Leftover Recipe

I made that for dinner!  It is amazing.  The recipe is from "Gourmet Today" by Ruth Reichl.  I picked this cookbook up from the Tuesday Morning store about a month ago now.  There have been a few recipes I tried that didn't work.  For instance, the grilled ceasar salad that only I liked.  But this, this was amazing!

Everything is from scratch except the yogurt because I have yet to try making my own dairy products.  The wonton wrappers follow the recipe at about.com.  I made the wrappers the night before and used wax paper to keep them separate.  Apparently the beef sauce, the yogurt sauce and the dumpling filling can all be made the day before so all you have to do is fill the dumplings and boil them.  I made a couple tweaks to the original recipe to fit my kitchen style and allergies.

For Meat Sauce:
3 Tbsp canola oil
1 medium onion chopped
0.5lb ground beef
1 garlic clove minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
0.5 tsp minced fresh ginger
0.5 cup water
2Tbsp tomato paste
0.5 tsp salt
black pepper to taste

For Yogurt Sauce:
2 large garlic cloves
0.5 tsp salt
1 cup cream on top plain yogurt

For Dumpling Filling:
1.25 cups roughly chopped scallions
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp minced garlic
1.4 tsp canola oil

Make meat sauce:
Heat oil add onions and garlic cook till onions begin to brown.
Add beef, coriander and ginger cook until meat is no longer pink and break into small chunks
Stir in water and tomato paste cook until liquid is reduced to half
Remove from heat add salt and pepper to taste
Cover and keep warm

Make yogurt sauce:
Mince garlic and mash to a paste with salt
Mix into yogurt

Make the dumplings:
Stir filling ingredients in bowl
Fill wonton wrappers
Bring several quarts of salted water to boil
Add dumplings
Boil for 5minutes

Serving directions:
Spread 0.25cup of yogurt on serving platter
Put dumplings on top
Cover with remaining yogurt
Spoon beef sauce around dumplings
Sprinkle with mint
Serve immediately

Leftover Recipe

So I don't have a picture for you today.  Last night we had my chicken curry which is getting very close to perfected so I'll share it with you now.  The spices are adhoc but I finally have a mixture I like, now to figure out how much of each I'm using.

Chicken Curry
1 Tbsp olive oil
6-8 cloves garlic minced
1/3 of a large onion chopped
2lbs chicken cut into small pieces
1 larger can tomato paste
2-3 cups water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup dry rice half cooked in water
optional: 1/2 cup crushed peanuts

spices to taste:
garam masla
ground colliander
ground cumin
ground turmeric
chili powder
sriracha
garlic salt
garlic powder
pepper

So yeah my recipes have a lot of prep in the ingredients but after that it's simple.

Add olive oil, fresh garlic, and onion in a large pan and heat.  Add about 1 Tbsp garam masla, a dash of turmeric  about 2 tsp garlic salt and a couple dashes of turmeric.  Mix and let cook for a few minutes on high until your housemates complain about the house smelling of garlic and give up the goat and leave the kitchen.

Now that we are alone, we can do the fun stuff.  Add chicken.  Sear the outside of the chicken pieces.  Add tomato paste and about 1/2 cup water.  Add optional peanuts.  Mix well.  Taste and play with the spices until you like how it tastes. The great thing about cooking is the ability to experiment to a degree not allow say in baking.  As the mixture thickens add more water.  After the first cup and a half of water, add the milk and mix.  

In another pan, start cooking the rice while you continue to spice the chicken mixture.  When the rice is about half way cooked.  That is when there is about 1/2 an inch of water on top of the puffed up rice.  Add the rice and water to the chicken mixture.  Mix.

When you are done spicing, remove mixture from the heat.  Let it stand for a few minutes.  This is a good time to make sure you have some place to eat.  I clean the table and clear the debris from cooking.  Once you have the dishwasher running (some how this always happens when we are eating) call your housemates make in and serve.  It's nice with some sort of bread but you don't need it!

Leftover Ideas

pics on Sodahead

      I have friends you refuse to take risks.  They don't even realize they do this.  From games to life, they don't act unless they know that it will either

1. Meet their goal
2. Not cause them pain
3. Be completely in their control

I'll admit I'm a control freak.  I have mild OCD which is behaviorally controlled.  However, if you can't let go you'll never experience the variety of emotions and events that make life full.

     I've done some things that most people I know or have know would never do.  I've moved to towns where I know no one.  I've meet people from the internet in real life.  I ran a 10k.  I've fallen in love with people I've meet at bus stops and people who are married.  The list goes on.  I walked away from one life to lead another.

    Not all of these, in fact most of these did NOT turn out well.  When I moved to TX the first time, I was so homesick and lonely that I all but stopped eating.  Meeting people off the internet contributed to the loss of a good friendship.  The man from the bus stop turned into a crazy person.  However, all of these things have helped me grow and learn and determine what is important to me and who I am.

    Many of them worked out well.  Dating a man who was married helped me understand and accept a part of who I am that had always caused me shame.  Running the 10k made me see that I can do whatever I want athletically if I actually try.  Moving to Rochester put my life in TX in perspective.  Meeting a man off the internet turned into the love of my life.  

     None of the good things would have come without the bad.  When I see my friends made impotent by the fear of the unknown or the fear of not being right the first time, it both makes me sad and frustrated me.  I know they aren't happy and that in order to be, they will have to take risks.  Change is always risky.  Be it talking to people you don't know or deciding to take a course of action where you don't know what will happen.  Letting go and trying and risky failure but also risking success is the only way to truly live your life and be happy.

     Do my a favor, today take a risk.  It doesn't have to be big.  Baby steps, order something different for lunch.  Call someone you haven't talked to in years.  Complement the stranger's shoes, ask for their phone number. Be honest about yourself in a situation you won't normally.  Live a bit differently today and keep doing something different everyday even if you don't know what will happen.

LeftOver Fun

Hey all, so this is one of those non-food posts!

I adore shinies from strawberries to earrings! I spend way too much time looking at them on etsy and definitely can't buy all the things I <3 on there. I do most of my gift shopping there for connivance reasons and keep a pretty active favorites list.

Feel free to follow me there too and see all the shiny things!
maphysics