Butter Chicken Pizza

What could be easier than this quick assemble, dreary Sunday afternoon, lunch favorite?

All that’s required is some left over Butter Chicken, restaurant bought, or home made.

• some Naan bread
• some melty cheese ( I used smoked cheddar for extra zing)

 

Place Naan on a baking sheet.

 

 

Generously cover with the left over butter chicken

 

 

 

Sprinkle with cheese

 

Bung into oven.

Simple as THAT!!

I didn’t have any but you could top the finished product with some chopped fresh cilantro or finely chopped red onion……..or whatever you find that you have around.  Make different ones if you like!

Makes a great lunch or light dinner paired with a side salad……

Why read food blogs anyway?

Let’s face it, there are thousands of blogs out there now, pretty much about anything anyone can come up with.

I am always seeing ads or getting emails about ways to “get more traffic to your blog” and some of them have some good ideas but at the end of the day, I just like writing them and sharing stuff I like or have tried or an idea I got some where.  So when other people actually read what I have to say, I am very honoured that they have taken the time out of their day to do so.

And what’s better, is if I can give them some little bit of information that they can enjoy, or that sparks an idea for them to use in their lives, then my work is done.

That’s why I have so many blogs that I have signed up for and read on a regular basis.  Because the best part is, it gives you ideas to do your own thing.

I will see recipes and either think about how I might do it differently, or I might actually intend to follow the recipe verbatim, only to find that I am missing one or more ingredient and then have to improvise and then it can inadvertently become a whole new dish.

But especially with daily cooking and eating, which most of us have to spend a lot of time doing, it is hard to come up with new things.  Or worse, even remember stuff that you like to make!

Sometimes I will look back over the archives of my blog and honestly be surprised by dishes I have made but forgot about and so am happy to make again.

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So the other day I was reading a few blogs and got a hankering for something I wanted to make.

First,I got this idea from my blog friend at EMILY BITES.   I didn’t have all the ingredients that she called for so I had to wing it from what I did have.  But that’s part of the fun, putting your own twist on new ideas.

Click HERE for the original recipe.  She called it “Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken”

I still have the same “slow cooker” that I grew up with that my mother gave me one day years ago because they didn’t use it anymore.   Still works just fine and will probably work for years to come, cause it only gets used a few times a year, so why shouldn’t it.

So into the slow cooker went:

• 1 diced onion
• 3 cloves chopped fresh garlic
• 1 inch chopped fresh ginger
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• 1 tbsp agave syrup, maple syrup or brown sugar ( whatever sweetener works for you)
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy or Bragg sauce
• 2 heaping tbsps of peanut butter ( I use natural, the other ones will make the dish sweeter and saltier)
• 1/2 cup orange juice ( vegetable stock would work too)

Stir all that up at the bottom of the cooker till it is nice and saucy.

Then add boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I used four, so if making more than that, just up all of the other ingredients. Basically the rule of thumb is to have enough sauce to cover the chicken, however much it is.

Turn the cooker on high and leave it for a few hours!   Nice!

After a few hours of cooking, poke one of the chicken breasts with a fork, if it falls apart easily, it’s ready!

So then get in there with two forks and pull them all apart till everything is shredded and then stir back into the sauce.  It is actually easier to pull out each breast onto a cutting board and shred it up and then add it back in,, but I was too lazy so I just fought with it still in the cooker!

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But then, what to serve it with?

Well, I saw another blog with an idea for some kind of pancake or patty type thing that I thought might work.   When I went back to see where I had found the idea, I couldn’t find it again, a hazard of reading too many blogs.

So as usual I just “winged it” with what I had.  The one I read had grated zucchini and corn, both things I didn’t happen to have, but no fear, I found other stuff.

In a large mixing bowl, mix:

• 1 grated carrot or small zucchini
• half a large red or yellow bell pepper in small cubes
• 1 cup chopped cooked potato ( left over mash would do too)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp smokie paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg

Mix all that together then add:

• 1 cup milk ( of your choice)
• 1 cup flour ( also of your choice)

Stir in to the vegetables to make a nice gloopy batter.  You might have to add a little more or less of the milk and flour till you get the right consistency.  It shouldn’t be too runny.

Then when you are ready, heat a skillet to fairly hot, and add a little oil of your choice then ladle out about a 1/2 cup worth of batter into the pan, until you can get as many as fits.  Cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side.   Repeat.

Keep the cooked cakes warm in the oven until you are ready to eat them.

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Lay a cake or two on the plate and then top with your pulled spicy chicken. There you have a delicious super easy meal!!

And if the truth be known, I had it again for lunch the next day and it tasted even BETTER after having sat together awhile!  Yum-eee.

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Vegan note:

You could easily substitute the chicken for tofu in that recipe.  Only I would cook only the sauce for a while till it was all cooked down and THEN add cubes of tofu only about a half hour before eating so it doesn’t get all mushed.

And then for the patties, just omit the egg and use a non dairy milk and you are still in business!

Reworked Mjadara

Yesterday I made a big batch of Mjadara  ( see yesterday’s post) but had some leftovers and thought I would change it up a little for today.

Especially cold from the fridge, it has a nice thick moldable texture, so why not see if we can make some burgers out of it??

That’s exactly what I did!

So get your “breading station” ready.  This consists of a plate of flour, a deeper dish with a beaten egg or two and finally a plate full of breadcrumbs of some kind.

I used panko crumbs because they are so pleasant.  I also added a few sprinkles of smokie paprika, a few sprinkled of dried garlic and some salt and pepper.

So now with your station set up, get your cold mjadara out of the fridge and form it into patties.

Admittedly, I was feeling lazy and or rushed and made four honkin big ones.  If I were doing it again, I would take my time and make much more reasonable ones.  Not because they don’t cook, because they are already cooked inside, but more because these babies barely fit into the pita pocket and left little room for fixins.

So use your judgement based on how you will use the patties.

When your patties are formed, get your fry pan ready with enough oil to cover the bottom.  If you enjoy the full on deep fry, feel free to do that too.

I imagine you could even bake them in the oven too if you wanted to avoid the frying method.

But on this occasion I did the medium version with just enough oil.

Take your patty and toss it around in the flour to cover all over.   Tap it a bit to get off the excess flour then into the egg bath.   Do what you can there and get enough egg on it so the bread crumb mixture will stick.   Then into the bread crumbs making sure the patty is well covered.

Then into the fry pan!   ( or on to a tray to be baked in the oven)

Cook on each side for about 3 -4 minutes or until the bread crumbs take on a nice crispy, toasty look.

Then out of the fry pan and on to a try in the oven to keep warm until the whole gang are done.

Now they are ready to dress at will.

We stuffed them in a pita pocket with some tomato, avocado, lettuce and special sauce.

A very nice summer meal.

And then the best part, I took the same thing the next day for my lunch, a completely cold version and it was just as good…..maybe……maybe even better!

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Where’s the veg?

I try very hard to love vegetables!  I really do.  They are so good for me and filled with nutrients and ALL that good stuff!

But the truth of the matter is, sometimes I think they just taste like dirt!

So I am always looking for ways to hide them.

One of my favorite things to do is hide them in soup.

Sometimes at the end of the week I find myself with a lot of left over bits and bobs of stuff that were part of very satisfying meals .  The Chef likes to diligently pack away the three mouthfuls of whatever might be left from dinner and tell me “it will be good for your lunch” knowing very well that I don’t take that sort of thing for my lunch because I won’t use a microwave and that’s the only means of warming things at the office.

So by the end of the week, there can be some strange combos left in the fridge.

Time to get out the dutch oven and make us some soup!

I always have a combo of fresh veg and some “left over” something or other hanging around.  It is good to use a bit of both so you get a wide range of nutrients!

Today I have some left over veg strips from the “Salad Wraps” and some left over roasted veg from Sunday dinner.

Left over roasted veggies

I also diced up and onion, a carrot and a stick of celery and started them off first in the pot with a bit of olive oil.

Once they were nice and sweated I added all of the left over veg items.

Cook that up really well, then add the liquid of your choice.  Anything from water or stock or even a bottle of crushed tomatoes.  Seriously, whatever you have!

Add your choice of favorite herbs and or spices and then bring it up to the boil, then turn it down to a simmer, for at least half hour till everything is cooked nicely.

At this point it is usually very lumpy.   I let it cool a bit so I don’t get burned and then use the hand blender on it.  But you could put it in a real blender, but I always find that a bit of an ordeal.

 

Once it is nice and smooth, you are ready to go.  You could eat it like this or add some left over beans or chili or cooked potatoes.

Seriously….whatever is around that needs used up and is useless on its own.

And there you have a wonderfully hearty soup or even stew like item if you use less liquid!

Enjoy!

“Left Overs” soup

Squash sauce

Squash squash everywhere!

It is that time of year and what with Canadian Thanksgiving rapidly approaching it’s time to dust off your squash recipes!

Squash squash everywhere!

I had some left over squash soup  ( click here for that recipe ) from the other day that needed used up but wasn’t really enough for both of us  to eat as actual soup, so what to do?

Well…..

I made squash sauce of course.

Extremely simple.  Put the soup in a sauce pan ( does that automatically make it sauce??) and add a little stock or water to it to thin it out.  Then I took the hand blender to it to blend up the hunks of kale and mushrooms that I so carefully added to it when I was making the soup!

THEN I added a good glob of Boursin cheese and melted that down into it.

Presto chango now you have a beautiful rich sauce for your topping pleasure!!

We had it on some grilled chicken which I put on top of some left over spaghetti squash that I sauted with some garlic, onion and a little butter.   And then a side of brown rice and broccoli and you have a pretty healthy meal chalk full of hidden vegetables!!

Chicken with squash sauce