It's the Life

Chicken Tikka Masala

For Mothers Day this year, my mom requested Tikka Masala for dinner. This is one of the very first recipes I developed on my own. I started with an authentic recipe, which had so many spices in it, that it was grainy like sand. I tried it over and over again, adding things, taking things away, until I FINALLY got the recipe I wanted. 

It's an easy recipe to make, you just have to remember to marinade the chicken before hand and give yourself time for the sauce to simmer. The longer it simmers at the end, the better. 

I've made a pdf of the receipe for you. Download it here!

This is what my plate looks like before I dive in. I love me some cilantro! I hope you give this a try, and I hope you love it as much as my family does. 

Avocado Egg Rolls

I saw a "pin" on pinterest for some avacado egg rolls. They looked good and I thought they would be good with the leftover chutney dip!

Avocados, onion, cilantro, sundried tomatoes & salt. (Good with chips too!)

I tried to make the rolls fancy and beautiful, but fillo dough is not my friend. So, I went "rustic" and just cut three layers into rectangles, added the filling and rolled. 

 

Heat oil in a pan and fry the rolls until they are golden, turn and fry until golden on all sides. Dip them in either cilantro lime dressing, or cliantro chutney. 

Yummy lunch, dinner or starter. 

Chicken Pakora with Cilantro Chutney

There is a local Indian restaurant that my family loves. I always order the Chicken Pakora appetizer for Jefferson. It comes with this spicy cilantro chutney dipping sauce. It is so good I want to eat it with a spoon.

I have been trying to re-create it for a very long time. I finally found the right mix of flavors! 

For the chicken, I used the same spices I use when making tikki masala (I will post an awesome recipe for tikki masala later). I baked the chicken instead of frying. Grilling without the breading would also be yummy.

There is something magical about cumin, ginger & cinnamon. They smell delicious together and taste even better. I added a little bit of them to the bread crumbs before I coated the chicken. 

 

Sushi Class

My awesome husband signed us up to take a Sushi making class this Tuesday!!

I am beyond excited!

Hopefully they'll let me take a few photos while I'm there.

Pear & Gorgonzola Salad with Dijon Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Here is what you'll need: Greens (I used a baby spring mix), pear, pecans, brown sugar, dried cherries, gorgonzola cheese, red onion & dressing recipe below.

Start by sugaring some pecans. I like to use brown sugar, but you can use white as well. Put them on the stove in a pan and let them heat up. Once the sugar starts to melt keep stirring until they are melty and coated. Sugar goes from delicious gooeyness to burnt and horrible in a matter of seconds, so make sure you keep your eyes on it the whole time.

Once they are coated, remove them from the pan onto a plate and set aside.

For the dressing. You need: 1 tbl mustard of your liking, 1 tbl honey, 3 tsp cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, and S&P to taste. Put them all in a small mason jar, with the lid, and shake, shake, shake until well combined.

Beautiful. 

I like to dress the greens before I put the salad together. Unless you are making for a group and would rather let them put the dressing on their own. 

I put my portion of greens in a mixing bowl and drizzle some dressing over them.

Then I get my fingers in there and toss by hand. Getting some dressing on all the leaves.

Plate half of the greens on the plate, then add a few slices of your pear. I like the brown Asian pears the best, but you can use whatever pear you like. 

Then I add the rest of the greens, some dried cherries, red onion slices, gorgonzola cheese crumbles and some of my sugared pecans. Delicious.

Easter Dinner

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Weekend! 

This year for Easter Dinner, I decided to try and cook Lamb. I went with the Lamb Chop. They were fantastic. Not a meat I would want to eat all the time, but it was a nice holiday treat.

 

I put olive oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic & salt in a food processor and made a marinade. I covered both sides of the lamb chops in the mixture, covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. I did this at about 10am, then took them out of the fridge to come to room temp about 25 minutes before we were going to eat. Then I just grilled them. Delicious! 

 

How beautiful are the colors on these freshly washed potatoes? I saw these baby sweet & red potatoes and wanted to use them in a single dish. I cut up a few russet potatoes to add to the mix as well.

 

I cut the baby reds into halves and then cut the other two into about the same sizes. I boiled them in salted water until they were just starting to get tender. Then I dried them out on a towel until they were cool and completely dry. Once dried I drizzled olive oil on top and baked at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. Once they were done I buttered them. Since I bought fresh herbs for the meat, I figured I'd use them here as well. I added rosemary & thyme. My child ate about 1/4 of this bowl! The mix of the three potato textures and flavors was nice.

 

Baby Carrots were boiled and drained. Then I added them back to the pan with some butter and parsley, I let them cook in the butter for a few minutes. So Good.

 

The asparagus I just trimmed the ends, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Baked in the oven at 450 for about 10 minutes. They are still a bit crunchy, I like that.

My husband is a big fan of the deviled egg. I don't mind them, but I wouldn't have thought to make them if he wasn't such a big fan. I tried to "fancy" them up a bit this time. I used mayo like normal but I used 1/2 regular mustard and 1/2 dijon. I also diced, very fine, some shallot and added a tiny bit of vinegar. Paprika on top, of course. They turned out pretty good.

 

I'm sad to have to take down my sequin eggs and glittery basket. I love them so much. I might leave them out for a while, I'll just call them "spring" decor. 

 

Passion Fruit & Lemon Tea

 

Have you had the passion tea lemonade at Starbucks? It's fantastic. Really fantastic. I searched on-line for passion tea and found that this Tazo tea is used and sold by Starbucks! I bought a couple boxes at my local grocery store for $3.49/box. I thought I'd give it a try on my own. Here is what I did. I did not regret!

Each box of tea comes with 20 tea bags. Put them all in the bottom of a gallon pitcher. Then boil 1 gallon of water in a pot on the stove. 

Once your water boils, pour it over your tea bags. Let it steep for 7-10 minutes. The longer it steeps, the stronger the flavor.

Once it is finished steeping, use one spoon to scoop out one bag at a time.

Since the water is still hot, I use a second spoon to squeeze out more flavor from each bag before I toss them.

It's such a nice color, and it smells delicious! Once you have all your bags removed, you place the pitcher in the fridge for it to cool.

While you wait, make yourself a nice sandwich. Then, after you've checked the fridge 5-6 times and realize you are in for a bit of a wait, I suggest you leave the house. You really want the mixture to be cold before you drink it. Otherwise, your ice will melt and you'll have a watery drink and you'll wonder what I was raving about. Maybe make the concentrate before bed and do the rest when you wake up!

 

In order to get the right measurements, I used a starbucks cup. They are selling these re-usable plastic cups right now and I really like mine. Fill your cup with tea to the second line (about 9 oz). Then add your lemonade until you reach the third line (about 3 oz).

When you buy this drink at the store, they pump their "classic syrup" into the drink. It's a clear syrup, so I'm guessing its a basic "simple syrup". To make a simple syrup you just bring 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar to a boil and let cook for a minute or so until the sugar is all dissolved. Let it cool in the fridge and you get a nice sugar syrup. Add this, or any other sweetener you like, to the tea. Adjust it to the sweetness you like.

 

This next part isn't necessary, but they do it at the store and it makes you feel fancy. If you don't have a shaker, you can use anything with a lid. You just want to be able to shake it up and make it a little foamy.

Pour your tea mixture over your ice.

Put the lid on and shake it like crazy!

Foamy deliciousness!

 

Pour it back into your cup and try to pace yourself when drinking! 

Your Welcome.

Super Mario Birthday Cake Table

 

Cany melts and Wilton molds were used to make princess lips and Mario & Luigi mustaches!

Mushroom 1-up cupcakes with M&Ms.

 

I found the star pinata at a local party store. It not a "Mario" brand, so it was only $8. 

I used the same table runner that I used for my Woodland Party. I was very happy to be able to use it again!

 

Hand painted Piranha plant cups filled with gumballs.

Mystery Coin Boxes filled with Chocolate Coins.

 

Click here for more from this party!

Super Mario Birthday: Coin Treat Boxes

Another favor for the party was a coin box full of chocolate coins! I made a template for these. Click here to download.

Print the image on nice cardstock.

Cut the image out with scissors.

Jefferson helped me with these favors as well!

So proud of himself.

If you have a paper cutter, you can get an embossing blade as well as a cutting blade. I used the black embossing blade to crease a line where I wanted to fold. If you don't have one of these, you can just fold on the dotted lines.

 

I embossed on the horizontal lines and the vertical lines.

It makes it really easy to fold once embossed.

I would suggest you get some glue dots or something similar for these. Using a liquid glue, like elmers, would take a long time to dry and you would have to wait for it to dry, holding it in place, between tabs.

I used these glue strips.

Glue the bottom and the sides.

Leave the tops open, so you can add a treat!

Click here for the template.

Super Mario Party: Piranha Plant Cups

One of the party favors for the Mario party, were these Piranha plants. I bought some small plastic glasses at a party store (in the wedding section) and Jefferson & I painted them to look like the piranha plants in the game. 

 

Since the paint can easily come off with water, I didn't want to use them as actual cups. Instead, we filled them with small gumballs and gave them out as favors at the end of the party.