Recipe for Shrimp and Veggie Curry

Here's a recipe for a tasty, quick meal.  I always keep some frozen shrimp in the freezer.  They can be defrosted quickly in a bowl of room temperature water.  Of course, if you have access to freshly caught shrimp, use those. This quick to prepare curry is a little crunchy, a little creamy, with lots of intense flavor, but mild heat.  You can up the heat factor if you're a "hottie".  

Recipe for Thai Shrimp and Veggie Curry

The photo doesn't do this meal justice!  I probably should have worked on the composition a bit more and taken a few other shots but after tasting the curry sauce, I was in a hurry to eat!  So, don't hold the poor quality photo against this recipe-it's a keeper.

Recipe for Moussaka-Secret Recipe Club

Moussaka-something I love ordering in restaurants but have failed miserably the few times I've tried to make it. Not this time!  Thanks to Evelyne at Cheap Ethnic Eatz, I now have a great recipe.  Evelyne's blog was my March Secret Recipe Club assignment.  It is a nice experience each month to really spend some dedicated time on a fellow bloggers site.  You can read more and see all of this months recipes on the Secret Recipe Club site.

Recipe for General Tso's Chicken

Have you found the terribly addicting website "Pinterest"?   If not, I suggest one of two things:  If you're a visual person and have some time every day to dawdle and browse around a really fun website, check it out.  If you're a super busy person who already wastes too much time on-line, stay away!  Seriously though, it is a great place to see all sorts of things from food and recipes, to ideas for decorating, funny pictures and sayings and so much more.  I found the inspiration for this recipe there.

Recipe for Char Sui Bao - Daring Cooks

Do you love dim sum?  We do and always try to go to our favorite dim sum restaurant when we get back to San Francisco (Yank Sing-a top 100 SF Restaurant in 2011).  They call it deem sum...they probably know better than I do, but I've always seen it written as dim sum, except on their website.  Anyone know the correct spelling?  Anyway, I digress.  I love the steamed pork buns-Char Sui Bao-but never gave a thought to trying to prepare them at home.


Turns out they are a challenge to make, but not an insurmountable one.  That's why I really enjoy participating in The Daring Kitchen challenges.  The challenges so far have pushed me in to culinary experiences I wouldn't have picked on my own and are presented with very detailed instructions, priming the pathway to success.  Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from BellyRumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

Recipe for Sans Rival Cake - Daring Bakers

On Friday, I spoke of everything in moderation and trying to eat healthy most of the time.  Well, I'm sure you can appreciate that this lovely cake fits in the "occasional treat" category here at Eat Little, Eat Big.  Last month I joined an adventuresome group of bloggers who try monthly challenges to expand our culinary aperture and to get out of our comfort zone.  Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake!

Recipe for Greek Chicken with Tzatziki-Win a Trip to Greece!

I hope that photo makes your mouth water...mine is and it is only 8 am here as I'm typing this!  Of course, if you are still stuffed from Thanksgiving and really can't think about food, just save this and check it out later! 


If you look up at the top of the page, you'll see the statement about what my blog is all about:  "Celebrating the delights of good healthy food and special treats! Sharing recipes, information and experiences."  That pretty much sums up my and Mr. ELEB's philosophy on good living and living a healthy life.  Everything in moderation.  Most of the time we eat healthy.  He runs, I bike.  We moved to Maui so we could enjoy the outdoors every day of the year.


And, part of good living is enjoying a splurge now and then...like this weekend that we enjoyed at the Kapalua Food and Wine Festival or this chocolate torte.  But most of the time, we try to stick to the healthier side of life.


Today's recipe fits in the "good healthy food" category and, always a bonus, it tastes fantastic!  

Recipe for Light Version of King Ranch Casserole

Maybe this should be called "Princess Ranch Casserole" because it is probably less than half the fat and calories of the classic recipe.  No canned soups, full fat milk, or sour cream, and a modest amount of low fat cheese.  Still delicious though!

Recipe for Lamb and Sweet Potato Curry

According to Wikipedia, curry is a dish of meat and vegetables, cooked in an Indian style spicy sauce and served with rice.  And while not what I think of when I think "curry", other than the rice, this full-of-flavor dish meets the definition.  I adapted this dish from Meena's blog "Hooked on Heat", a great spot for Indian recipes that anyone can tackle.  As you know if you've been reading ELEB for a while, I'm trying to cook more Indian recipes.  This one is a winner!

Recipe for Indian Spiced Beans

A few months ago I saw a couple of mentions of the Secret Recipe Club but didn’t really have time to look into exactly what it was all about.  Until now.  How it works in a nutshell is you sign up to join and are assigned a different blog each month (from another participating blogger).  Once you receive your assignment, you choose any recipe to make from that blog.  The secret part is that participating bloggers don’t know who is cooking from their blog or what is being made until the assigned day. 

Today is the day, and I am featuring a recipe from the blog Beantown Baker.  Jen is the author and lives in Boston with her hubby and two cats.  She loves to bake as you could probably guess but also features other recipes on her blog.  Since Mr. ELEB and I are still trying to recover (ie lose the weight we gained) from our (not so) recent SF/NY/Atlanta trip, and because I’m trying to cook more Indian food, I chose this interesting bean recipe rather than one of her delicious sounding desserts.  However, I’d encourage you to check out Jen’s blog for some decadent cupcakes!

Yield: 3 servings

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup light coconut milk
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves

Method:

• Heat oil in a medium skillet over med-high heat.
• Add onion and sauté until translucent.
• Stir in the minced garlic and garam masala.
• Cook for one minute. 
• Stir in the beans, tomatoes, ginger, and salt.
• Simmer for fifteen minutes. 
• Pour in coconut milk.
• Heat until warmed.
• Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

This is a great, quick recipe for when you want something flavorful but easy to put together, especially if you are on an Indian food kick like I am!  I stayed pretty true to the original recipe.  I used cannellini rather than pinto beans but as Jen noted, any bean will work.  I also omitted the small amount of sugar in the original recipe, used fresh instead of ground ginger, and used light instead of regular coconut milk. 

Check out all the other recipes that were made as part of the Secret Recipe Club.  I can’t wait to see what someone picked to make from Eat Little, Eat Big!  

Printable Recipe

Recipe for Chicken Vindaloo

Indian dishes are something we really enjoy eating.  How about you?  I've been trying to cook more Indian recipes at home and with that in mind, I bought some Vindaloo Spice Mix at Penzey's when I was at their retail location in Menlo Park last month.


This probably wouldn't be considered a traditional dish which most references say includes potatoes, not beans or tomatoes, but I wanted a one-pot dish, didn't want potatoes, and had green beans to use.  I used the directions on the Penzey's package for general guidance and then went my own way!


If you want to mix your own spice from scratch, here is an ingredient list I found on e-How.  In Penzey's mix: coriander, garlic, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, mustard, cayenne pepper, jalapeno, cardamom, turmeric, black pepper, cloves.

Recipe for "Sate" Roasted Chicken

This is one moist and delicious chicken, if I do say so myself, and I do!  Another experiment with some of the Penzey's spices I picked up on a recent trip to the mainland [and no, Penzey's isn't sponsoring these posts : -)]. This roasted chicken is slathered in a slurry of olive oil and Indonesian Sate seasoning (that's their spelling). I roasted it following my favorite "not just for special occasions" method.  It's foolproof.  The meat is so moist and the Sate seasoning was fantastic.


So, you might be wondering "what's in that Sate seasoning Susie Bee?"  Here is the list of ingredients:  

Recipe for Tarka Dal (Indian Yellow Split Peas)

Recently, I had a good session organizing the pantry.   Ugh, what a mess!  I came across a few things that I bought when they caught my eye, including a bag of yellow split peas intended for soup.  Well the soup never got made, but I came across an interesting sounding recipe on Cooking Channel for Tarka Dal so I pulled out the peas and made it instead.  Oh boy.  REALLY good.   And unlike a lot of Indian recipes I’ve come across, a relatively manageable ingredient list and cooking method.  I can’t remember when my kitchen smelled so good!

Recipe for Chai Concentrate

Yesterday I promised you another Indian ingredient recipe.  The surprise is that it isn’t for a meal.  It's for chai (Indian tea) concentrate.  I saw the original recipe from thecatnipcat and thought it would be great to have this in the fridge for iced chai lattes or, on that rare cool evening here, a hot latte.

I halved the original recipe and tweaked the ingredients to my preferences.  I think this is a versatile enough recipe to increase or decrease ingredients depending on what you like (I like cinnamon, so I used more; not that crazy about cloves so used less).

Recipe for Garam Masala Grilled Chicken



Here is another recipe following my interest in cooking more with Indian spices.  This is a super easy, quick marinade that tenderizes and flavors the chicken in a wonderful way.  A quick turn on the grill and you have a delicious Indian flavored main course. 

Recipe for Turkey and Bean Nacho Casserole

Recipes from Cooking Light rarely disappoint me.  This one, meh.   I adapted it by using ground turkey breast rather than vegetarian crumbles as in the original recipe and made a few other minor tweaks.   It was tasty enough but I would just make it like traditional nachos if I make it again.  All the building of the casserole wasn’t worth it and it didn’t keep well for leftovers (soggy chips).  If I had just made it like nachos, I could have saved the leftover meat mixture and served it on fresh chips the next day.  Lesson learned!

Recipe for Poached White Fish

Still on our quest to eat fish several times a week and to eat what is sustainable, I made this flavorful dish.  I am drawn these days to Indian spices and am trying to use them in new ways in my cooking.  I’ll admit that Indian cooking is intimidating to me.  So many ingredients (many of which I can’t find here on Maui!) and so many steps.  I know the results are worth the effort, but I find myself venturing slowly into this arena.

Recipe for Easy Rotisserie Chicken Enchiladas

Finding a good store bought rotisserie chicken can open up all kinds of possibilities for quick, easy meals.  What defines a “good” one though?  For me, it is one that doesn’t have a lot of added salt, has good flavor, isn’t dried out, and is reasonably priced.  The meat from one such chicken was perfect to use in this easy enchilada dish.

Since making this recipe, I made a roasted chicken using a super quick method (less than an hour for a 4 pound bird, recipe coming next week), so I may not be using store bought rotisserie chickens as much going forward!

Recipe for Roasted Broccoli con Pomodoro

Why roasted broccoli?  Do you ever get in a rut with what you're cooking?  I do.  With our weekly veggie delivery and a conscious effort to get more veggies in our diet, I've gotten in the habit of steaming almost everything.   Which in and of itself isn't bad.  Steaming is one of the best ways to keep calories down and retain the most nutrients.  But, it gets boring!

So...I've been trying to branch out and tonight I put together a simple but very tasty Italian flavored dish.  The flavor of the roasted broccoli is amazingly complex, intense, and almost sweet.  The addition of garlic, tomato, and a small amount of good cheese creates a perfect dish!

I'm committed to trying to be more creative with my veggies.  How about you?

Recipe for Spicy Peanut Chicken Whole Wheat Pizza





This is an interesting combination…spicy peanut sauce, left over from my Grilled Asian Peanut Pork Tenderloin recipe, chicken, cheese, cilantro and scallions.  It’s sort of Thai flavored, although you could really up that by mixing in some Thai fish sauce, but I like it just as written.  If you like more heat, throw on some red pepper flakes.

I made up a batch of my Whole Wheat Pizza Dough last week, so I pulled one dough ball out last night into the fridge to defrost.  You could also use regular pizza dough or a Boboli.

I tried something new, rolling the dough out on parchment paper on top of the pizza peel and sliding the pizza onto the pizza stone using the peel and paper (recommended in the King Arthur Whole Wheat Cookbook).  It made it a lot easier!  I pulled the paper out after 3 minutes because I wanted to be sure the stone had direct contact with the crust for maximum crispness, but it could probably be left in the whole time.