Chana Masala

And here we are...yet another gray, rainy Monday. And I'm in need of flavor - something that packs a punch. My son was clamoring for chickpeas (he is obsessed with him, thanks to a certain televised lemur who occasionally has a hankering for them), so I figured, why not make the best of both worlds.

Enter: Chana Masala.

Usually I'm pretty hesitant when it comes to cooking Indian food because the flavors are so bold that I worry it will be completely obvious if I've messed it up. Yet this dish is easy to prepare, easy to temper to your own tastes and is a definite crowd pleaser.

Start by sauteing one diced medium onion in vegetable oil.

While the onions are cooking, organize and prep the rest of your ingredients.

Salt, coconut milk, lemon, chickpeas, curry powder, tomato paste, garlic & pepper

Once the onions have softened and slightly browned, add 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, and 1-2 tablespoons of curry (play with this to suit your tastes. I go with 1.5 tablespoons and it gives a nice kick without being overpowering). Stir it all up and add a couple tablespoons of some reserved chickpea liquid until a sauce begins to form.

Add the juice of a 1/2 lemon, pinch of salt, and a 1/4 cup of coconut milk (to start). Here's where I played around with it a bit. I would stir and taste and add more (tomato paste, coconut milk, salt) flavor as needed. I finally got it to where it wasn't too sweet, sour or spicy, and of course, had no idea what the exact measurements were of anything I used.

Then, add the chickpeas and allow the dish to simmer for 1/2 hour or so. (You can type up our blog post and revel in the amazing smell that's coming out of your kitchen while you do so).

I have it on good authority that this will only be the tip of the delicious iceberg for tonight's potluck. It certainly makes braving the drab, drizzly roads that much easier!

Sloppy Joes

This weekend was a whirlwind. We hosted a small birthday gathering at our house on Saturday that went well past dinner time with friends and family staying for dinner(party blog w/crazy cake pictures to come later this week!). Sunday brought a friend's birthday party and found us out of the house for most of the day. When we finally got home, I wanted nothing more than some easy comfort food. I almost gave in and ordered out - much easier, of course, but I also craved some home cooking, so the task was set to find something that would be soul-satisfying and relatively simple.

And then, all it once...it came to me: Sloppy Joes!

There is no way I could write a post about Sloppy Joes without a nod to Adam Sandler.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I hummed this song the entire time I was in the kitchen last night, and may have even broken out into song during the chorus a time or two. So, crank up your volume, grab some ground beef and lets make some slop...Sloppy Joes! This is my own recipe - one I've perfected over the years, and it really is pretty darn simple. 

1. Brown a pound of ground beef. This is a great recipe to use up all the ground beef we get in our meat share. 

The package of beef was actually almost 1.5lbs (I adjusted the sauce accordingly)

2. While your beef cooks up, prep your veggies: 2 cloves of garlic, 1 red pepper, 1 med onion and 1 stalk of celery.

3. You can also use this time to gather the ingredients for your sloppy sauce.

Red Wine vinegar (regular white vinegar works in a pinch), Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, ketchup & brown sugar

4. After the beef has fully browned, add all the veggies and cook until they soften, about five minutes or so. The best part of this is that you don't need any oil, as the veggies cook in the fat from the beef. Then add all the rest of your ingredients to make the sauce.

For the sauce: Add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 15oz can tomato sauce, 1/4 cup of ketchup and some brown sugar (to taste).

I hate when recipes say "some" or "to taste," so included a picture of how much brown sugar I used. About...that much.

5. Mix it all up and let it cook on low for 15 minutes or so. The longer you cook, the better it will be. Grab a bunch of kaiser or bulky rolls (don't toast them!) and fill them up with Sloppy Joe goodness.

nom.

We ate our Sloppy Joes with a side of potato chips and some leftover caramelized onion dip.

double nom.

In the end, the meal was perfect, albeit a bit...well, sloppy. But, so, so worth it.

Tonight, we have potluck, and after cooking all weekend, I'm a bit burnt out, but well still be attending for sure. Instead of whipping up an actual dish, however, we'll take a slight pass and bring a bunch of tasty appetizers. We still have some onion dip (which really just gets better with each passing day), cheese and crackers and the most kitchen prep work that we'll get done is preparing some guacamole to go along with some chips. A lazy woman's potluck dish, if you will.

Happy Monday!

Nowhere Near a Chef

When I first came up with the concept of this blog, I knew I wanted to have a space to document my journey in learning to cook and intentionally create community. I also wanted some sort of cute, catchy name to sign off posts with but had a hard time coming up with one.

I decided to go with "An almost chef" because while I'm nowhere near the level of an actual chef, "An almost cook" just sounds weird. So, yeah...basically it was a matter of linguistics over reality. I feel somewhat like a fraud, since I have no culinary training whatsoever beyond hours of watching Top Chef or Food Network.

Really, I'm like five steps beyond knowing how to boil water and make toast, but I'm constantly learning and am pretty good about reading and following a recipe. However, I also have a horrible penchant of doing my own thing...which sometimes results in fabulous new recipes, but can also end up more towards the inedible. It's a good thing I'm stubborn, and not easily deterred.

My passion for simple, accessible, and as close to home grown food as you can get continues to fuel me in one day attaining the "almost chef" status.

So...what did this almost-but no where near really-chef make for dinner last night? A simple tuna-noodle dish made with <gasp> canned tuna and tomatoes from our garden and a side of peas.

Despite some chilly nights, our heirlooms are still doing surprisingly well

I followed it up with a couple whole-wheat chocolate chip cookies I made earlier in the day. While you'll probably never see this meal on any five star menu, it's just the way we roll here...simple, easy and if you're lucky...mostly homemade.