Saturday, September 17, 2011

Chicken and Tomatoes

Tonight I didnt know what in the world to make. I rummaged around to see what we have... not much! But we are over loaded with garden tomatoes and its the last of them... so what could I make? hmmm... I decided on a sort of tomato sauce with bits of chicken. While cooking it I wasnt sure if would be very good... but oooooh!! Its so good I think I could have eaten it all ^^


wow... my photos are truly sucking lately >< trust me... even tho it looks like puke, it was very good!!

Story Version -

I hauled out the chicken and set it on the counter wondering what in the world I should do with it. Then I remembered that we have scads of tomatoes from our garden and its the last of them so I decided to make a sort of sauce. I picked out 4 medium tomatoes and peeled and chopped them up and put them in a deep fry pan over medium heat. Then I thought... this needs onion! So I took out a left over half onion and diced that real small and threw that in. Then I took two withering cherry peppers and sliced those in there, too.

Hmm... onion and tomatoes. It needs more stuff doesnt it? What can I toss in? Oh! hey, left over taco sauce! Yes! And that delicious, super duper hot sauce... /tastes wow, dang, thats hot... I like it but Mad wont, what can I put in to cool it off now? I wish I had yogurt... but I guess a little half and half might work. /taste hmm... not so hot now but the flavor is diluted. How to remedy! /peeks in the spice cabinet... cumin! /taste still need more of something... Oh! I forgot we have fresh herbs in here in little pots. I stiffed them and decided they might be interesting in it. /taste hmmm its good but needs somethign else. Lemon! Yes Lemon! /cut squeeze taste Perfect!

/nomnomnomnomnom :}}}}}}}}}

Short Version -

2 chicken breasts, diced (can you dice chicken??)
4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cut up (1 inch chunks or abouts)
1 small onion, diced very small
2 red cherry peppers, seeded and sliced (id have put lots more but I wasnt sure my little girl would eat them)
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp hells kitchen hot sauce
1 tsp cumin
3 tbsp taco sauce
juice from half a lemon
1/2 cup half and half (plain yogurt would be better!)
a sprig each of thyme and rosemary
salt to taste
rice (i like jasmine best)

First get your rice cookin! Then peel, deseed and chop the toms, chop the onion, pepper and garlic. mix together and put in a saucepan (or deep fry pan or wok. what ever!) on medium temp. While thats stewing, chop up your chicken and then toss that in. While its cooking and youre stirring it around, toss in the rest of the ingredients. Taste alot while you do it and add more or less to your taste. Mine was a bit soupy so I added about a cup of rice to the mix. I cooked, uncovered for about 20 minutes. If yours is drying out, cover it and cook instead. I only left the cover off to try to cook off some liquid. When the chicken is nice and cooked, serve with rice and eat a big glass of ayran! :D

Monday, August 29, 2011

Booger Pillows

Booger Pillows? Whats that you ask? Its Portuguese Fried Bread ;}} While making these for the first time my 3 year old daughter thought, while I was shaping them in to little squares, they looked like pillows. And then the dough was sooo gooey and sticky we giggled about it being like boogers. So now these little yums are called Booger Pillows! <3

I think this recipe is very forgiving because they turned out SO good even though I didnt know where my measuring spoons were so I guessed at the amounts.We used a recipe we found here. Weve made it twice now and I have many ideas for variations! But here is the basic recipe -

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 quart vegetable oil for frying

Directions

  1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add milk, and mix well. Divide dough into balls. Pat out on a flat, floured surface to 1/2 inch thick.
  2. Fry in 1/2 inch hot oil, browning both sides. Serve warm.



Mad liked them with powdered suger on hers, I like mine with butter. The bread is VERY good with tuna! I think I will use this recipe if Im out of bread sometime! :}

The second time we made them I experimented with shapes. I made one big, flat one to use as a sandwich later and I made a whole bunch of tiny nuggets. Grape sized. Mad still prefered hers with pwdered sugar, but I was craving lemons so I made a lemon glaze for mine.

---------------

Booger Nuggets ;}

Use the recipe above, but roll the dough in to bite sized bits, balls and blobs. Dip in to the glaze when done or roll them in it or arrange on a plate and dribble the glaze on them all. Or just put a bunch of nuggets in a bowl with gobs of glaze and eat them with a big spoon!

Lemon Glaze -

powdered sugar
butter
lemon juice

mix about a cup of sugar with about 2 tbs softened butter and then add some lemon juice till u get something yummy and dribbly.