Weekly Planning

I'm sitting down this morning while the baby is napping making my meal plans for the week. I like to grocery shop early Saturday mornings, but since hubby had a meeting this morning, I'm going late-Saturday morning. :) Here's what's on tap for the week, in case you need some ideas!

Sat: Chik-Fil-A for dinner!

Sun: Chicken and Barley Soup, homemade bread

Mon: Pasta Primavera

Tues:"Game Winning Drumsticks" and Coleslaw*

Wed: Falafel and Pita, Lentil and couscous salad

Thur: Scrambled Eggs and Hashbrowns

Fri: Pita Pizzas (from the pitas that inevitably will not puff correctly :))

*When we were in the states, on a date, we went to BooksAMillion. My husband found a book he had to have, it's called Wings and Things. It's recipes revolving around chicken wings, drumsticks, bar food, appetizers, etc. He LOVES chicken wings, so we got it. I'm trying my the first recipe out of it this week. He'll be so excited!

More recipes to come!

Make Your Own Yogurt

I've tried so many different yogurt recipes. I made it for awhile and just never got it to be really good, so I quit. While we were living in the capitol, I could buy decent Nestle yogurts, but now that we're in Rajasthan, there's nothing but Saras dahi, which is sour, chunky and watery. Not exactly what I want with my muesli in the mornings. :) After coming back from the US, I determined I MUST figure out a way to make yogurt. I made several attempts before trying this recipe from Market 2 Meal. It's a great site if you want to check it out for some other tips on cooking in an overseas context. I think more ingredients are available where the author lives, so not everything will be do-able for us in a South Asian context, but there is a lot to glean from that site.

Here's the recipe:

2 c. boiled water

2 c. room temp water

2 c. milk powder

2 T. yogurt/dahi

Boil the water. In a separate container (1L) whisk together the room temp. water, dahi and the milk powder. (I use Nestle EveryDay Dairy whitener). Once the water is hot and boiling, pour it into the container with the milk powder. Stir to combine, then close the lid and wrap it in a towel. Leave it for 8-12 hours, depending on how tart you want it. It's been hot enough here that I've just left it on the counter. But you could also stick it in the oven to keep it insulated.

The only alteration I did to this was to add 1/4 c. of sugar to the water that was boiling. I like my yogurt sweet. So do the kids. There is already a bit of sweetness to it because there is some sugar in the milk powder, but I wanted just a little more. I use one of those round plastic containers you can buy in sets of three at all the plastic shops. I usually mix this up in the mid morning and then put it in the fridge overnight for the next day. It literally takes me about five minutes to make!

I admit, I was a bit doubtful because it uses only milk powder and no actual milk, but I'm tellin' ya, this is some good yogurt! :) Thanks to Market2Meal for posting this recipe! It's become a staple in our house!

How to Get Coconut Out of a Coconut

So maybe you're not like me and you already knew how to crack open a coconut and get the pure white deliciousness out of it. But this girl needed some help when I finally decided to tackle this project this weekend. I wanted to make a south indian curry and needed freshly pureed coconut.

I went to my fruit walla to get said coconut. I asked him if he would open it for me. He was happy to help, especially since I let him keep the coconut water. : ) He peeled the husk, cracked it to let the water spill into a bag, then cracked it open some more until it was in 3-4 large pieces, the white flesh showing. He wrapped it up for me to take home.

So now what? I could NOT get the white coconut meat out of that brown shell. So here's what you do, in case you ever want to try this. :)

1. Wrap the coconut in foil and bake it in the oven at about 175C for 20-25 minutes.

2. Let it cool slightly so you can touch

it. At this point, the white flesh should pop right out of the rough brown shell. If it doesn't, put it back in the oven for a little while. Don't worry, this does not cook the coconut.

3. After you've got it out of the shell, there will still be a brown skin on the back of the flesh.

Using a vegetable

peeler, peel that skin off.

4. Now you're left with the pure, perfect white coconut flesh.

5. Grate it up, and use it however you'd like! I'm experimenting this week with making my own sweetened flaked coconut. I'll let you know how it goes!

Easy Mexican Creamy Corn

I came up with this last night, it was so quick and yummy! Makes a great side dish for fajitas or tacos or anything else Mexican...

1 bag of frozen corn

3-4 cubes of Kiri cream cheese, cut into small pieces

1/2-1 c. milk

2 t. cumin

2 t. American chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the corn until soft and cooked. Strain water out. Return to gas. Add milk and cream cheese and still till combined and smooth. Add spices and cook until well blended.

That's it! You can also make this just a regular creamed corn by omitting the cumin and chili powder and throwing some finely chopped green onions in there. :)

Healthy Apple Cake

Rachel R says:

I love seeing all these apples that are being sold along the side of the road. I love apple pie, apple crisp, and all those other things, but I've been trying my hand at some healthier things using apples. Here's a recipe that my family has really liked. (I've also been adding grated apples and cinnamon to my pancake batter, and grated apples to oatmeal when I make it:)

Healthy Apple Cake
2 c. diced apples
1/2 c. raw sugar*

Sprinkle apples with sugar and set aside.

Combine
1 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In another bowl, combine
1 egg
1/2 c. applesauce (I make my own)
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix wet ingredients into dry ones. Your batter will be dry, so mix it really good. Stir in your apple mixture.

Grease 9" round or square pan. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes.

*(I use something like turbinado sugar that I find at Spencer's...sorry, I don't remember the name of it. If you use regular sugar in this recipe, just reduce the amount b/c what I use isn't nearly as sweet as the regular stuff.)

Makes 8 servings, and each piece is just 110 calories:)