Carrots

When I was growing up I remember my father had to plant what seemed to me to be miles and miles of carrots. We ate quite a few carrots. There was one point where my father went on this fruit and vegetable juice craze. He got a juicer and had my mother make him gallons of carrot juice...of which he would drink several glasses a day. It wasn't too long before he started noticing something strange when he looked in the mirror.

Yep, you got it. He started turning orange. So that did it for his carrot juice craze. But we still ate quite a few carrots. My mom made many and many a carrot salad. I have tried many times to replicate her carrot salads; she never really measured anything in it, I don't believe. But I can never make them to where they taste as good as the ones she made.

But in that Recipes from India article I found this gem:

Carrot Salad

Carrot Salad

2 medium carrots, grated
1 med tomato, seeded and chopped
½ C plain yogurt
½ C sour cream
¼ C raisins
¼ C finely chopped red onion
½ tsp salt
Fresh cilantro leaves and coarsely ground pepper, optional

In a small bowl combine the first seven ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Garnish with cilantro and pepper, if desired.

This is super easy to make, you can make it a few hours ahead of time and it's very good. Even hubby liked it, and he's not much into carrots, at all. Once again I loved the plain yogurt addition to it; it adds a tang to it.

A different crispy rice bar...

This is one of two "granola/health bar" recipes I found.

Chewy Energy Bars

2-½ cups crisp rice cereal
2 cups quick oats
¼ cup toasted wheat germ
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the cereal, oats and wheat germ. In a small saucepan, combine the corn syrup, peanut butter and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat until peanut butter is melted, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat, stir in vanilla. Pour over cereal mixture, mix well. Transfer to a greased 9x13 inch pan. Gently press cereal mixture evenly into pan. Cool completely, cut into bars.


So this is the recipe as I made it. But I did it a bit differently from the original. The recipe calls for a 9 inch square. But after the cooling and cutting part I ended up with two dozen of them instead of the 1-½ dozen that they state the yield to be and I don’t believe mine were any thinner than the ones in their picture. (Taste of Home Sept 2010) So if you choose to make this recipe you can experiment and use whichever sized pan you.

Hubby loves these bars, as do I. They are chewy and tasty. At first I kind of cringed at the idea of a WHOLE cup of corn syrup, on top of the peanut butter. But here’s what I figured; I KNOW what is in these bars, I DON’T know what’s in the average pre-packaged granola bars from the store. I like the wheat germ addition, as well as the peanut butter. Plus these are great to make with kids, and they have more nutrition for them than plain rice crispy bars made with marshmallows…etc. It would also be easy to add extra goodies in these: dried cranberries, mini M&Ms, chopped nuts…etc.

I learned a valuable lesson from this recipe: wheat germ can be found down the cereal aisle, NOT down the flour/baking aisle at your local grocery store. I also bought the untoasted variety and toasted it in my oven. It was much cheaper that way, I believe.


*Note: I found an answer to the corn syrup issue; see the next bar recipe.

Something Sweet for the Crepes

Berries’n Cream Crepe Filling

4 cups fresh berries, (slice strawberries)
2 Tblsp sugar
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup whipping cream, whipped
12 dessert crepes
Whipped cream for garnish
12 whole berries for garnish

Sprinkle sliced berries with sugar and set aside. Beat condensed milk with lemon juice until thick. Fold in berries and whipped cream. Divide between crepes and fold. Garnish with additional whipped cream and a berry centered on cream.

Note: 20 oz frozen berries can be substituted for the fresh berries. Drain off juice and omit the sugar.


I used my own raspberries from the freezer. This was delish...super-rich. Hubby said that at first he thought he'd eat 2 of them, but by the time he finished the first one he didn't need another.

I'd never beated sweetened condensed milk before, nor even thought of mixing it with whipped cream, but it was really good. And would likely be good used with other desserts as well.

Another Crepe Recipe

This is just your basic crepe recipe; to be filled with whatever you might desire. Once again; easy to make, but I found them tough. Maybe I am overcooking. I DID follow the recipe to the letter this time, too.

Basic Crepe Recipe

1 ½ cups milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 ½ cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl beat eggs well on medium speed. Gradually add dry ingredients alternately with milk and oil. Beat until smooth. Using about ¼ cups of batter, swirl onto bottom of heated crepe pan, or 8-9 inch frying pan. Cook on one side for 1-1 1/2 minutes, or until mostly dry on top. Flip and cook an additional 1 minute.

A Crepe Beginning

Indian Chicken Crepes

Filling
1 ½ cups chopped cooked chicken
8 oz plain low fat yogurt
2 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons sliced green onion
2 tablespoons chopped sweet pickle
½ to 1 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Crepes
¾ cup rye flour*
¼ cup AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts

Combine chicken, yogurt, raisins, onion, pickle, curry powder and red pepper. Mix well, cover and chill.

Combine dry crepe ingredients. Combine liquid crepe ingredients and add to dry ingredients, mixing well. Heat 6-7 inch crepe pan or skillet over medium heat. Lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray or oil before making each crepe. Pour about ¼ cup batter onto hot prepared pan; immediately tilt pan to coat bottom evenly. Cook 1 to 1 ½ minutes or until top looks dry. Turn; cook an addition 1 minute. Cool. Stack between sheets of waxed paper.

Stir peanuts into chicken mixture just before serving. Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling along less evenly browned side of each crepe. Fold or roll up sides to cover filling. Serve immediately.

*Note: The original recipe called for ¾ cup Quaker Oat Bran, 1 cup skim milk and 3 egg whites. I didn’t have Quaker Oat Bran, so this was my substitute.

This was my first venture into making crepes. They were easy enough to make really; pour, swirl, cook and turn. I rather enjoyed making them. But when it came to eating them; well , frankly, I preferred the filling and could have done without the crepe part of it. I thought they seemed tough. Hubby seemed to like them alright, but I dunno if he was just being a good sport or really DID like them. Perhaps my substitutions made them tougher than normal, but I don’t think so, based upon my further experiments with a different recipe.

At any rate, the filling was really good, but since I got it out of a health food booklet, I really felt it needed salt. The curry powder did add great flavor, though.

One of my Favorites...

The following recipe is one of my favorite Indian recipes. I love it. The only problem here is that I DON'T have a picture of it. *sigh* Sorry. I said I'd have a picture of all of my recipes. ARGH! Well, it's good anyway.


Chicken Korma

1 large potato; peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 cinnamon stick (3 inches long)
1 bay leaf
3 whole cloves
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp minced fresh ginger root
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 tsp salt
½ C sour cream
Hot cooked rice

Boil potato 10-15 minutes, just until tender. Drain.

Sauté onion, cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves in oil until onion is tender. Add chicken, garlic, curry and ginger; cook and stir 1 minute longer. Stir in tomatoes, salt and potato.

Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from heat; discard cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves. Stir in sour cream. Serve with rice.

Shall We Begin

Hmmmmm....This is the hard part; deciding where to begin.

I think I'll just start with the fun stuff. Fun for me at least. Back in '03 I was privileged to be able to spend 2 weeks in Malaysia, a country that is a crossroads of many different cultures. The most fun my friend and I had there was trying all the different foods. I fell in love with Indian, umm...India Indian, food; the curries and sauces...etc. While I was still living in Portland it was easy enough to indulge this love of Indian cuisine. But when I moved to Missouri in '04, my ability to find Indian fare came to a screeching halt. Mid-Westerners, as a general rule, do not indulge in anything foreign. At least this is so of the family I married in to.

However, a few months ago a cooking magazine I subscribe to featured some Indian foods and actually had this recipe:



Curry Powder

3 cardamom seeds
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp pepper
1/8 tsp fennel seed

Remove cardamom seeds from their pods if necessary. In a spice grinder or with mortar and pestle, combine all ingredients until it becomes a powder. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 year.

I altered it quite a bit, my husband and I cannot "do" spicy-hot foods, so I cut down on the chili powder. But I made up a container of this and use it to flavor several different dishes that I now make. This recipe is very easy to adapt to your own tastes; just change the amounts around to suit yourself. I use the ground cardamom, instead of seeds, and I guess at the amount.

At any rate, curry powder will appear in a couple of other recipes I will post on here.

Thanks for visiting.