Happy New Year

I thought I should post something at the beginning of the year for no other reason than to hold myself accountable for what I may or may not do this year.  I'm not making any resolutions because that implies changing my life in some way and I pretty much like my life the way it is.  I do, however, have a short to-do list. Or maybe it's really more of a keep-doing list.

1. I'm going to keep exercising. My couch to 5k is going very slowly, but at least it's still going.  After almost 3 months I'm only on week 5 of the program, but that's mostly because I've been repeating weeks, not skipping my workout.  As a reward, if I'm still doing this in 2 weeks I'm going to buy myself a good pair of running shoes.  I thought I'd put my reward in the middle of January to make sure I stay motivated through any winter weather we might have.  There were a couple of below-freezing days in December (or was it November?) and I survived those with a couple extra layers of clothing, but I still haven't decided what I'll do if it rains.

2.  I'm going to keep sewing, although I have no specific plans in place yet.  I have a couple of projects I need to work on for Ashley this month then I'll do something for myself.  I have some vague ideas but I'm not ready to commit to any of them yet.

3.  I'm going to make bread.  Lots of bread.  This was pretty much our dinner last night:



I bought the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and I'm having lots of fun with it.  Now we can have warm bread for dinner almost every night.  Good thing I'm running, to work off some of this bread, right?

4.  I'm going to clean my desk.  Ok, that's a to-do item, not a keep-doing item, but I thought I should put it on here anyway.  Every morning I say I'm going to clean my desk and then I don't do it.  I'm pretty sure I can manage to get it done sometime during 2012.  I want to clean my sewing room too.  And maybe paint it and redecorate a little.  That doesn't get it's own number on the list though because it's more of a wishful-thinking item.  I just thought I'd throw it in here so if I actually do it I can brag a little.

That's it.  That's as big as I'm going to dream this year.  Now I have to end this post because the picture of the bread is making me hungry.  Happy New Year everyone!!

Ashley's favorite Indian food

Chicken Tikka Masala

Serves 4 – 6

This dish is best when prepared with whole-milk yogurt (like Brown Cow brand), but low-fat yogurt can be substituted. For spicy dish, leave the ribs and seeds in the chili; for a mild dish, remove them. Serve with rice.

Chicken Tikka:

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander

¼ teaspoon cayenne (ground red pepper)

1 teaspoon salt

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

Masala Sauce:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion, diced fine (about 1 ¼ cup)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 serrano chili, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon garam masala

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup heavy cream

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

For the Chicken: Combine cumin, coriander, cayenne, and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with spice mixture, pressing gently so mixture adheres. Place chicken on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes. In large bowl, whisk together yogurt, oil and garlic and set aside.

For the Sauce: Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until light golden, 8 – 10 minutes. Add garlic, chili, tomato paste, and garam masala; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cream and return to simmer. Remove pan from heat and cover to keep warm.

While the sauce simmers, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position (about 6 inches from heating element) and heat broiler. Using tongs, dip chicken into yogurt mixture (chicken should be coated with thick layer of yogurt) and arrange on wire rack set in foil-lined rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan. Discard excess yogurt mixture. Broil chicken until thickest parts register 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer and exterior is lightly charred in spots, 10 – 18 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.

Let the chicken rest 5 minutes, then cut into 1-inch chunks and stir into warm sauce (do not simmer chicken in the sauce). Stir in cilantro, adjust seasoning with salt, and serve.

Make ahead tips: The sauce can be made ahead of time and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days. I would think it could be frozen as long as you don’t add the cream until after it’s defrosted and heated.

I had to look at 4 grocery stores before I found garam masala. Look for it in the McCormick spice section. I think I found it at Safeway. Not all stores carry whole milk yogurt either. I found it in the organic dairy section at Raley’s.

The original recipe, in Cook’s Illustrated magazine (Sept./Oct. 2007), calls for 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger in the yogurt mixture and 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger in the masala sauce (added with garlic and chili), but I really don’t like ginger in anything but cookies.

My Favorite Food

I thought I'd start off with something that really makes me happy. I enjoy food in general, but I wouldn't say it makes me happy - except for this dish. I ate it yesterday when I was in a bad mood and sure enough, I can't be unhappy when I'm eating it!

Thai Chicken Sauté

(based on a recipe in Cooking Light, March 2007)

4 cups prepared rice

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips or pieces

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 tablespoon fish sauce

4 teaspoons canola oil

1 cup sliced onion

2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic

1/2 can of coconut milk

1 tablespoon Sriracha (hot chile sauce)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (optional)

Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook to desired texture (I like mine soft, but some people like them still crunchy). Add garlic to pan and cook one minute more. Remove onion and garlic mixture from pan.

Toss chicken with cornstarch and fish sauce. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in the pan, add chicken to pan and sauté 5 minutes or until done. Meanwhile mix together coconut milk, Sriracha, sugar and lime juice. When chicken is done, add coconut milk mixture and onion mixture to pan. Cook until everything is hot, about a minute.

Serve chicken mixture over hot rice and sprinkle each serving with cilantro.

Makes 4 - 5 servings

This recipe is fairly spicy, so if you don't like spicy foods you should cut back on the Sriracha. If you double the recipe you can freeze half of the chicken mixture after it's cooked and heat it up for dinner another night. Plus you won't end up with half a can of leftover coconut milk.