Crock Pot Green Chicken Curry

We are big curry fans in this house and I've adapted this crock pot green chicken curry enough that I figured it warranted it's own recipe. And, well, isn't that the beauty of a curry-you can add/remove whatever you really like? They are so versatile and SO GOOD.

Crock Pot Green Chicken Curry

• 1 eggplant, peeled and diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced (or really any color you have, the green just enhanced the curry's color)
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger (I like the tubed variety for convenience)
• 1 lb (ish) chicken thighs
• 1 13.5oz can coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 jar Trader Joe's Thai green curry simmer sauce (shocked to see this on Amazon!)
• 1 tsp fish or oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• Juice of one lime, and additional lime wedges for serving
• Cilantro, minced, for serving
• Hot, cooked rice for serving
• Sriracha, for serving
• Naan, for serving

1. In the crock pot, place the diced eggplant, bell pepper, sweet potato, onion, ginger, and chicken and mix. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, cayenne pepper, green curry simmer sauce, oyster/fish sauce, and sugar. Pour over the chicken mixture and mix well.
3. Turn heat to high and cook for three hours. Before serving, add fresh lime juice. Serve over rice with extra lime, cilantro and Sriracha.

Sunday Funday

My kind of Sundays are spent making meals that require extra TLC and are new to my recipe book.

Today was no exception with jambalaya for dinner. Lessons learned included being reminded that rice doubles and thus this jambalaya was rather thick. Yet, the flavor was good so I'll definitely do it again.

For dessert I used the apples picked last weekend to make a tart and we ate on lovely new dishes from Ashley :)

Happy Labor Day

I think every Labor Day weekend we encounter some kind of clusterF situation and yesterday was no different. But the issue is now about 98% resolved and we can enjoy the remainder of the weekend, starting with this:

Nutella French Toast, recipe found here.

Happy birthday Mom!

Today we celebrated the birth of my mom with brunch on a beautiful spring day. Happy birthday mom!

Baked pancakes with berries

Fruit skewers, bacon, artichoke and leek flatbread with basil

Many happy returns!

And happy 34th anniversary to my in-laws, Frank and Sandy!

What we ate.

I love a challenge in the kitchen, so this week I tried out a few new recipes and cooking methods.

Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and Beans

adapted from here.

Tomato and Artichoke Tart

adapted from here.

Salmon with Soy Sauce, Ginger and Sriracha Cream Sauce with Udon Noodles

adapted from here.

Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

adapted from here.

White Bean and Kale Soup

adapted from here.

Seared Scallops with Parmesan Risotto and Spinach

adapted from here.

First time risotto maker on a 90 degree day in March. Next time, I'll be trying Ina's oven method.

The best pizza in the history of the world

1 package pre made pizza dough
1/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 sprigs thyme

1 cup gorgonzola

8 slices prosciutto
Some parmesan-it's a pizza, load up as much or little as you like.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Roll out pizza dough as directions indicate on package. Or make your own if you have that kind of time.

Heat olive oil, garlic, and thyme in saucepan until warmed through but do not let garlic burn. When fragrant, turn off the burner and put lid on pan to let flavors infuse.

Roll out pizza dough, and using a pastry brush, spread olive oil "sauce" over dough, followed by the gorgonzola and parmesan. Top with prosciutto ribbons and drizzle any remaining olive oil over entire pie. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

No picture because we consumed it as if it were the last pizza on earth. Thus, imagine what the best pizza on earth looks like and there you have it.

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten's fabulous white pizza.

Christmas

A week of fun, frivolity, family, friends, and food (and sometimes lack thereof the latter.)

Employee of the month here, who braved Costco.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner Wednesday.

Business cat.

First real sewing project! Potholders for Leah!

Christmas Eve duets.

Really? It's own section?

Christmas morning breakfast.

350 miles shared with wonderful family.

Happy Christmas!

Cooking for Kings

I joked on Twitter that it's awesome to be married to me due to the dinners I make. All joking aside, it's still true.

We've had two pretty darn tasty dinners so far this week-the Pioneer Woman's perfect pot roast (no pictures, it was consumed too quickly) on Sunday, and yesterday, Ina's mussels with basil breadcrumbs. Oh em gee, I felt like Ina, in a French bistro enjoying our cuisine with Chardonnay, the only difference is we sported our our finest gym clothes. It's great dining fine at home.

Both nights I used my Dutch oven as well-one pot meals are the best.

Vegetarian for a month-Week 4

This weekend marks the end to our vegetarian for a month trial. Ultimately, like I've stated in other posts, we feel really good, but there were other factors involved in the 30 days as well-increased workouts, consuming less alcohol, and making better choices overall. I plan to weigh myself at the gym today to see if there has been any difference there, but I anticipate more change in inches-which I did not take at the beginning. I can see better definition in parts of my body which makes me happy even if it's not reflected on the scale.

Final week of recipes:

Monday: Broccoli, baby potato, and gruyere tarts in a saltine crust. Really, really good. Mom, Kelli and Kerri- it was surprisingly similar in taste to chicken divan (and I was shocked by liking it.) I added baby bella mushrooms for an extra bit of fiber though next time I'll probably make in a puff pastry crust, as the saltine cracker one did not set. It did not call to be cooked first is probably why, so it was quite crumbly.

Tuesday: Peri peri grilled halloumi with portobello and chili jam. I had the intentions of making this but what came out was its third cousin twice removed. First of all, apparently halloumi cheese is only available via Amazon.com which might as well have been the Amazon because I am not ordering cheese for one meal from the internet. Essentially all this turned out to be was grilled portobellas in a pita with leftover gruyere slices, alfredo sauce and shredded carrots and something green I can't recall. It was the epic FAIL MEAL this month.

Wednesday: Out to dinner with Zina and Andrew to Roman Cucina, had the special-mushroom stuffed ravioli with peas.

Thursday: Homemade white pizza. In my world, you can't go wrong with pizza. I topped with alfredo sauce, mushrooms, bell peppers and basil.

Friday: Spicy shrimp stir fry with Japanese soba noodles. (No link because I made it up). Cook soba noodles as directed. Stir fry vegetables (squash, asparagus, bok choy, red cabbage, sugar snap peas) with soy sauce, pinch of red pepper flakes, and few teaspoons of hoisin sauce. Meanwhile, marinate as much shrimp as you want in one cup soy sauce, tablespoon hoisin sauce, and tablespoon siracha sauce. When soba noodles are done, rinse, and add to stir fry, then add in shrimp marinade to heat shrimp through. Voila, spicy shrimp stir fry with Japanese soba noodles. Fancy.

Saturday: Luau! Welcomed chicken back into my life and it was quite good.

I still have two meals left, vegetarian tacos with goat cheese and quinoa with mushrooms, goat cheese and sweet potatoes that I'll use this week.

Thus ends our venture to vegetarianism. In going grocery shopping today I feel oddly timid about buying meat again, so perhaps the change will be a 50/50 split of meat/veg meals as opposed to 90/10.

Vegetarian for a month-Week 3

Well we've made it to week three, and I still hold true to the fact it has not been hard. Though, I did stray into old habits (accidentally) at a work lunch going through the buffet line. I picked up a piece of chicken, and upon sitting down and taking a bite my current brain instead of my 25-days ago brain, and actually thought "this is foreign, what am I eating?" To which I was horrified I'd slipped up. Oh well, it was one bite. It was hotel chicken anyway.

This week's recipes were by far my favorite-I definitely would recommend to all.

Sunday: Spaghetti and spinach balls. Scott said this could be on the regular rotation. What does that say?
Monday: Vietnamese summer rolls with mango and sweet chili dipping sauce, and asparagus. So tasty and easy!
Tuesday: Black eyed pea cakes with chipotle mayonnaise and salad. I could not locate black eyed peas so I used black beans. Still good.
Wednesday: Mango blueberry quinoa salad with lemon basil dressing. This may be better suited as a lunch entree as its rather light, but after having the stomach flu for two days it was perfect.
Thursday: Portobello mushroom and zucchini rellanos with ranchero sauce. Again, so good! Very hearty, will definitely make again.
Friday: Spinach and taleggio quesadillas and salad. I had four of these-Friday dinner and Saturday lunch. Used brie instead of taleggio.
Saturday: Went out to dinner, and we both had an entree featuring mahi mahi, as we left fish as part of the diet.

Vegetarian for a month-Week 2

Week two and I am proud to say I remained a vegetarian diet through the OC Fair and Medieval Times. (Scott indulged at the fair, but this is our experiment so he can do as he likes.) The fair was the first time I genuinely missed meat with all of the turkey legs walking past me. Don't let me fool you into thinking I ate well though-cheese on a stick? I definitely didn't feel great the next day.

Monday: Goat cheese tart and salad (really good, will make again)

Tuesday: Lentil fritter pitas with red cabbage slaw (good, but I did not know you had to cook the lentils before using them. So these little patties were rather tough. Good workout for the teeth.)

Wednesday: Stuffed portobellos and caprese salad

Thursday: Fair

Friday: Medieval Times

Saturday: Cheesy penne and haricot verts (I upped the veggie factor on the penne, since that version is rather indulgent. I added spinach, arugula, and mushrooms to bulk up the iron and fiber. I also omitted the bacon from the haricot verts.)

All in all this continues to go well. Still feeling well, still working out 4-5 days per week with running/walking, Zumba, Piyo and yoga.

Vegetarian for a month-Week 1

Well the title pretty much sums this up-we've gone vegetarian for the month. In the grand scheme of things, it's a small amount of time to do a bit of an experiment-see how our bodies feel without the meat combined with an increased fitness routine.

This also presented an opportunity for a meal planning perspective change. No longer could I sit down and come up with 7 days of chicken/beef/pork/fish/veggie combination-this would be an entire shift in grocery shopping.

So we're officially a week in-and for anyone up for a food challenge or simply Googling around like myself for recipes, here's a glimpse of the past week.

Tuesday 7/26: Eggplant parmigiana and salad

Wednesday 7/27: Portobello burgers with garlic aioli and asparagus

Thursday 7/28: Grilled eggplant and sweet pepper sandwiches and salad

Friday 7/29: Sesame soba noodle salad

Saturday: 7/30: never ate dinner, went to LA Rising, had Cheerios at 1:15 a.m. upon getting home.

Sunday: 7/31: Veggie burger patties (purchased), corn on the cob, black bean salad

The important thing (for me) to remember is not to consume only cheese and bread and replacing the missing protein with other options, like legumes. Breakfast is usually an over-easy egg on toast, cereal, or Greek yogurt. Lunch last week were veggie sandwiches and plenty of leftovers. So far, we both feel great. Energy levels are good, and frankly I'm sleeping better-though the increased exercise could factor in as well.

Next week there will be no eggplant.

A Domestic Kind of Saturday

The past few weekends have been pretty busy with commitments and to-do lists, so this was the first weekend I could indulge in one of my favorite hobbies-trying new recipes. Saturday, this meant baking.

Both recipes are from Smitten Kitchen: S'mores Pie and Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti
Besides hazelnuts being pretty unavailable at each store I went to, this recipe was ridiculously easy.

Sliced, before heading back into the oven for the second baking.

Sunday morning biscotti!

S'mores Pie
Another pretty simple recipe, with the downsides being the time standing with the three steps. I opted to make everything, though you could easily make shortcuts and buy a graham cracker crust or buy Marshmallow Fluff in lieu of making your own.

The marshmallow making portion was the most difficult. In the recipe, it says the approximate time for whipping the gelatin and corn syrup is 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure Big Red just paid for himself being on for about 25 minutes.



I can't say the mixture tripled in size either. While it was mixing at high speed, I put some mini marshmallows I had on hand atop the pie, and then spread my own marshmallow mixture above them.

With cooling, baking, and chilling time, this recipe took close to 3 hours-and I took shortcuts. I did not let the pie cool coming out of the oven before putting the marshmallows on (another lesson in reading directions thoroughly-though it was a happy coincidence since I put the mini marshmallows on top of that layer, so they melted a bit.) The pie is supposed to chill for 3 hours after adding the topping and we went to a movie for 2. Who can really wait that long anyhow. After it comes out, the final step is broiling the pie so the top browns-truly making it a S'more Pie.

Mmm, the inside.

Slice of the pie. Scott even enjoyed. He likes pie, but does not like s'mores. It was a dicey decision to attempt this pie for this household.

Capping off my day of baking, we feasted on lime halibut with mango salsa (not pictured-sometimes you forget about your early prep still in the fridge), twice baked potatoes, and stuffed mushrooms.


After seeing Bridesmaids (I'll give it a B), we came home to enjoy the remaining wine and of course, the s'more pie, in the backyard over a roaring fire naturally, and a little poetry courtesy of Walt Whitman.

It was a great Saturday.

Mother's Day Part II

While Scott enjoyed all that Vegas had to offer for a friend's bachelor party, I entertained not once, not twice, but three evenings this weekend in honor of all that is mom. My mom, my pseudo moms, my mother-in-law, it was a rotating cast of moms at casa de Haselton.

Since Scott was in Vegas all weekend I offered to host his family for a dinner on Sunday night so that he could roll in from his trip straight to the previously prepared table from the night before. So smart. Some people called me crazy for three parties three nights in a row-I call it strategic. I was worn out, but Sunday was far less work than Saturday since I only had to prep food and barbecue.

For this affair, I served:

• Tequila-lime chicken kabobs with mushrooms, bell peppers, and red onions
• Giada's red tomato and potato salad (though it was really cold here yesterday so to add some warmth to the meal beyond the bbq, I made a bread crumb topping and added Parmesan and mozzarella and baked it. Turned out well, if you are interested in also attempting.)
• Roasted asparagus with a Dijon-lemon marinade (courtesy of my sister-in-law, Traci) These were super tasty.
• For dessert, we had leftover Nutella cupcakes from the night before from Caitlin, so they took center stage, though I'd originally planned on a lemon cake.

At most Haselton events, this guy was the hired entertainment:

But we were there to not only coo over him, but toast the moms:

Oliver likes to be in thick of things as well. He and Mason got along peachy.


To keep things simple, I used the same motif from Saturday's soiree and just changed the meal. Makes things really easy and I knew Sandy would love it. She's a sucker for twinkle lights like myself. It was the perfect ending to a great Mother's Day weekend.

Such a doll.

Happy Mother's Day!

Last night, my girlfriends and I held a mother's day dinner in honor of our moms. I think it's safe to say this might become a tradition-a great time was had by all.

Motif: Shabby-chic farm style dinner with vintage embroidered linens. (Thanks Cristal!)

You can see we attached pictures with our moms to the lattice in the background.

Backyards are always better with lights! This is proof I manned the BBQ.
Lessons with Scott paid off.

Kiss the cook!

Shannon-a great grill master herself. And maker of the best ever bacon-wrapped dates.

MEAT.

The moms-before they toasted us! Clever ladies, beat us the daughters to the punch.

End of the night group shot, though Katie, Paula, and Shannon had left.

I'm often interested in the menus for parties-here's the breakdown:

Appetizers:

• Caprese salad
• Blue cheese-stuffed olives
• Artichoke and bean crostini
• Bacon wrapped dates

Entree

• Filet mignon (with Scott's secret marinade)
• Chicken with tequila lime marinade
• Twice-baked potatoes
• Cesar salad

Dessert

• Nutella cupcakes
• Coffee cupcakes

And several bottles of wine-of course.

This was a super fun evening. We've all been friends from as early as elementary school and were all on dance team together during various years in high school and the friendships have remained. Cheers to moms-both biological, stand ins, in-laws, and soon-t0-be as well!

Foodie First-Timer: Artichokes

I've loved artichokes since the day they were introduced to me at our family friends' John and Shannon's home, when I was about 12. It was important date because Shannon took the opportunity to tell me one eyebrow was significantly shorter than the other thanks to my overzealous plucking. She told it like it was, and after a painfully long month or so, I had quasi-even eyebrows again. I say quasi because I think they are still more fraternal than identical.

Anyway, back to artichokes. It was my first experience eating these vegetables-leaves, heart, and copious amounts of butter and there was no turning back. I requested my mom make these for my next birthday, though I was the only one to enjoy them-not many other 13 year olds know what to make of the spiky vegetable.

Artichokes (the non-canned variety, specifically) and I experienced a period of absence until recently-last week specifically. I had not ventured into cooking them on my own and really admired their place in the kitchen more as a decorative center piece than meal accompaniment. My favorite magazine Real Simple, had a great spread dissecting the 'choke:



I purchased two artichokes at the farmer's market and then stopped by my favorite store in the world to get a steamer basket which I'm sure will prove itself useful in the long run.


The article suggested rubbing lemon wedges directly on the artichoke and including them in the steamer basket as well. Made for an enhanced flavor when done.

In an effort to not be a total cow, I opted for one of the recipes suggested in the magazine for the dipping sauce-a Dijon vinaigrette. Overall, pretty tasty.