Crock Pot Chicken Curry

This super easy crock pot curry has become a cold weather regular for us.

Ingredients

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed
2 jalapeno peppers, diced (up to you if you remove the seeds - remember, keeping the seeds = hotter)

1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 Granny Smith or other sour apple, sliced but not peeled
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (I use 2-3 medium tomatoes)
2-3 bay leaves
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup light coconut milk (we use the whole can)

2 large onions, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 1/2 tablespoons curry
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil (or any cooking oil)
2 tablespoons flour

Directions

1. Spray crock pot with cooking spray.
2. Add first 8 ingredients (through coconut milk) and stir together.
3. Saute onions and garlic in oil on the stovetop until nearly done. Stir in spices (except bay leaf) and cook for another 3 minutes.
4. Add the onion mixture to the crock pot and mix in.
5. Sprinkle flour on top of everything, then mix in.
6. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours (we always cook on low).

Serves up great with basmati or any other rice!

Adapted from Crepes of Wrath

Chili-Garlic Glazed Salmon

Made this recipe last night.  It was delicious and easy, perfect for a hot night!

Very little bit of heat to it, plus a bit of sweet and tangy.  Didn't hurt that I managed to cook the salmon perfectly instead of overcooking it like I usually do!

Ingredients

• 3  tablespoons chili sauce with garlic (this stuff)
• 3  tablespoons minced chives or scallions (very fine)
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  orange marmalade
• 3/4  teaspoon soy sauce
• 4  (6-ounce) salmon fillets
• Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat grill on high.
2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl; brush half of chili sauce mixture over fillets. Place fillets, skin sides down, on a sheet of foil coated with cooking spray. Place on grill for 7 minutes; brush with remaining chili sauce mixture. Grill another 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

Adapted from Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast, Oxmoor House, April 2009

Easy crockpot Hawaiian chicken

This is a "set and forget" type of meal, perfect for a busy day (or a lazy one).  The end result is a sweet and savory dish, delicious served over white or brown rice, maybe with some broccoli (or broccolini) on the side.

Ingredients
3-5 boneless chicken breasts
1 cup diced pineapple
2 cups chopped red and/or green peppers
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups of honey barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle)
3 tablespoons honey
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 diced jalapeno pepper (optional)

Salt and pepper

Directions

A note on the jalapeno pepper: if you want *some* heat, you should stem, seed, and remove the ribs from the pepper because it reduces the heat. If you like it hot, just stem the pepper prior to dicing.

 
1)  Generously salt and pepper both sides of chicken.

2)  Put all the ingredients in the crockpot and stir well.

3)  Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours.
4)  Serve over a bed of rice.

Adapted from RecipeZaar.

Last night I had the strangest dream...

Obviously the Fat Tuesday pub crawl was fresh in my mind, because a group of us were going from bar to bar.  At each place, two guys would come in, one with a knife, and poke or cut one of us in the back of the neck.  We'd try to tell the guy to take it easy, what's the problem, we can work out whatever the problem was, but no, he'd kill the person as soon as we tried talking to him.  

This happened at three or four different places, then our group started making quick exits from places as soon as we saw these two appear.  They did not target any other groups, just ours.  It was like we couldn't get away from them, and we couldn't avoid them killing one of us.

There was a whole other part to the dream where these two guys were in one of our houses, but I barely remember that part except for that someone's dad was killed.

WTF?  I didn't like it.  I know dreams are supposedly our minds working through things, but ... huh?  This was just too weird, gruesome and scary.