Recipe Review from 10/16/11

Whew! Busy weekend - Saturday morning I co-taught a Yin/Yang yoga class; 1 hour of vinyasa, followed by 1 hour of restorative.  Plan was the Husband and I were going to go to brunch then up to the UM-Duluth homecoming football game, but massive brain fart, we forgot our tickets and had to drive All. The. Way. Back. Home.  Grrr.   Absolutely gorgeous day to be outside though!  Was probably about 50*F (10*C), but in the stands it was easily 60*F (15*C).  Record number of attendees - 6044! Thankfully we did get reserved seat tickets but still, we were packed in there like sardines.  UMD won 37 to 6. 

Then it was a quick swing through Yarn Harbor for a skein of yarn for myself and we made our way down to the Lakewalk to see if Portland Malt Shoppe was still open.  Hooray! It was!  Probably the last Portland Malt of the year as they will be closed till spring next time we're down in that neighborhood.  And we ended the day with dinner at India Palace. Yum! 
Only one new recipe from last week. This made more than I hand anticipated and then we had a strange mid-week.  Not sure why, just the way it was.  


Slow Cooker Chicken Curry  (Ckng Lght BB/Women's Day Magazine)
First dish in my attempt to use my slow-cooker weekly.  I had planned on assembling this Monday morning, but realized Sunday afternoon it would make more sense to just do it then and have the Husband re-heat before I got home from class.  I ended up using 2 packages of chicken thighs; it was a bit of a conundrum one package is 1.25 lbs, but only has 6 pieces.  And what was I going to do with four leftover chicken thighs?  Decided use two packages and cook it all up.  Downside was I couldn't double the sauce as I ran out of curry powder AND ginger.   Result?  Chicken turned out super tender, lots of juices (almost too much so) and short in the spice department.  Which might be okay for some folks but I like a little more oompf to my 'curry'. 

Serves: 4
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1-in. piece fresh ginger, grated
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
Kosher salt and pepper
8 small boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lb total)
2 small onions, cut into 1/2-in. wedges
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 plum or other tomatoes, diced
Nonfat Greek yogurt and fresh cilantro, for serving


1. In a 5- to 6-qt slow cooker, whisk together the garlic, ginger, vinegar, curry powder, cumin, 2 Tbsp water, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

2. Add the chicken and onions and toss to coat. Cook, covered, until the chicken is cooked through and very tender, 6 to 8 hours on low or 4 to 5 hours on high.

3. When the chicken has 25 minutes left to cook, cook the rice according to package directions.

4. Gently fold the tomatoes into the chicken mixture and serve over the rice. Top with the yogurt and cilantro, if desired.

5. Instead of chicken, try lamb stew meat or beef chuck (cut into 2-in. pieces).

Source: Woman's Day mag. September 2011