Back In Action

Hi there! It's been a while. As you may have noticed, I've been on a bit of a hiatus since football season ended in February. It started because I got lazy, then continued because I was busy. Now that it's cold and my schedule is more empty, I'm out of excuses. Also, I decided to get back to blogging a) due to popular demand ('popular' meaning the request of two family members at Thanksgiving, or so I hear), and b) because I need a hobby.
So let's get back to it.

Before I get to the food, let me introduce you to my sous chef, Josie. She's super adorable and sweet and I'm kind of obsessed with her. When we adopted her, she was terrified to go in the kitchen. Although to be honest, she was pretty much terrified of everything. Fast forward about 6 weeks, and the kitchen is one of her favorite places.

I hope you like cute dog pictures.
There's a lot more where this came from.

As sous chef, she protects the ingredients and diligently cleans up anything I might drop on the floor. 

Where's Josie? Just look for the ears.

So I had intended to get back to blogging at the start of this football season, but ended up with something to do almost every weekend for September and October. Definitely not complaining, but menu planning and blogging fell to the wayside. While last season I only made crock-pot meals on Sundays, this season I'm planning to use Sundays as an opportunity to make slow cooked meals, regardless of whether they're actually made in a slow cooker. If you remember, I didn't want to spend much time in the kitchen on Sundays last year because it was blocked off from the rest of the house. Since we moved in the spring, my view from the kitchen now looks like this, which is pretty awesome in my opinion.

I definitely don't miss trying to clean these counters.

So, now I can spend more time in the kitchen (if I want) and can still catch all the plays of whatever game we're watching. It's pretty awesome. And was a large part of why we liked our new house so much. Another reason? Do you see those counters?? They're not 1950s black and white bathroom floor tile being used as a counter top. It's pretty amazing.




And now, to the food. This week we decided to make tandoori chicken in the crock pot. Wait, wait wait...before you say you're unsure about whether you might like Indian food (if you haven't had it before), just keep reading and give it a chance. I'm not typically a big fan of Indian food, but I've had and enjoyed tandoori chicken previously. We've made a Rachel Ray version of it a few times that has been pretty good. Trust me when I say this isn't a spicy dish at all. I am such a baby about spice that if black pepper isn't ground well I've been known to think that's spicy. I'd say tandoori chicken is a good 'intro to Indian food' dish. I had pinned this recipe awhile ago, and only made a few small changes. Here's what you'll need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 of a red onion (I downsized this amount quite a bit because I am not an onion fan. Feel feel to use more if you want.)
• 1 c plain Greek yogurt
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground ginger

 Optional:

• basmati rice
• naan bread

Directions:

1. Place the chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker and juice the lemon over the chicken.
2. Put onion in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Add about half of the chopped onion on top of the chicken. Leave the remaining onion in the food processor.
3. To the food processor, add the remaining ingredients and pulse until it forms a thick sauce.
4. Pour sauce over chicken breasts and spread until chicken is covered.
5. Cover and cook on low for about 5 1/2 hours.
6. When chicken is cooked, shred with two forks. Recover and cook for about another 30 minutes to an hour. If you're having rice with the meal, you can also start it around this point.
7. Serve over rice and enjoy!

One thing I learned last year is that chicken breasts often dry out in a crock-pot, thus a lot of slow-cooker recipes call for chicken thighs. I was glad this one used breasts, but was concerned they'd dry out. Luckily that wasn't the case at all! I think the lemon juice and sauce kept the moisture in. Being the carb lovers that we are, we opted to have rice and naan bread. I definitely didn't regret this decision. Naan bread, when warmed in the oven, is so soft and delicious. If you're making rice, I'd definitely recommend using basmati. I'm not sure what about it is different, but it has a distinctive taste that is perfect with this meal.

Once you're done, take a load off! Being a sous chef is hard work.

Yep, she's spoiled rotten.