Coconut Green Curry Quinoa

Last week I was on a super fun cruise with Amanda, Annie & Martha.  While I get caught up on laundry and put together a little recap of the trip, I figured I'd share a recipe with you in the meantime.

Coconut Green Curry Quinoa - yum! 
I took this from Pinch of Yum's Coconut Green Curry Lentils and just changed it up a bit.

Recipe:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1/4 cup green curry paste
• 3/4 teaspoon tumeric

Prepare the quinoa in a saucepan with water or chicken broth (I just used water) and add in the green curry paste and tumeric.
Once the quinoa is cooked, add the following to the same saucepan:

• 1 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1½ tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Make sure everything is mixed well and the butter is melted.

Add 1/2 cup of coconut milk and let it simmer for 5 - 10 minutes or until thick and creamy.

Separately, take two large handfuls of spinach and 1 cup of chopped mushrooms and heat them up in the microwave for about 2 minutes.  The spinach should be wilted and the mushrooms should be hot.

Mix everything together and serve.
Enjoy!

Crock Pot Carnitas & Tamale Pie

So this week I made the most delicious Carnitas Tamale Pie!  It was seriously restaurant quality.
I almost couldn't believe I had made it :)

This amazing dish all started with the Easy Crock Pot Carnitas recipe from PinchofYum.com
I followed the recipe exactly and made approximately 4lbs. of pork.  At first I thought 4 lbs. would be a lot for just one person, but I used the cooked pork in so many ways - tacos, taco salad, nachos and I put two cups aside for the Carnitas & Tamale Pie.  I even have a couple of servings in my freezer for future meals!
I love pork more than beef and definitely more than chicken (I have issues with chicken), so I was happy to have this tasty meat available for several meals.
The carnitas meat is not hot, just very flavorful.

The Carnitas Tamale Pie recipe is also from PinchofYum.com
Once again, I followed the recipe exactly.  I used mild diced green chiles and medium enchilada sauce.  This dish brought the heat and I loved it!  I used a dollop of greek yogurt in place of sour cream to cool it down a bit, and it was perfect.
My only tip would be: once you pull it out of the oven, let it cool down so it firms up a bit.  It's like lasagna where if you cut it too soon, it kind of oozes all over (which is not bad IMO).  Once it firmed up it was super easy to cut up and serve.

Check out these recipes!

Any other recipes for the carnitas pork you think I might enjoy?

5 for Friday

1.  How do you manage the blogs on your Google Reader and in your Reading List on the Blogger Dashboard? I can't figure it out and it is bugging me.

2. Mail is now only going to be delivered Monday - Friday.  Are people really upset about this?  Is mail still a thing?  IMO, why doesn't everyone just get eBills?  I loathe the junk mail/flyers I get in my mail box every dam day.  But I do love getting magazines, but I am still fine without them not coming on Saturdays.

3.  I have a severe addiction to sparkling water.  Back in December I started drinking sparkling water and now I can't get enough.  Flavored, plain... I love it all. 

4.  Book recommendations.  Have you got any?  I am going on vacation in two weeks and I want to read to my hearts content!

5.  Leah's Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars.  One of my BFFs and her mom make the best chocolate & peanut butter bars!  They are delicious and so easy to make.  I have made them for co-workers the past few years at Christmas and people always say "These are homemade?!"  So good!

 

Here is the recipe:

Half a box of graham crackers, grind them up in your food processor or blender

Half a container of peanut butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 stick, plus 2 tablespoons melted butter

Combine all of these ingredients and smooth them out on the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish

Melt one bag of chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet) in a pan on the stove.

Pour and smooth the melted chocolate on top of the pb mixture

Put in refrigerator for two hours to set

Place on counter for one hour before cutting into squares with a sharp knife

Easy peasy!

Lots of movies & a recipe

Happy Inauguration Day!
All the pomp & ceremony & tradition surrounding the inauguration is so intriguing.  I love all that stuff!
Having a three day weekend was also great!

***

The blue Dawn/vinegar mixture I mentioned on Friday worked wonders on my bathtub.  Not perfection, but it worked better than Comet or bleach!

***

This weekend I saw two great films, Argo & Silver Linings Playbook.
Both AMAZING.
I absolutely loved, loved, loved Argo.  I can not believe this movie came out in October and I am just seeing it now.  Any type of movie based on a historical event has my immediate attention, and this one most definitely did.  The movie is based on about an event surrounding the Iran Hostage Crisis in the late 70s.
I won't go into details because you have likely already seen this movie :)
If not, you can read about it online :)
Surprisingly, the theater was packed and the crowd actually clapped and cheered at the end.
Yeah, it was THAT KIND of movie.
If you do see the movie it is also worth it read up on the Iran Hostage Crisis and other facts vs. fiction about the creative liberties the movie took.  It's all good stuff.

While the plot of Silver Linings Playbook wasn't bad, it was the acting that was incredible.  I am not surprised all four of the main characters are nominated for Oscars and that Katnis... er, I mean Jennifer Lawrence, won the Golden Globe.  She was GREAT!

This fall and winter I have watched quite a few movies.  Spending a lot of time on planes and cruise ships (for work, not vacation - BIG difference) will do that to you.
Here is what I watched:
Bachlorette - great
Your Sister's Sister - ok, but still good
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen  - loved
Celeste & Jesse Forever - loved
10 Years - great
Pitch Perfect - loved
Fairhaven - ok, kind of good at the end
Liberal Arts - liked it
To Rome With Love - sucked
Ted - hilarious (raunchy... you are warned)
5 Year Engagement - ok, good mindless entertainment.  Plus it was free on the ship.
What to Expect When You're Expecting - see 5 Year Engagement

***

When trying to think of new, or different, recipes to make I keep thinking about Shepherd's Pie, yet I never make it.

Well, I finally made it this weekend.

I used this recipe, and it was delicious.  I loved that there were red peppers in the recipe.  Something different. 

A few changes I made:

In place of sour cream in the potatoes, I used greek yogurt and it tasted great

I used ground lamb vs. ground beef, not sure this made a difference

I didn't use parsley, and next time I wouldn't bother with the butter either

Since I live alone, I ended up dividing the meat and potatoes into three different dishes so I would have smaller portions and I could put two in the freezer for a later date.  I love to just pull ready made food from the freezer!
Enjoy!

Source

Have you seen any great movies lately?  Recommendations?

Up in Smoke

Tuesday night I tried making this zucchini & squash fritter recipe.

It ended up looking like this...

I really have no idea how that happened.  They were just not cooking.  Just burning.

There are a few fritters leftover that I haven't destroyed, 

so I'll try them in the oven next time.  The look so good!

Since the stench of "burn" was so strong, I needed to light a candle...

By this time it was 8:30, so I just had a glass of wine, a spoonful of peanut butter, 

watched a documentary on PBS about the Royal Windsors and went to bed.  Blah.

Just to clarify, even though I watch PBS, I am 34 and not 74 :)  I do have to say the documentary was very good.  It was about Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth's wedding.

Yesterday I read this blog and saw she replaced the red sauce 

on her homemade pizza with ricotta and pesto... um, yum

So last night's dinner was far more successful than Tuesday night's!

Since I didn't have any Naan hanging around, 

I used an Arnold's sandwich thin for two mini pizzas - love these.

Also wasn't sure if the ricotta would be too dry so I warmed up a side of sauce.

No need for the sauce, the ricotta and pesto together were creamy deliciousness!

My current favorite pizza toppings are broccoli, mushrooms, avocados & grape tomatoes.

Do you ever try recipes you see on other people's blogs?

How do they turn out?

What are your favorite pizza toppings?

Any good documentaries to recommend? 

Pineapple and Shrimp Skewers

Here is a delicious recipe I got from the free wine magazine, GRAPE, that you can pick up at Publix supermarkets.  The recipe actually calls for scallops, not shrimp, but I have made it both ways and it is tasty.  I usually have shrimp on hand so here we go with shrimp…

Ingredients

2 teaspoons finely shredded lime peel

¼ cup lime juice

¼ cup sniped cilantro

2 small green or red jalapeno chile peppers, seeded and finely chopped (I actually just use a few shakes of red pepper flakes and that brings enough heat for me)

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ cup canola oil

Medium shrimp, peeled* - original recipe calls for 16 Sea Scallops (about 1½ pounds)

Pineapple chunks*
*The amount you use of these two ingredients just depends on how many people you are feeding.

1 avocado, pitted, peeled and cut into chunks

If I am eating by myself I usually make two skewers and use half of the ingredients above… except for the avocado, I will use a whole:)

In a small bowl combine lime peel, lime juice, cilantro, jalapenos, sugar, salt and black pepper.

Slowly whisk in oil until combined; set aside.

In a large bowl combine shrimp and pineapple.  Toss with 2 tablespoons of the lime juice mixture.  Let stand for 15 minutes.

Add the avocado chunks to the rest of the lime juice mixture

Thread the skewers with the shrimp and pineapple.  The recipe suggests you cook these on the grill, but since I live in an apartment, and am a girl, I do not own a grill.  However, a good alternative for me has been the Le Creuset cast iron grill pan (awesome! love it!).  So throw those skewers on there until they are nice and hot!

You can serve the skewers with the avocados on the side or perhaps serve over rice.

This time, I just took the cooked shrimp and pineapple and half of the avocado and mixed it together in one bowl, delicious!

I’ll took the other skewer and combined it with the rest of the avocado and put it in the freezer for another time.

Enjoy!

Super Summer Sangria

So I decided to add a “Recipes” tab to my blog.  I have a love/hate relationship with cooking.

I love to do it, but I hate that I get home at 7pm at night and do not really have a whole lotta time to get it done.  I do try and cook as much as possible on the weekends and I love packaging up the leftovers to freeze for quick and easy meals during the week.

I will try and fill the “Recipes” tab with recipes I think you would find interesting.  If there are any recipes you want to share, please email them to me!  I am always looking for new ideas.

So for my first recipe, I concocted a delicious & refreshing White Sangria!  About a week ago, I opened a bottle of white wine and didn’t really like it.  Being a true boozer there was no way I was going to dump a whole bottle of wine down the kitchen sink.  Instead, I thought I would be able to make Sangria from it.  I looked online for possible recipes…

Most had other liquors added to the wine – I just wanted a light, refreshing drink.

Some called for a CUP of sugar – this is in addition to all the sugars already in wine, no thanks.

Others recommended a whole liter of club soda – that sounds like a lot of belly filler and I just want my belly full of the wine and fruit!

Here's what I came up with:

Pour one bottle of white wine into a pitcher (I think sauvignon blanc works the best, but it is really up to your personal tastes)

½ of one orange – squeeze the juice into the pitcher, then slice up the orange and add to pitcher

½ of one lime – squeeze the juice into the pitcher, then slice up the lime and add to pitcher

Almost ¼ cup of honey – I read here that in most recipes you can substitute sugar with half the amount of honey.  Cool fact, no?

2 cups of Club Soda

Stir it up and serve in glasses with ice.

I didn’t add ice to the pitcher of sangria because I didn’t want to water down the taste.  In fact, the next day it tasted even better once the fruit and the juices had the chance to soak in even more.

Oh, and look what came in the mail today...

Man, I sure wish I had a glass of my sangria to enjoy as I read up on Harry & Pippa.

On this Summer Solstice Eve, I hope it is a great night!!