Crockpot Masala Chicken & Chickpeas

Hi there!

Guess what day it is?!

Um, no. It’s not Wednesday. Yet. That’s tomorrow. Patience, grasshopper.

It’s Tasty Tuesday!!

After you check out my tasty new recipe and subsequently go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients so you can have it for dinner tomorrow, don’t forget to head on over to Lena’s page to check out all the other Tasty Tuesday yumminess!

Oh wait, check out her page first. She’s got tomorrow’s breakfast covered.  🙂

 I had picked up some organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs from Harris Teeter but I didn’t really have a plan for them.

I wouldn’t recommend doing that on a regular basis. If you’re me, you might forget that you bought them, never be inspired, never come up with a plan and then they’ll go bad and you’ve just wasted money.

Wasting money is bad.

BUT, turns out I was inspired!

I decided to make a riff on Chana Masala and my Chana ma-Chicken and use my crockpot to do the heavy lifting.

Yes, Chana ma-Chicken. I told you I need work on recipe naming. #dontjudgeme

When I got home from work, the house smelled so delicious with all the lovely curry and Indian spicy smells.

You know, it just occurred to me how much that must torture my dogs when I cook in the crockpot. A dog’s sense of smell is what, a bazillian times greater than ours? Can you just imagine the anguish they must feel smelling delicious dinner ALL DAY LONG and then, they don’t even get any?!

It’s quite possible that I’m the worst doggy mama ever.

Crockpot Masala Chicken & Chickpeas
serves 4-6

2-3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 ounces) fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon allspice
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
Cooked rice, for serving

1. Place chicken thighs and chickpeas in crockpot.

2. In a small bowl, mix diced tomatoes and spices. Pour over chicken and chickpeas. Cover crockpot and cook on low, 8 hours.

3. NOM. NOM. NOM.

 Talk to me: What’s your favorite chickpea recipe? How many times a week do you use your crockpot?

 

 

– jennifer

Tasty Tuesday – Curried Pork in Phyllo

Hi there!

It’s time for Tasty Tuesday!! 🙂

Make sure you remember to head on over to Lena’s page to check out all the fantastic foodiness and links over there! Oh, and you’ll be excited to know – she’s one of Lärabar’s newest brand ambassadors! Congratulations, Lena! ❤

Now, onto my Tasty Tuesday input!

I was in the mood for some curry but 1. didn’t want to make one of our old standbys and 2. didn’t want to spend the money on a restaurant (even though this place is on our list of ‘hell, yeah, let’s go eat there!’).

So, I made a Curried Pork in Phyllo!

Yes, I’m aware that’s lame and I need help with recipe naming. I’ll gladly take suggestions. I can’t figure out what else to call it. Curried Pork Log just sounds wrong to me and Curried Pork Pastry evokes strange thoughts – I mean, is it savory? Is it sweet? Is it confused?

Anyway, you’ll find Phyllo dough in your grocer’s freezer. Probably in the same area where you’d find puff pastry. Which is not the same thing. Don’t get them confused. And yes, apparently Phyllo can be spelled fillo.

Each package of phyllo comes with 2 separately packed rolls. You’ll only want to use one roll for this recipe. Otherwise, it’s too much phyllo. And, while delicious, sometimes too much of a good thing isn’t good.

And no, they won’t stick together to form a wreath or a circle. No matter how hard you try, how much you cuss, cry, or beg. So, don’t even bother.

So, even though it may not be the most beautiful creation in the world, once you slice yourself a piece and take a bite, you’ll forget all about it. Warm, flavorful, curried pork nestled into a flaky crust? WIN!

We topped our individual pieces with a little of this Thai Chili & Ginger sauce for a sweet and spicy addition to the curry. It was lovely. It’s also pretty tasty if you just want to drink some straight from the bottle. 😉

Curried Pork in phyllo
serves about 6-8 people

1 pound ground pork
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 tablespoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add pork; cook, breaking into small pieces, until no longer pink. Add onions and bell pepper and cook 5-8 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, stirring constantly, about 1 minute.

2. Mix in remaining ingredients and cook 2-3 minutes.

3. Unroll one roll of phyllo dough and separate in half (sheets should come right apart). Spread half of pork mixture on one set of phyllo and roll up; place seam side down on prepared baking sheet. Spread remaining mixture on other phyllo sheets and roll up; place seam side down on prepared baking sheet. Spray tops of phyllo with cooking spray.

4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until phyllo is deep golden and crispy. Serve immediately.

5. NOM!

Talk to me: Have you ever cooked with phyllo? What about puff pastry? What’s your favorite recipe?

– jennifer

Tasty Traditions we can’t live without at Christmas!

Hello, hello!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! 🙂

Can you believe Christmas is seriously only 2 days away?

Will you be tracking Santa this year?

Gosh, the internet is such a wonderful thing! Remember when we were kids and we just had to cross our fingers and hope that Santa was going to make it around the world in time, wondering where he was right at that very moment, trying to stay awake so we could hear the reindeer land on the roof?

We hoped our carefully handwritten letters were mailed on time, that the Santa in the mall remembered to pass along our whispered Christmas wishes to the elves, and boy, oh boy, what were we going to do now that we’ve moved into a house with no chimney!

Now, we can email Santa and track his every movement. Nope, that’s not creepy at all. 🙂

Do you bake cookies for Santa?

We never really did that – probably because the dogs would have eaten the cookies before Santa showed up, anyway.

Anyhoo, in honor of it being Tasty Tuesday (you almost forgot, didn’t you?!),

I thought I would share some of our Tasty Christmas Traditions.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We always go out for breakfast for dinner.

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We’ve been doing that since Thing 2 was a tiny little Thing. It’s so fun! It’s nice and relaxing and easy. Our challenge, because we were always moving, was finding the place that both served breakfast all day and stayed open on Christmas Eve. Thanks to the internet, that’s so much easier these days. 🙂  Then, we go and check out the Christmas lights. 🙂

Christmas Morning

I don’t remember when it started but for many, many years now, I make these muffins on Christmas morning.

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They are the Cinnamon Cobblestone Crunch Muffins from The Pampered Chef®.

I typically pre-prep the cinnamon pecan mixture the night before and get up early and get them in the oven. We eat them warm, drink OJ or mimosas and coffee (adults only!) and take our time getting to the presents. The Things didn’t enjoy the waiting so much when they were little but, after a few years, they saw how fun it was to just hang out as a family before the madness started. 🙂

Mimosas!

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Need I say more?

Christmas Dinner

For Christmas dinner, we either do a ham or a turkey (depends on what happened at Thanksgiving) but either way, they’re ALWAYS cooked on the grill.

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When I was growing up, I didn’t like turkey. Strange, right? Well, I didn’t. So, my mom always had a ham slice for me. Then, one year, my dad grilled the turkey.

Holy. Moly.

I was hooked and it became a thing that always had to happen. I’ve never once cooked a turkey in the oven. I don’t care if there’s a blizzard outside, if we’re having turkey, we’re grilling it. Om. Nom. Nom.

Talk to me: Do you have any tasty Christmas traditions? What are you most looking forward to?

– jennifer