Manage my Fridge

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Curry Stand Chicken Tikka Masala Sauce

This tikka masala sauce is bright orange and richly flavored with onion, garlic, spices, tomato sauce, and cream, cooked with tender chicken

made dinner which Nate. Walmart stuff and a recipe off allrecipes.com. Came out great!

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Didn’t get a photo or anything. Walking through Walmart late. Saw this sauce. Nathan said like a cream sauce.. Remembered I had this juice… and cream. Had it on leftover ziti and chicken. It was so good.

wanna say I used about equal parts maybe a little heavy on the juice, but I simmered it down a minute. Salt pepper. Used bbq sauce bottle to measure the cream. So good.

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Lettuce Wraps:

For as long as I have been making these, you would think I would have a recipe down to paper by now, but honestly we have never found an official one.

So as much as I hated reading this in other people’s recipes …. Imma do the same thing

I put this in…. Find the mix/taste that hits your memory…. Its a pretty easy gf adaptation just read your labels

Sauce Ingredients:

Soy sauce base

Hoison sauce

Thai chili paste

Sriracha sauce

Fish saice

Rice wine vinegar

Garlic minced

Ginger minced

Oyster sauce

Veggies:

I do not do mushrooms so if you are looking for an exact P.F. Chang’s copy use shitake, but tuis is what I use:

Water chestnuts, diced or shredded carrots, radishes. Proportionate, but light on carrots. I would use volume as a guide, and use at least 1 1/2 to 2 times the volume of raw vegetables to chicken to end up near 1/2 and 1/2 mix.

Note: We were looking for local produce when we were putting together at Fusion, and I believe we used Bok Choy sometimes.

Presentation:

If you are thinking about bringing it to a part, here is what we dis. We used a crock pot with the lettuce on the side. We also have white holder with two sides. One with sriracha one for the spoon.

See right side of board set up.

*Missing were the crunchy rice noodles…. We were shopping in Maine. Extra sauce. For simplicity we made a wetter mixture that people could spice up instead of the additional sauces the restaurant serves.

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Christmas 2023

Triple-Citrus Cheesecake

Lettuce Wraps

Charcuterie Board

We did a take on our citrus cheesecake with a gf lemon ginger crust. We used Tate’s for the lemon cookie crumbs. But watch out their ginger cookies have chunks I had to sift out.

(5) packs Cream Cheese - I use a mix of fat and 1/3 less fat. Philadelphia brand name out of habit (its a take on one of their recipes.

(5) eggs

(2) cups sugar

(2) tsp Vanilla (pure and natural)

Zest and Tbsp. Juice from lemon, lime and orange.

Blend until very smooth.

Crust:

Crust about 1 1/2 cups crumbs of ginger and lemon cookies to taste and a quarter cup butter

Note: Don’t obsess about getting them all wet with butter, it all comes together with oven magic.

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Back in Rhode Island one of the funnest place to hang out was Thayer Street in Providence near Brown University. One of my favorite sandwich places anywhere is here, the Meeting Street cafe. For years and years I have tried to mimic both the low key spiced flavor of their chocolate chip cookies (yes I said spice) and the soft nearly undercooked but crispy texture and the shape.

I figured out the spice. A pinch of nutmeg and about a 1/2 teaspoon of cloves! I had always assumed cinnamon was in there and experimented with the other two (and more), but nope. Left that out and there she was, the flavor I was hunting.

If I turn the oven off early and let them

Sit, I can just about get the texture but it’s still the ‘classic’ cookie shape. Like a small island highest point in the middle.

I’m still messing around with the temperatures to get the shape. Their are perfectly round and level ( and thick) so more to come.

It’s a fun experiment.

Use your standard toll house choc chip recipe

Remember... Creaming the sugar and (soft) butter is important

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Dinner theater at Sima’s

Another outing with the triple citrus cheesecake from Kraft Philly recipe.  Used a great gf graham cracker crust.  And here is where I should put that brand name so you can know about them... Next time I get to Olivers...

It was kind of a strange gathering as none of us really knew one another, but were all invited to a house, for a dinner expecting to be the only guests.  Worked out fine, but it started like a murder mystery.

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Baked Oatmeal with apples

So I have for years, been trying out how to eat oatmeal to lower my cholesterol, because it really seems to, and enjoy doing it.  So here it is.

I merged the usual baked oatmeal recipes with our old apple cake recipe..

about 3 cups small diced apples.  so we are looking at the height and width dimensions about that of an oat, (obviously not the thickness).  

The a cup of brown sugar.

Let those two sit for an hour or so until the apples get good and wet.  Then add one teaspoon of vanilla, and a teaspoon of cinnamon, as well as some salt (1/4 tsp maybe)

stir that around.  

Add 2.5 cups of oats and strip around.

Then a beaten egg and a cup of milk.  Stir that all up.  

I bake it off in shuffle cups and it takes about 25-35 minutes depending on variables.  Yummy and somewhat healthy.  I stored it this week so that I can bake it fresh in the am.  Not sure how ling that will last like that but it is a great way to stretch and portion if you are like-minded.

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We did this with a Chai mayo, back at Fusion, but this was a salad kit reworked.  Thought about Mike because it was Kale.. blah. dried cranberries, candied pecans...  you get it.. 

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Raspberry Vin Recipe

1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 4 tsp sugar 2 tbsp Dijon mustard 1/2 cup vegetable oil Add all but oil to food processor puree till smooth then slowly add oil till combined

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Peanut Butter Cookies

Another thing I hope I find a pic of.  Nice job by Jaquesy on these.

Peanutbutter Cookies

1 cup of butter (melted) 1 cup of creamy peanutbutter 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups flour 2 tsp baking soda ¼ tsp salt

325 for 15 -20 minutes

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Chicken Salad Veggie mix 1 Cup Red Onion ½ Cup Red Pepper ½ cup Green Pepper ½ cup tomatoes ½ cup celery 1 tsp salt ½ tsp pepper ½ tsp thyme

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Salsa

Fresh Cajun salsa

1 Cup  Red Onion 1 cup Red Pepper 1 Cup Green Pepper 1 Cup Tomatoes 1/8th cup jalapeno 1 Tbls Lime Juice 1 tsp salt 1/3 Cup Cilantro

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Blueberry Brutus

Blueberry Brutus

4 cups Romaine 2 oz Blueberry Vin ¾ cup chix

Toss in Bowl

Top with: ¼ cup candies walnuts ½ Tbls dried Blueberries ¼ cup Parm shredded

This salad was so simple, but really worked.

Oh and of course...

Dressings Blueberry Vinegarette

1 cup olive oil ½ cup balsamic ½ cup blueberry juice ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp blk pepper ½ tsp white sugar

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Egg Nog Pancakes

Egg Nog Pancakes

3 egg yolks 1 whole egg 1 ½ cup of half and half 1 ½ cup of flour 2 tablespoons of sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla ½ teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg 4 teaspoons of baking powder (I used 6 because I like them puffy) Pinch of sea salt

Bourbon-Maple Syrup

½ cup of real maple syrup ½ shot of bourbon (more depending on your relatives)

These were the inverse of the creme brûlée french toast.  It undersold to me but over delivered .

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Croutons

Crouton Spice Mix

3 Tbls Thyme 1 ½ Tbsp Blk Pep 1 tsp Salt

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Crab Cakes

Crab cakes: 1 pound of claw crab meat 1 cup of breadcrumbs 6 Tablespoons of mayo 2 tsp of salt 2 tsp of black pepper 3/4 red pepper fine diced 1 stalk of celery fine diced 2 Tbsp of parsley

It is a basic recipe for sure, but it is helped along by our mayo, which we made in house.  Making it with both lemon juice and vinegar, gave it a really broad profile.

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Carrot Cake

I can't seem to find a pic of it, but we made a rocking carrot cake.  It was as, many of my recipes are, my Mom’s version of a mass market favorite.  

Carrot Cake Recipe Ingredients Cake: 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 Tbsp baking soda 1 Tbsp cinnamon 1 1/2 cups olive oil or grapeseed oil 4 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 Tbsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped (more whole or chopped for topping) 1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut 2 cups of finely grated carrots 1 cup of drained crushed pineapple Frosting: 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp 2 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 Tbsp lemon juice Method 1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9 inch cake pans. Cut out rounds of wax paper and place at bottoms of cake pans. Butter the top of the wax paper rounds. 2 Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in chopped walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple. 3 Pour batter into pans. Set on the middle rack of oven and bake for 45-50 minutes (shift positions of cakes front-to-back if necessary about halfway through), until edges have pulled away from sides and a toothpick or sharp knife tip inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack. 4 To prepare frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Slowly sift in the confectioners sugar and beat until mixture is free of lumps. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice. 5 Once cakes have cooled, frost. Sprinkle top with chopped walnuts or arrange walnut halves in a crown around the top. Serves 12-16.