouille.  You know...the movie?



My little brother works as a chef in the summers and used to have long curly hair, and of course has the nose (sorry, Matt) so everyone at the restaurant calls him Linguine. My parents went into the restaurant to eat one day and said they were "Matt's parents" and it took a minute before they said OH LINGUINE'S parents! My mom just loves the nickname.  She even got him this book at a yard sale when I was home in July.



Ratatouille also happens to be one of the Monkey Scientist's favorite films.  We both enjoy watching animated films (I may or may not have cried when we watched Toy Story 3 a couple weeks ago) and he couldn't believe I'd never seen Ratatouille when we met!  He brought it back from his parents' house for me when he went home to visit and I just fell in love - what a cute film.



After all this Ratatouille love, I realized I'd never actually had the dish.  When I tried to go for a run this week, I was feeling totally unmotivated.  Then, I ran into my usual farmer's market.  I'd totally forgotten that it's open Tuesdays as well as Saturdays!  Seeing all the fresh vegetables, I just knew it was the night for ratatouille. Plus, one of my coworkers had given me some fresh basil from his garden!



I couldn't BELIEVE what an easy recipe it was!  It's a one-pot meal - throw it in and let it cook.  Totally low maintenance!  Of course, as you can see from my pre-cooking photos, I totally ignored the proportions of the ingredients below and loaded up on the crushed red pepper flakes... recipes are just guidelines right?



Now that we've eaten it, I think I love the dish as much as I love the movie.  It's totally loaded up on flavor.  Plus it has no fat or carbs, yet it's so filling!  I enjoyed having fresh veggies from the farmer's market as well, I think they made it even better.  The Monkey Scientist told me he liked it even better than Remy's!

The only change I'd make? I'd throw a whole bunch of goat cheese on top!  (Definitely doing that with the leftovers!)



Ratatouille
from Jenna of EatLiveRun on PBS Blog

Ingredients
3 large tomatoes, diced
2 zucchini, sliced and halved
2 summer squashes, sliced and halved
1 red bell pepper, chopped (I used a yellow bell pepper)
1 small eggplant, chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, minced
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions
1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Once hot, add the bell pepper, zucchini, and summer squash and saute for about 6-8 minutes until just tender.
2. Add the eggplant and tomatoes and continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes until the mixture is thick and stew-like.
3. Add half the basil followed by salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir well, adding more seasoning if you desire.
4. Serve ratatouille with additional fresh basil (and/or goat cheese!) and crusty bread for dipping.

Lentil Pot Pie

I know, yet again, it's been a while.  I know you've felt neglected, and I'm sorry. I have some excuses.

For one, I had some terrible stomach thing going on where I'd be starving, I'd eat 2 bites and be full.  It was not fun.  Then, I had to enjoy my last few times going out to eat in DC with one of my favorite coworkers, who's left me to move to New Haven and work from home. We also had to go out to dinner to say goodbye to the Monkey Scientist's roommates, some of whom have left us for med school.  It was a big Chinese-food-in-Rockville week. And after all that, the Monkey Scientist has been moving into a new apartment and I've been trying to help him.  There was lots of packing and box-carrying.  I really hadn't cooked anything since my roast chicken.



That's not entirely true, I did make one meal...but it wasn't exactly blog-worthy and I didn't exactly have time/energy to take photos.  The night we moved the MS into the new apt, at 10 pm when we were exhausted and starving, I cooked with the only food he moved from the old house.  Which was frozen fish, Ritz crackers, and spices.  I defrosted the fish, crushed and seasoned the crackers with Caribbean jerk seasoning, coated the fish with the crumbs, added some olive oil and baked.  See, not blog-worthy. (But yes, I was impressed with myself for throwing that one together!)



To be honest, I wasn't even really going to cook dinner again last night, but I had this great idea.  Really, my idea was to make up my own recipe with lentils and puff pastry, which I already had at home.  I was going to cook the lentils with onions and then add tomato paste and somehow wrap them up in puff pastry... well I wasn't quite sure.  So I googled "lentils puff pastry" and this is what came up.



When I made it, I realized it looked a lot like pot-pie, so that's why I named it that.  Plus, my Lentil Sheperd's Pie was such a hit, I figured this could be like a follow up post.  If you liked that you'll like this - it also is a great way to use lentils, is SUPER inexpensive to make, has a warm, comfort food feel, and tastes great!   And of course, I kicked the spice factor way up in both recipes.  If you're not a spice person, you can leave out all the cayenne and red pepper flakes I added here (but that'd be bo-ring!).  The one comfort food joy it does lack that goo (...err gravy?) inside a real chicken pot pie.  I need to work on that.



So some caveats.... The puff pastry was left over and the box was already open, so it was a little dried out.  It tasted fine, but that's why it looks crackled in the pictures.  Also, the original recipe called for French green lentils.  Being the good American I am, I used American brown lentils.  I think they cook a lot quicker than the French green ones, so I adjusted the recipe that you see below from the original - mainly that I didn't soak them.  The lentil bag said I didn't have to! Just be aware depending on the kind of lentils you use.  Finally, I added bacon because...well like I said I'm a good American.  If you're a vegetarian, you can totally take it out. But then it won't taste at all like bacon...which may be a crime.



The MS was working pretty late, so I prepped the filling earlier in the evening and then brought it over to the new apartment to add the dough topping and bake them.  This worked out perfectly (can you see his new kitchen in the background of some of the photos?).  The filling filled all the ramekins I have (2 big, 4 little) with some leftover.  The puff pastry only covered the ones I filled, but I probably could have rolled it out thinner to cover one extra.  The MS ate 2 big ramekins, and I ate 1 little for dinner, in case you're wondering how many portions you'll get.



This one was a pretty good recipe.  When they were fresh out of the oven, I was thinking some cheese probably could have helped this.  If you make your own puff pastry, maybe add some shredded cheddar into the dough.  As I mentioned, I would have liked a little more liquid as well.  There has to be some way to imitate the gravy in pot pie for these.  I think the extra spice was totally necessary to give it good flavor. I enjoyed this one - and the little pies are super cute! A big version would be a good thing to bring to Thanksgiving (and man that's coming up sooner than I'd like to believe!).



Lentil Pot Pie
adapted from Whole Foods

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 dried bay leaf
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 shallots, finely chopped
10 baby carrots, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, diced
2 pieces turkey bacon (you can use pork bacon, but then you probably don't need the oil)
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine (I used Manischewitz)
1/2 package puff pastry, defrosted (you can make your own if you like!)

Instructions
1. Put lentils in a medium pot with 3 cups water, bay leaf, and 1 tsp cayenne pepper.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until lentils are tender but still hold a little texture, about 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Heat oil over medium heat in a larger pot. Add shallots, carrots, bell pepper, bacon, salt, pepper, cayenne, red pepper flakes and cook, stirring frequently, until browned, 7-8 minutes.
4. Add garlic and tomatoes, stir well, then add wine to deglaze.  Scrape up all the bacon goodness.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for an additional 5 minutes.
5. Add lentils and any remaining cooking liquid to pot with vegetables.  Simmer over medium low heat, uncovered, until sauce has thickened, 10-15 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and red pepper flakes.
6. Pour lentils into individual ramekins (or one deep pie dish).  On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry dough to 1/8" thickness. Cut into circles just slightly larger than the tops of the ramekins. Place dough over lentils and make a few slashes over the top to allow steam to escape.
7. Bake until golden brown and piping hot, 25-30 min (ramekins on the higher oven racks will be done faster).

Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Peppers

Here is something Mom never made growing up - stuffed peppers.  My dad detests them.  Apparently my grandmother used to make them, but I have little memory of hers.

I tried to make them once last year and failed. Miserably.  The recipe didn't tell you to pre-cook brown rice, claiming it would cook inside the pepper.  It didn't.

This recipe originally called for bulgur (cooked first!), but I used quinoa instead since I already had it. And I love quinoa!

I also kicked up the spice a lot - per usual. I doubled the amount of red pepper flakes and added cayenne pepper.  I loved the extra spice but if you can't handle the heat, feel free to tone it down or omit all together.

The kicker in these peppers were the artichokes.  Artichokes just might be my favorite veggie (are they a veggie?) - I love them fresh but I also love canned hearts.  I could eat them straight out of the can.  And they are a wonderful addition to this recipe.

Yes, I did bake them in a heart shaped pan.  But only because my 8 x 8 inch pan was used for dessert.  I'll let you know what I made soon!

Overall, this was a really great recipe.  The quinoa is nutty, while the cottage cheese and turkey are hardy, and the peppers are sweet. The dish was very filling! And it really isn't that difficult to put together - although it did make a lot more dirty dishes than I would have liked. The hardest part was finding a side dish, since almost every food group - meat, dairy, grain, veg - were all covered by the stuffed pepper.  We ended up eating it with greek salad, which was a great complement.  I recommend you make these. For dinner. Tonight.

Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Peppers
Adapted slightly from Cara's Cravings


Ingredients:
1/4 cup quinoa
4 large red bell peppers
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 15oz can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and chopped
1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 oz grated pecorino romano cheese, divided
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce (I used Newman's Own Sockarooni) 


Instructions:
In a small saucepan, cook quinoa according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully cut the stems from the peppers and remove the seeds and inner ribs. Cook the peppers in boiling water for about 5 minutes; drain and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cook the ground turkey, onion, and garlic in a skillet over medium heat, stirring to break up the ground turkey, until browned. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and crushed red pepper. Add the chopped artichoke hearts and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, combine the ground turkey mixture, cooked quinoa, cottage cheese, basil, parsley, and 3/4 of the pecorino romano cheese; mix well.

Spray an 8x8" baking dish or small casserole. Fill the peppers with the turkey mixture, packing the stuffing in well. Place the peppers in the baking dish and spoon the spaghetti sauce over. Sprinkle with remaining pecorino romano.

Bake, uncovered, for about 25 minutes.