Tikka Masala

I realize that this might not look like much, but oh man, this is delicious! My mouth is watering right now because it knows that there are leftovers waiting for me in my fridge right now.


I lost my camera a couple days ago, not too sure where it ended up. So I took these pictures with my iPhone and they didn't turn out too bad!


The original recipe is from thepioneerwoman.com, and I really think that everyone should make this soon. It is pretty quick to throw together, and is just unbelievably tasty! It is one of our favourite dishes to make (and eat!).


The original recipe called for 'garam masala' spice. I couldn't find any at my grocery store, but I did find 'tikka masala' spice that is absolutely wonderful. It worked perfectly.


Tikka Masala

• 3 whole chicken breasts
• salt
• ground coriander
• cumin
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2 or 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• fresh ginger (about a 1" x 2" piece)
• 3 tbsp garam masala or tikka masala spice
• green chile peppers, or a jalapeno pepper (both optional)
• 1 large can diced tomatoes (about 28 oz)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1. Cover a baking sheet with tin foil, and turn on your oven's broiler
2. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt, ground coriander, and cumin
3. Cover the chicken breasts with the plain yogurt, and broil for about 10 - 15 minutes / side.  The chicken will be done when it is cooked through, and the edges have a nice char to them
4. While the chicken is cooking, heat up the olive oil in a large skillet
5. Dice up the onion, and add it to the skillet. Cook the onion until it begins to turn light brown
6. While the onion is cooking, dice up the garlic and ginger and add them to the skillet when the onions are light brown
7. Add about 1 tbsp of salt to the skillet along with 3 tbsp of the masala spice, then cook everything for a few minutes until it is wonderfully fragrant
8. If you would like to add some heat to the dish, you can add some diced chile peppers or a diced jalapeno pepper when you add the masala spice
9. Add the can of diced tomatoes (along with the juice), and sprinkle in about 1 tbsp of sugar
10. Let everything simmer together for about 10 minutes
11. When the chicken is done, remove it from the oven and carefully (it's hot!) cut it up into bite-size pieces
12. Add the heavy cream to the sauce, and let it simmer for about 5 more minutes
13. Add the chicken, and let the skillet simmer on low for about 5 minutes, or until ready to eat
14. We served this with naan bread, and it was delicious! You can also serve it with rice or eat it by itself.
15. Enjoy!

Carnitas

Lately I have been finding myself with some intense cravings for Mexican food.  This may have something to do with the fact that 2 weeks from today I will be marrying my favourite person on a beach in the Mayan Riviera, or it may be because I really love Mexican food.  Maybe a little bit of both.


That's right! On January 8th we are leaving this cold and snowy weather with 45 of our family and friends to hang out in sunny and warm Mexico, and are throwing a wedding in there as well!  We will be gone for two wonderful weeks, so the activity on this dear blog of mine will be a bit slower than usual. I hope you can forgive me :)

This was us in Mexico in January 2010, a few days after we had gotten engaged :)

This recipe for carnitas comes from tastykitchen.com, and it was absolutely amazing! Even better, it was incredibly simple to make and requires a small list of ingredients.  This had so much flavour, the leftovers were gone in record time. This recipe makes about 6 servings.

I hope everyone had an absolutely amazing Christmas! We had a wonderful time with some friends up North this year. I think I am still full. It may have to do with the fact that there was ham, and scalloped potatoes, and brussels sprouts, and salad, and carrots, and stuffing, and gravy, and homemade apple pie, and homemade blueberry peach pie, and and and, it was wonderful.


Carnitas

• 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, fat trimmed and cut into cubes
• Juice of 1 orange
• Juice of 1 lime
• 7 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1/4 up beef or chicken stock 
• 1 bottle mexican beer, to deglaze the pan (optional)
• 2 tbsp olive oil

1. Combine all ingredients together in a slow cooker (except the beer and olive oil) and stir
2. Make sure the pork is spread out on the bottom of the slow cooker, and cook for 8 hours on low (or about 4 hours on high)
3. After the pork is done cooking, remove from the juices and shred with a fork
4. Heat up a pan on the stove with 1 tbsp of olive oil, and place half of the pork in the pan
5. Cook until some of the pork is crispy (this adds a delicious texture), and deglaze with some of the beer (about 1/4 of a cup)
6. Cook until the beer is evaporated, then repeat with the other half of the pork and remaining olive oil
7. Serve in tortillas with avocado, chopped green onions, fresh lime wedges, and whatever other fixings you like
8. Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Since I now have a beautiful cupcake stand to fill, I decided to make some gingerbread cupcakes for the Christmas season.  I have never had the gingerbread flavours in cupcake form, so I made two different recipes to compare.

The first type I made were chocolate gingerbread cupcakes with a classic cream cheese icing (in the silver cupcake liners).  These smelled wonderful as they were baking, but I wasn't very happy with the flavour. In fact, my fiance actually advised me against giving them to friends and family!  To be honest, I had to agree with him.  The molasses completely overpowered the cupcake's other flavours so you couldn't taste the chocolate or the other lovely spices in the cupcakes. So those were a scratch.  I still really like the concept of chocolate with gingerbread, so I think I will play with this recipe and see if I can produce a chocolate gingerbread cupcake worth sharing :)

The second batch of cupcakes were Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.  I found these cupcakes on tastykitchen.com, and they renewed our faith in gingerbread cupcakes!  These were much lighter in flavour, but you could still taste the spices and the addition of molasses.  The cinnamon cream cheese frosting went so well with these, but they were delicious with classic cream cheese frosting too!  

I do apologize for the dark shots.  The good news is that the shortest day of the year was this past Tuesday, so they days are now slowly getting longer!  Hopefully I will be able to work with natural light again soon :)


This recipe makes 1 dozen cupcakes, and the cinnamon cream cheese icing makes enough to lightly frost 2 dozen cupcakes (as shown), or generously frost 1 dozen cupcakes.  As much as I love my cupcakes naked, these are amazing with the cinnamon cream cheese frosting!


Gingerbread Cupcakes

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Add the flour, water, and molasses and mix well
5. Add the egg, baking soda, and spices and continue to mix until combined
6. Fill the prepared muffin tin with the batter, and bake for 18 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted
7. Let cool before frosting

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
• 1 pkg (250 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Cream together the butter and cream cheese
2. Add the icing sugar a cup at a time, mixing until smooth after each addition
3. If the icing seems to thin after the last cup of icing sugar, you can add 1/4 cup more at a time until you reach your desired consistency
4. Mix in the cinnamon and vanilla
5. Frost your delicious gingerbread cupcakes
6. Enjoy!

From my family to yours, we hope everyone has an absolutely amazing Christmas this year!

Nanaimo Bars

If there is one dessert that my mom makes that I absolutely salivate over, it is her Nanaimo Bars!  I believe that this is a predominately Canadian dessert, and it is ridiculously good.  

For me, these goes hand-in-hand with a Christmas celebration at my parent's house.  These bars consist of 3 layers, and each layer goes so well with the other two.  I will admit that I didn't make these, I took pictures this past weekend at our family Christmas brunch :)

If you need to bring a dessert to a party, these are amazing! They are also much much better than the store-bought kind.


Nanaimo Bars

• For the bottom layer
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 5 tbsp cocoa
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 3/4 cups graham wafer crumbs
• 1 cup fine coconut
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)
• For the middle layer
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp vanilla custard powder
• 2 cups icing sugar
• For the top layer
• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 4 squares of semisweet chocolate
• 2 tbsp butter or margarine

1. For the bottom layer
1. Grease a 9" x 9" pan
2. Melt the butter/margarine, sugar and cocoa together in a heavy saucepan
3. Add the egg and stir to cook & thicken
4. Remove from heat, and stir in the graham crumbs, coconut, and nuts
5. Press firmly into the prepared pan
2. For the middle layer
1. Cream together the butter/margarine, milk, custard powder, and icing sugar
2. Beat until light and fluffy
3. Spread over the bottom layer
3. For the top layer
1. Melt the chocolate and butter together over low heat, stirring until smooth
2. Remove from heat, and let it cool until it is comfortable to the touch but still spreadable
3. Spread over the middle layer
4. Place the Nanaimo bars in the refrigerator to chill
5. After the bars have chilled (for a couple hours or overnight), cut into 36 squares with a sharp knife
6. Enjoy!

So Excited!

I got an awesome surprise yesterday when my dad came to pick me up for our Christmas brunch.  He had made me my own custom cupcake stand! How cool is this??


I cannot wait to make a batch of cupcakes to proudly display on this! And the best part? The stand rotates too! Fancy eh?


Thank you so much! :)