Chicken Korma II that I will never forget!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  Life got busy there for a bit, and then when it slowed down, we lost our internet for a week.

A few weeks ago, I posted about trying a chicken korma recipe that was a disappointment.  My friend, Bobbie, emailed me with two chicken korma recipes that she had found online.  One recipe looked especially interesting and the most like what I've gotten at Indian restaurants when I order it.  Last week, I bought the ingredients to make it.

Last night, while I was cooking this Chicken Korma II dish, I had an accident.  I was getting ready to puree the cashews and yogurt, but my immersible blender attachment didn't seem to be working right.  Without thinking, I went to fiddle with the attachment without unplugging it.  The whole thing spun in my other hand, and somehow I pushed the power button.  Zwing!  The next thing I knew, my left hand was covered in blood oozing from my index finger.

I'll spare you all the details, but I went to the emergency room to get stitches.  I was lucky that the cut wasn't bigger.  I only needed four stitches, and I didn't cut any tendons/ligaments/bones.  It's doing pretty well today.  I have a HUGE pile of dishes that I must tackle with some rubber gloves once I take this big bandage off later this evening.

Back to the korma...  Before going to the hospital, I showed Jim what to do to finish the korma.  He finished it while I was at the emergency.  (My terrific friend, Sally, came and stayed with me and brought me home so that Jim could bring the boys home.)  I finally got to have some late last night, and it was wonderful!  I loved it!  I did add some golden raisins and sliced almonds at the end, which the recipe didn't call for, but it made it even better.  This one is definitely a keeper!

Come back again tomorrow.  I have a bunch of cake decorating pictures to show you from the past few weeks.  Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Vindaloo

Jim and I really enjoy Indian food, but we don't go out for it nearly as often as we used to now that we have picky eaters in the family. Vindaloo is Jim's favorite dish, and I made this for him often.


I have no idea where I got this recipe originally. I found it years ago on a random Indian cooking website, I think. Since then, I have made my own adjustments to it. It's Jim's favorite Indian dish, so he has made some suggestions for improving it too. Here's the recipe:

Chicken Vindaloo


4 T. butter, divided
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1-14 oz. can chicken broth
1/2 of a 29 oz. can of tomato puree
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced or pressed
1 T. cider vinegar
curry/vindaloo paste
basmati rice


Melt 2 T. butter in large pan over medium high heat. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and saute in butter until lightly browned and just cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.


Melt remaining 2 T. butter in pan. Add onions and garlic, fry for 2 min. over medium heat. Add 3-5 T. of curry (to taste) and fry for about 5 min. (I have been using vindaloo paste instead of curry. You can buy it at some grocery stores that stock ethnic foods. Jim likes this much better.)


Add chicken broth, potatoes and tomato puree. Cook for 10 min. over medium heat.


Add chicken back to pan. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 min. uncovered. Stir in cider vinegar and let sit 5 min. Serve over basmati rice.

Give this a whirl if you're feeling adventurous! Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Korma

Jim and I really enjoy Indian food. I have even cooked it quite a bit. I have used a few different recipes over the years that have become favorites, and couple are good, but I would like to find better. My favorite Indian dish is any kind of korma: chicken, lamb, vegetable, it doesn't matter. I have not found a good korma recipe yet.

The current Taste of Home magazine has a short article in it with a few Indian recipes, one of which is Chicken Korma. I made it for dinner the other evening. It was a bit of a disappointment. It called for sour cream, annd I chose to use plain yogurt instead. Maybe the sour cream makes a huge difference, but to us it was really bland. I don't know if I'll try to make it again or not. I wish I could find a great korma recipe. If you have one, please let me know in a comment!

Since the recipe is in the current issue of Taste of Home, I can not link you through to it. It's only available to subscribers. Sorry. Thanks for stopping by!

Grilled Burritos

I got a craving for burritos. Our oldest son doesn't like it when we go to Taco Bell, so I decided to make my own at home. Sorry I didn't take a picture of them to share! Here's my "recipe":

Grilled Burritos

1 can fat-free refried beans
1 lb. ground beef, browned
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 packet Knorr Spanish rice
shredded cheese
large tortillas
sour cream, salsa, guacamole, whatever toppings you like

Add the taco seasoning to the ground beef according to the instructions. Make the Spanish rice according to the package directions.

Make an assembly line where you add a little of the beef, beans, rice and shredded cheese to a tortilla. (Jim omitted the beans and added pepperoncinis to his.) Wrap it up, placing it with the flap side down.

Make as many of these as you want to have for your meal. Heat a skillet or grill pan with a little butter or non-stick cooking spray. Grill the tortillas for just a minute or two on each side until they are light brown and toasty. Be careful not to lose the fillings out of the center.

Serve hot with sour cream, salsa, guacamole, whatever toppings you like. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheeseburger Soup

My good friend, Olivia, gave me this recipe a long time ago. I have adjusted it somewhat from what she gave me, so I'm going to give you my version. This is a very hearty soup perfect for a cold blustery day. Even meat-and-potatoes men will like it, because it includes lots of meat and potatoes!

Cheeseburger Soup

2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 c. potatoes, diced
3-14.5 oz. cans chicken broth
1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. butter
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. milk
1 c. sour cream
1/2 lb. Velveeta, cubed
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef in a large soup pot.  Drain and set Aside.

Melt 1/4 c. of the butter in the same pot and saute the onions and the celery until clear. Add ground beef, carrots, and potatoes along with the chicken broth. Simmer until the potatoes are tender.

While this is cooking, melt the remaining butter in a small pan over low heat. Stir in the flour until bubbly and gradually add the milk. Stir until thickened and set aside.

Once the potatoes are cooked to your liking, add the flour mixture to thicken the soup. Stir well, then add the Velveeta. Stir occasionally until the cheese is melted.

Just before serving, take the soup off of the heat and add the sour cream. Stir until incorporated and serve. Goes great with some fresh, hot crusty French bread!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tortellini Chicken Soup

A friend of mine called me a few weeks ago to ask me about this recipe. I had made it for her family one time, and then she asked me for the recipe. She had lost it and was looking for it again, so she came here to my blog site. I hadn't posted that particular recipe, so she called me. Now I am posting the recipe here for you since I have neglected to post it previously.

I thought this recipe came from Pampered Chef originally, but I don't think it did. I have no idea where I got it, but have made it since not long after Jim and I got married. It's still a keeper!

Tortellini Chicken Soup

1 c. carrots, sliced
1/2 c. onions, chopped
1/2 c. celery, thinly sliced
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 t. thyme
1 T. dried parsley
46 oz. chicken broth
1-2 c. dry cheese-filled tortellini, uncooked
1 bay leaf
pepper to taste

Brown chicken in a large soup pot over medium heat 5-7 min. or until chicken is no longer pink. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer over medium-low heat 20 min. or until pasta is tender. Before serving, remove bay leaf.

Depending on how much tortellini you use, you may need to add more chicken broth, especially if you have leftovers. The tortellini will continue to soak up the broth.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Fling Food

Happy Halloween!

Every year on Halloween night, our church, Wilkinson Church of Christ, hosts a huge community party called Fall Fling. We fill the church with carnival games for kids of all ages, inflatables, face painting, etc. We serve a small dinner for the kids coming through too.

I've never been a part of planning the food before, but our children's pastor asked me if I would be willing to co-chair it this year with another lady who has planned it before. I thought it sounded like a challenge, so I accepted. My job, thus far, has been to plan the groceries and gather the donations needed to make food for the 400 people we have planned for.

We started the planning a few weeks ago. I started searching for festive food to serve on the Family Fun website, keeping in mind that whatever we chose would have to be made in massive quantities. We ended up choosing the following two main dishes:

Pizza Mummies

Worms on a Bun
(I just finished cutting 25 lbs.,
200 hot dogs, into 9 worms each!)

Along with those two main dishes, we will be serving orange and black nacho chips with cheese and the following festive cookies for dessert:

Fudge Stripe Witch's Hats
(See yesterday's post for a picture of mine.
I made 311 of these!)

Nutter Butter Ghosts
(See yesterday's post for a picture of mine.
I made 318 of these.)

We always hand out Popcorn Witch's Hands to the kids too.

I've seen the cookie and popcorn hands all over the web, so I have no idea who to attribute the original ideas to.

I made the cookies yesterday, and cut the hot dogs this morning to prepare them for the Worms on a Bun. I hope this all comes together well tonight! Thanks for stopping by!

Homemade Pizza Dough

The boys and I have made this Homemade Pizza Dough recipe twice now in the past few weeks. They have had a blast making their own pizzas. One day, they even got their Daddy to show them his expertise. He worked at Little Caesar's for a few years when we were in high school.

The second time we made it, I substituted some whole wheat flour for the regular flour. I wanted to make it just a bit healthier. It turned out great both times, and it is super easy! Thanks for stopping by!

Feta-Stuffed Turkey Burgers

I don't know why I was on a Greek kick last week when I made up my menu for this week, but it sounded so appetizing to me. Greek food is usually so light, and it just sounded tasty to me.

After having Pitas on Saturday, we had these Feta-Stuffed Turkey Burgers for lunch on Sunday. They were great--especially with some of the Tzatziki I told you about yesterday on them! (I skipped the sauce in this recipe since I had already made the Tzatziki.) Thanks for stopping by!

Greek Steak Pitas

Now that school has started, we're getting back into a normal routine. I pulled out some summer issues of Cooking Light that I hadn't had a chance to really look through over the summer. So this weekend while we were home without a lot on our schedule, I tried some new recipes.

This Greek Steak Pita recipe was a nice light meal on a warm summer evening. Well, it wasn't exactly warm here this weekend, but it was a nice light meal for the summertime! Instead of pitas, I tried a new product I found at the grocery store, Aunt Millie's Slimwiches. They were really good, and we all really enjoyed them. I also omitted the onion, because none of us are big fans of raw onion.

The recipe also calls for Greek seasoning, which I didn't have, but I found a recipe online for making your own. I'll share that with you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

Cherry-Chicken Salad Croissants

My friend, Sally, was telling me about a really good chicken salad recipe that a mutual friend of ours had made for her when she was visiting her in June. It has dried cherries in it. When I was looking for fruity recipes to make for my stamping workshop last weekend, I thought it would be perfect to make for the ladies' lunch. I emailed Gretchen and asked her for the recipe. She sent the Cherry-Chicken Salad Croissants recipe to me and told me that it was a Taste of Home recipe that she had found. So now I'm sharing it with you! Thanks for stopping by!

Marinade for Beef

I got this beef marinade recipe in my high school freshman Home Ec. class. Can you believe I still have it?!? It's one of my favorite marinades, and I use it pretty often.

Marinade for Beef

2 lbs. beef
3/4 c. oil
1/2 c. vinegar
3 T. worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. thyme

Mix marinade ingredients together in a zipper bag. Add beef and marinate overnight. Prepare beef as desired.

Thanks for stopping by!

BBQ Cheddar Chicken Roll-Ups

I needed something quick and easy for dinner last night, so I made these BBQ Cheddar Chicken Roll-Ups. My boys are very picky eaters, and they weren't terribly fond of them, but Jim and I liked them. Have them with a side salad, and it's a great meal filled with healthy vegetables! Thanks for stopping by!

Steamwhistle Hot Dogs

These Steamwhistle Hot Dogs were a quick lunch after church Sunday afternoon. No, I don't need a recipe to make hot dogs, but these made something a little more special and tasty than just plain old hot dogs. Give them a try! Thanks for stopping by!

Sausage with Peppers and Pasta

We've been back from vacation for a week now. I made us breakfast and lunch while we were on vacation, but for the most part, we went out for dinner. Now I'm having a little trouble getting back into the routine of cooking dinner every evening! I picked some quick and easy recipes for the menu this week.

The new Kraft Foods magazine was in the mailbox when we got home, so I picked a few recipes out of it to try. This evening, I made Sausage with Peppers and Pasta, and it was pretty good--filling, but not heavy. I couldn't find Italian sausage at the grocery store, so I just used some smoked turkey sausage. I didn't have the exact blend of shredded cheese either, so I just used what I had. It turned out just fine. Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken, Cashew, and Red Pepper Stir-Fry

I made this for lunch Sunday after we got home from church. Jim always makes the rice for me whenever we have anything with rice. We have a microwave cooker, and can you believe, with all the cooking I do, I can't seem to get rice to come out right when I make it?!? So Jim is the official rice cooker in our household.

Anyway, the Chicken, Cashew, and Red Pepper Stir-Fry was pretty good. If you like your stir fry with a lot of sauce, then you probably won't like this. We thought it was pretty tasty, and very light on your stomach. I added more peppers than it called for, used ground ginger instead of fresh, and didn't have any sherry, so I skipped that. Cashews can be expensive, so I'm sure it would be good with peanuts too. I happened to find some on sale, so I did use cashews. Don't ever by afraid to alter a recipe a little to use what you have on hand! Thanks for stopping by!

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi

Yesterday for dinner, I made this quick and easy shrimp recipe. I know it's a little unusual to make seafood for a family meal in Central Indiana, but consider it occasionally. You can get some great deals on frozen shrimp. It's not as good as having it fresh at the beach, but a nice change of pace every now and then.


Last evening for dinner, I made this Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi for us. It was nice and light and perfect with a salad on the side.

Be careful when you're using precooked shrimp, which is what I usually use. I like to get them precooked, deveined, and sometimes all they have left on them are the tails. Be sure to thaw your shrimp and then only cook them for a minute or two, literally, until they are heated through. They get tough if you let them go any longer than that. Thanks for stopping by!

Spinach Pasta Toss

Here's an easy recipe from the Kraft Food & Family magazine I got a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it's no longer free. That's irritating. I wonder if I'll soon be getting a bill to renew my subscription? It's filled with quick and easy recipes for all sorts of things: main dishes, snacks, beverages, desserts, etc. but I'm not sure I like it so much that I'll pay to receive it. I can always just use the website, right?


Anyway, back to the Spinach Pasta Toss recipe... I made this the other evening with some grilled chicken breasts. It was a quick, easy, and healthy dinner. The boys weren't thrilled with the spinach. (Mom, do I have to eat the leaves?) I thought it was ok though. Jim did too.

Also, have you seen that mini pasta that Barilla makes? It was on sale at Meijer a few weeks ago, so I bought a few boxes. My youngest is a messy eater. Jim says eating is a full-body contact sport for him. I bought some, and I have to say it's easier for the kiddos to eat. I made this recipe with some of the mini penne pasta. It wasn't whole wheat, but oh well. I also used plain old shredded mozzarella instead of the Italian Blend too. My theory is that you use what you have if it's close enough. Thanks for stopping by!

Sausage Stuffed Manicotti

I've been on a new-recipe-trying kick lately. I made these Sausage-Stuffed Manicotti over the weekend. These were ok, probably not our favorite, but certainly not bad. I like trying new recipes, and some make it into my recipe box as a family favorite and some don't. I haven't decided yet on this one. Give it a try and see what you think! Thanks for stopping by!

Mediterranean Turkey Burgers

Saturday was a gorgeous day here, and we were all outside most of the day mowing grass, washing cars, bathing the dog, etc. I was inside long enough to whip us up a lunch of Mediterranean Turkey Burgers. I haven't ever cooked with ground turkey, but it was on sale at Kroger recently, and I got some. I am really liking the dishes I've made with it so far.


These burgers were fantastic! I really liked them, but then I really like Greek food. My youngest, who is 2 years old, thought they were great too. He wolfed them down like a champ! Oh, and as usual, I didn't use the exact ingredients. I didn't have Japanese panko bread crumbs, so I used plain old bread crumbs. Instead of arugula, I used spinach. Thanks for stopping by!