Indian Butter Chicken

Mmmm!! I grew up in Tokyo where you could get any cuisine you could possibly imagine. Indian is for sure one of my top three favorites. DELICIOUS and a definite must try.

Indian Butter Chicken
Mels Kitchen Cafe

Note: I lightened up the recipe using fat free half-and-half in place of the heavy cream. If you don’t want to buy a special ingredient and have heavy cream (or regular half-and-half) on hand, they will both work just fine.

*Serves 6

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 jalapeño, seeded, and finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup fat free half-and-half
1 1/2 pounds (about 2-3) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter

Hot cooked rice for serving
Chopped fresh cilantro for extra garnish

In a large 12-inch skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until hot. Add the onion, ginger and jalapeno. Stir often while cooking until the onion is translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in garlic, garam masala, chili powder, cardamom, and coriander. Cook stirring, constantly for another minute.

Scrape the mixture into a blender or food processor and add tomato paste and chicken broth. Blend until the mixture is smooth. Pour the sauce back into the skillet and add the half and half. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat and add the chicken pieces and the salt and pepper. Stir. Keep the sauce at a simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has slightly thickened.

Cut remaining 3 tablespoons butter into chunks and stir into the sauce until melted. Serve the chicken and sauce over hot rice. Garnish with fresh, chopped cilantro, if desired.

Best Sloppy Joes

The Best Sloppy Joes
Mel's Kitchen Cafe

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions roughly chopped
2 ½ pounds ground beef
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2/3 cup smoky BBQ sauce (or whatever BBQ sauce is in your fridge)
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
8 to 12 potato rolls

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Drain the grease off the meat and onions. Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. You can make the sloppy joe meat up to 2 days in advance and reheat it over low heat or in the microwave.

Wrap the rolls in aluminum foil and warm in the oven for about 10 minutes. Serve the sloppy joes hot with the warmed rolls.

*Freezable Meals: The leftover sloppy joes can be frozen. I store it in a freezer-safe container and then thaw in the refrigerator prior to serving. I reheat on medium-low heat in a saucepan on the stove.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Every time I make a bread it ALWAYS ends up sunken in the middle because I pull it out when it looks done and 2 hours later I see that it wasn't. Well, this bread was different. I put it in for the amount of time the recipe says (like I normally do) and it actually came out PERFECT. I did add just a little bit more chocolate chips than it calls for because you can never have too much chocolate right? :) ENJOY!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
My Baking Addiction

Ingredients

3 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) grease and flour three 9×5 inch loaf pans. (I used 2 9×5 loaf pans and 4 mini pans)
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, vanilla and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

Hiroshima-Style Okonomiyaki

Okay so let me first start by saying that regardless of how this looks in the picture, I PROMISE you this is amazing. It is my absolute FAVORITE Japanese dish. I so wish there were places here in Utah that served it. The ingredients you can't find at a normal grocery store can be found at an Asian food market. Enjoy! I would love to hear from any of you that try this to see what you think. :)

For step-by-step instructions (with pictures), CLICK HERE

Hiroshima-Style Okonomiyaki

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup dashi soup or water
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups finely chopped cabbage
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 12 pieces thinly sliced pork
• 4 packages pre-steamed chucka noodles for yakisoba
• Seasonings:
• yakisoba sauce or salt
• okonomiyaki sauce or Worcestershire sauce
• Toppings:
• chopped green onion
• aonori (dried seaweed powder)

Preparation:

Mix flour and dashi soup stock to make okonomiyaki batter. Heat and oil a large skillet or iron plate. Spread a scoop of the batter into a thin round over the pan. Place a handful of cabbage and bean sprouts on top of the batter. Place pork slices on top of the vegetables. Pour some okonomiyaki batter over the ingredients. Flip the okonomiyaki over with spatulas. Cook it on low heat until meats and vegetables are cooked. Meanwhile, fry yakisoba noodles on the side and lightly season with okonomiyaki sauce or salt as you like. Replace okonomiyaki with spatulas on top of yakisoba noodles and press on the top firmly. Fry an egg on the side an break the egg york with spatula. Replace the okonomiyaki on top of the fried egg and again press on the top firmly. Serve the okonomiyaki on a plate with the egg side up. Repeat this process to make more okonomiyaki. Spread okonomiyaki sauce or Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise on the okonomiyaki. Sprinkle chopped green onion and ao-nori (dried seaweed powder) on the top.
*Makes 4 servings

*I don't use the dried seaweed powder because ... I think it's gross.

Oreo Cookie Balls

This is probably the easiest dessert recipe ever with only 3 ingredients! Great for parties or for home :)

OREO COOKIE BALLS

Ingredients

• 1 pound chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 pound vanilla-flavored candy coating, melted (I use white almond bark)

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine crushed cookies and cream cheese to form a stiff dough. Roll into balls and dip with a fork in melted candy coating. Let rest on waxed paper until set.

*NOTE*

- I use my food processor to crush up the oreos very fine so you don't have any chunks.
- Some almond barks take longer to set, you may want to place them in a pan to put in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. I don't like them cold, but it depends on the person.

Frank's Red Hot Chicken Salad

Frank's Red Hot Chicken Salad
submitted by Erin ~ sisterscafe.blogspot.com

12 oz bottle Frank's Red Hot Sauce (Original, cayenne pepper sauce)
1 bag of chicken breasts (3 lb)

tortilla chips
lettuce
tomatoes
shredded cheese
homemade guacamole
ranch or bleu cheese salad dressing (I like to use the creamy tomatillo dressing from the cafe rio recipe below.)

Dump bag of frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot. Pour bottle of hot sauce over chicken. Cook on Low for 7 or 8 hours. At dinner time, take breasts out of the liquid and shred. Serve on a bed of tortilla chips along with other ingredients. YUM!

In case you need a visual, this is what the bottle of Franks Red Hot Sauce looks like:

Thin Mint Pie

Baking Addiction
yield | 8 servings

Ingredients
45 Thin Mint Cookies, divided use
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
8 ounces thawed Cool Whip Topping

Directions
1. Place 24 Thin Mints into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the cookies have been crushed into fine crumbs; mix with butter until well blended.
2. Press firmly onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie plate. Refrigerate crust while preparing filling.
3. Coursely chop the remaining (21) cookies; set aside. Beat cream cheese and sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add chopped cookies and whipped topping; folding gently until well blended. Spoon into prepared crust.
4. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until firm. Garnish with whipped topping and additional cookie crumbs.

Storage
Pie will store covered in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Notes:
If you don’t have access to Thin Mints, Mint or Plain Oreos can be substituted.
Recipe adapted from Kraft.