Go Make a Smoothie!

Happy New Year! Oh, that was a few weeks ago, huh? Well happy keep your New Year's Resolutions month! Here's a little something to help you out.

This is a banana, pineapple, coconut milk, and yogurt smoothie. With a little bit of a treat on top.


Perfect and delicious!

1 cup plain yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup pineapple
1 smidge of whipped cream


Blend a little or a lot. I like my smoothies smoooooth, so I blend a lot.


If you like a little variety you can cut out the pineapples & coconut milk and add one or two of the following:

Frozen strawberries, peaches, mixed berries, blue berries, or any fruit you can think of. I add a dash or two of stevia when I am not using pineapple. It's great every time.

Try it with a dollop of peanut butter and drizzle of chocolate syrup (just to make it look pretty).

I added about a cup of spinach to some left over strawberry smoothie and all the taste testers were very pleasantly surprised. I didn't have a whole lot of spinach to work with but I think it would have tasted fine if I had added even more.


One blogger I know prefers just fruit and yogurt (with a little something to sweeten it up), she leaves out the banana completely.

My point is, no matter how you like it, it's great for you! So go make a smoothie!

Kashmir Spinach

I know you all care what I had for breakfast, and have been waiting on the edges of your seats to find out, so here you go... I had a bowl of Kashmir Spinach and a slice of toasted Ezekiel Bread, wow. It was so good. It's an Indian recipe that involves (can you guess?) spinach and paneer cheese. Super fantastic. It's so great, in fact, that I'm going to try to figure out how to make it cheaper than I can buy it. If I don't learn how to make it I'll be spending $3 a day on it and that would add up fast!
I'll post a picture of what I ate and keep you in the loop when I figure out how to make it.



If you'd like to sample it, you may go to your nearest Price Cutters and check out the Indian section, it's made by Tasty Bite and it's in a small box. If you would like to try it from the Indian restaurant that I first had it from, then you can go to Gem of India, in Springfield, MO. Prepare yourself for very poor service, bad attitudes, sour faces, and great food. I have banned myself from there because of their horrible lack of friendliness. I may go back some day. If you go, get the buffet. There you will be presented with an array of delicious foods that one might never order from the menu. I know I didn't!

Gateaux Piments

Moniques Gateaux Piments
1 pnd split peas, soak 4 hours and drain
Grind in Food Processor, keep some texture.
3 onions chopped
15 little red chillies
Salt
Fresh Coriander
Mix this well and scoop out lrg T into hot oil & fry till crisp golden brown!

Moniques Chicken Curry!

Moniques Chicken Curry- large amount-Excellent
1/4 c Oil in pan:
Saute:
1 onion (saute first as it takes longer)
fresh ginger-2" crushed or chopped
gresh garlic- half a head or more

Add & quick fry:
1 1/2 c reg. curry
3/4 c Bassar Curry Masala
2 T Garam Masala
1 T Cumin
1 T Coriander
1 T Turmeric

Add:
2 Qts Tomato Sauce
Cook for 1/2 hour till the red is coming through!
Add water if needed!

Cook 3 to 4 pounds chicken separately and then put chicken in Curry Sauce!  Serve over Rice!

Simple Curry!

Simple Chicken Curry!

Building your curry!
In a large skillet or dutch oven with 3 T oil saute 1 onion for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile....
With your mortar & pestle - crush 2" piece Ginger & 1 whole Garlic head  (or....chop it up!)
... stir into the onions and saute another 5 minutes.
Add:
1 can tomato paste
3 T curry seasoning
Saute & push around another 5 minutes.

Add:
2 to 3 lbs Chicken of any kind:  breast, legs, thighs.
4-6 Cups of at least 2 Veggies of any sort.... eggplant, green beans,  carrots, cauliflower, bell peppers, peas, mushrooms, sweet potatoes  (any frozen mix will work great too)  I like at least 3 different veggies!
1 can diced or crushed tomatoes
Water to cover.
Cook/bake till chicken & veggies are done, sauce should be thick like spaghetti sauce!

Try other Curries by adding these additional ingredients ... all delicious!!
Add all spices during sauteing.  Add creams at the end to avoid curdling.

Spicy Curry add 1/2 tsp ground red pepper and 3 hot peppers w/seeds!
North India Curry 1 c yoghurt.
South India Curry 1 c heavy cream.
Thai Curry 1 can 'Thai Kitchen' coconut milk.
Moroccan Curry  Sweet potatoes, eggplant, 1/4 c raisin or dates,1/4 c dried apricots,  1/4 c nuts (cashews, sliced almonds or walnuts), nutmeg, cinnamon, juice & zest of 1/2 lemon & cardamom. Serve with couscous!
Lentil Curry add 2 c uncooked red or 2 c cooked brown lentils (red is very mild in flavor, tiny in size and cooks quickly). 
Chickpea Curry add 2 cans chick peas!
Fancy Curry  1/2 tsp coriander, 1 tsp black mustard seed, 1 T tamarind, 1 tsp cumin seed, grated fresh nutmeg, cinnamon stick, fenugreek, cardamom, 1/4 tsp hing, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 2 bay leaves.  Any Meat, Vegetarian Meat or No Meat works for any curry!

Fast Curry use precooked & veggies.



Serve Curries with rice!

Sweet Potatoe & Plantains!

This recipe is from a gal who grew up eating this as a common dish on the island Saychell.  Plantains, bananas, nutmeg and coconuts grew in abundance!!
Sweet Potatoes & Plantains
On stove or in oven!!
Use a large pan (dutch oven) or cassarole dish....

4 Sw Potatoes-cut in quarters or smaller
2 Plantains or 4 Bananas-cut length wise-place these on top of sw. potatoes.
Pour over top...
2 cans coconut milk (can use 1/2 milk)
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 to 2 T br sugar
1 T real butter

Cook or Bake without stiring till Sweet Potaotes are done and sauce has thickened some.  I covered mine for the first while 20 minutes.
Its quite tasty, next time I will throw in some walnuts!

Mom's Peanut Butter Balls

They look pretty big don't they? They're about an inch in diameter I would estimate. Although this is Mom's recipe I actually made them this time. I've loved them all my life but have never thought to make them for myself... until now, weird, I know! They're Truly Scrumptious! That's someone's name, she's a character in a movie called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, if you haven't seen it, I'd recommend it today!