It's been quite a while.

Many months have passed since I last blogged. What does that tell you? Life has been one hectic, but fun ride. And here we are in 2009.

The husband and I had great holiday season. We trekked up to Seattle, a foodie central, to visit family during Christmas. It was a wonderful visit, getting to spend time with family that we hardly see. There was lots of laughter and talking and of course, eating. I am blessed with a family who knows how to cook well and eat well. And in Seattle, there was no exception. We had quite an adventure, going out to eat at some places that offered phenomenal gastropub fare - Quinn's Pub (wild boar sloppy joes, fried frog legs in buffalo wing sauce, frites with truffle oil, beef bone marrow, and gnocchi with rabbit ragout) - to the best little burger joint in the neighborhood - Red Mill Burgers (Bacon Deluxe with Cheese - peppered bacon cheese burger with the Mill Sauce). Plus, my family cooked some fantastic meals. My sister-in-law, one evening, made mushroom risotto accompanied by an endive and apple salad with blue cheese dressing. I was a little nervous eating endive (I didn't even know what it was) but it sure was delicious. This same awesome sister-in-law showed me how to make my own batch of granola.

I very well could just buy granola at the nearby grocery store. That would be easy, fast, and pretty cheap. But with the opportunity of making my very own, why settle for store-bought? And I actually know what is going into what I am making.

So here's my own version of homemade granola (fashioned after my sister-in-law's recipe):

2 cups of uncooked oatmeal
3/4 cup of light corn syrup (don't worry, it's not evil and it's in about everything you can buy and eat from a store. If you'd prefer, use honey)
chopped nuts (I used hazelnuts because they were on sale)
dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)
*seeds (sunflower, etc) - optional
*milled flaxseed (almost in powder form, for some good omega-3 fatty acids) - optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In a bowl, mix the uncooked oatmeal and chopped nuts together.
2. Pour light corn syrup into the bowl and mix everything thoroughly so that the oats and nuts were coated and starting to bunch together. (At this point, I also added the milled flaxseed)
3. In an ungreased, nonstick cookie sheet, spread the mixture evenly.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes, then remove from the oven so you can "mix" the granola and flip it over (you will notice it starting to brown). This way, the granola will be broken up.
5. Bake for another 5 minutes, then you're done!
6. Let it sit for another 10 minutes, out of the oven, until it's cool to the touch.
7. Once cooled, transfer the granola into an airtight container (break into bunches if necessary) and mix in dried cranberries.
8. Voila! Homemade granola. Great to eat as a snack, in fat-free plain yogurt (put in a little "Sugar in the Raw") or in milk as cereal.

This recipe is open to preference and variation, so don't be afraid to do a little bit of experimentation. I know I will!

Saturday.

On this fine Saturday, I've already been quite productive. I went to my old workplace to train the new receptionist who took over my position (long story), ran an errand and spent a couple of hours deep-cleaning the two bathrooms at our apartment. So what do I do for a well-deserved break?

I bake.

Yes, that's right. Baking has become quite theraputic for me. If I had a bigger kitchen and more money, there'd be a lot more baking. (My husband is sort of nervous about this, because he doesn't want to get fat from eating all the goodies I make.) But alas, I have a very cramped kitchen, hardly any countertops and a tight budget, so I bake every once in a while. Maybe 2 or 3 times a month? (Is that actually a lot?)

We had 4 bananas sitting on the counter and they've started getting those brown spots. The bananas were mushy to the touch. What else is there to make than banana bread?

Courtesy of a great new food blog/website that I've found, Simply Recipes, here's a great recipe (I added semi-sweet chocolate chips, yummm):

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

Method

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Make sure you stop by Simply Recipes. There's loads of great (and easy-to-make, it seems) recipes and I'm excited to try new ones!

A first.

I have an uncle from Bangladesh who always made chicken curry at every family party. To think about it, I wasn't too keen on the smell (nor food that didn't resemble fried chicken), and I was quite picky as a child, so I only tried the dish a few times growing up. It wasn't until my first trip to India did I fall in love with chicken curry. I'm thinking my taste buds matured, but it really was out of honor to those who served me my meals. I wouldn't think of turning my head away from what was placed in front of me. In turn, I came to appreciate this magnificent dish.

My husband and I have used the bottled curry sauce from the store - pretty good stuff, but it seemed so heavy on the stomach. So I became adventurous lately and attempted at making my first ever chicken curry.

Courtesy of Allrecipes.com, here is a wonderful recipe. It's not anything like what my uncle made (which I'm sure was actually really good!) or what I had in India, but it's a good start.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• salt to taste
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion until lightly browned. Stir in garlic, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger, sugar and salt. Continue stirring for 2 minutes. Add chicken pieces, tomato paste, yogurt, and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Remove bay leaf, and stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Simmer 5 more minutes.

Before I started cooking, I read reviews to see if there were any tips that would make the cooking easier, or the food tastier. Below is the way I cooked the chicken curry:

1. On a skillet pre-heated to medium heat, "toast" the curry powder, constantly stirring to make sure it doesn't burn. Taking this extra step brings out more of the flavor in the powder. *thanks to an Allrecipes.com reviewer named Nadia!
   
2. Next, stir in garlic, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf (in my case, just a smidgen of crushed bay leaves) and ginger. Drizzle olive oil over the spices. *I nixed the sugar and salt.
3. Continue to stir for 2 minutes, then add chicken pieces, tomato paste, yogurt and coconut milk (I bought a can of lite coconut milk, to be a little bit healthy). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
   
4. Stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Simmer 5 more minutes.
5. Once done, serve over cooked basmati rice.

Now, I like my dishes spicy so I was pretty liberal with the curry powder and cayenne pepper. Also, I get nervous about cooking raw meat, so I let the dish simmer a bit longer. Plus, the spices seeped into the chicken more.

Here are some pictures:

basmati rice

curry on the stove


dished out

I call this dish a success because 1) it smelled delicious, 2) it tasted pretty darn good and 3) the husband ate 2 and a half servings of it. Not bad for my first try - hope you enjoy this recipe too!

breakfast at dinner?

I don't know about you, but there are some days in the week when I am just plain tired, too busy or simply lazy to make a big meal. So it seems that once a week in our household, we eat breakfast for dinner.

Now, I'm already a champion for breakfast. Have been for many years (I was actually not allowed to go to school if I didn't eat breakfast; at the time I resented my dad's efforts in forcing me to eat, but I am thankful now). Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.

Yes, I love a good breakfast. In fact, I love a GREAT breakfast. I can tell you what I usually get at IHOP when I eat there on occasion - 2 eggs (scrambled), 2 pieces of bacon, hash browns and 2 pieces of wheat toast, with Tabasco sauce ready to cover the eggs. Burns my mouth, but it's oh-so-good. I tend to put Tabasco on a lot of things I eat. When I feel like splurging at IHOP, my mouth relishes the taste of Swedish pancakes (crepes with ligonberry jam and butter).

Thankfully, my husband is all for eating breakfast at dinner. He too loves a good breakfast, but he's more of a healthy eater than I am, so he tends to eat cereal or apple-cinnamon oatmeal.

I have no shame in this weekly ritual. It's super easy to make breakfast. I mean, come on! Breakfast! Breakfast. And you don't have to be unhealthy about it. Here's a typical breakfast that I make (when there is time and a lot of motivation!):

scrambled eggs (cooked in a little bit of olive oil & sometimes mixed with salsa for a "south of the border" taste)
hash browns
wheat toast
turkey bacon
whole wheat buttermilk pancakes

Not a bad meal at all. So ladies, don't feel down when you do not have time to whip up a fancy meal. Enjoy the greatness that is breakfast and finish out your day right!

the start of something beautiful.

Here I go, jumping on the bandwagon that is the world of food blogs. Not that I have a lot of time to spare, but I've realized over the years that I really love food (that's me on the left, finishing the remains of a dessert I made). In the time that I have been married for almost two years, I've grown an appreciation for cooking like none other (I think it's because I'm the one who is doing the cooking, not my parents). Maybe it's domestication? I don't think so. I think my love for food and cooking burst out of its shell after remaining dormant for many years.

I blame it on my parents who are terrific cooks. I always thought to myself, maybe one day, I'll just become a culinary great like they are!

I'm so not there yet.

But, I have a decent kitchen (albeit a very small one), money for provisions, a hankering for creating and serving dishes/desserts to those I care about, recipes and cookbooks out the door, and a very patient and loving husband who doubles as the guinea pig for the food I make. Plus, I have had a dislike for vegetables for as long as I can remember - I see this opportunity in cooking for me to acquire a taste for vegetables, making dishes in a healthy but tasty way - and in such a way that I'll eat things that I dislike such as onions and garlic and bell pepper - oh the list can go on and on!

So bear with me in my trials and triumphs in the kitchen (along with other thoughts and musings) and read along as "mo" eats . . .

Who's "Mo"? Why, that's me!