Author: richb

Red Chili Beef Tamales

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These tamales taste really good. I have tried to make it easier and less time consuming to make, but made sure they still have a great flavor. Of course you could go the long route like making your own chilli sauce and spend considerably more time, I have done this before, and the would taste even better. But these are definitely a big step up from store bought ones. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

  • Meat
    • 1 3lb beef rump roast
    • 2 cups of water (to cook the meat in)
    • 2 16 oz cans of good enchilada sauce
    • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
    • 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
  • Masa
    • 3 cups of Masa Mix
    • 1 cup of vegetable shortening
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1/2 cup of the Beef cooking liquid
    • about 1 cup of water (add to masa while mixing till forms a dough consistancy)
  • Corn Husks

Directions

Cook the roast till falling apart (6-8 hours in a crock pot or 1 1/2 hours in a pressure cooker). When roast is nearing cooking completion take cans of enchilada sauce and heat in a pan and add in the garlic and chili powder and simmer for about 15 minutes to combine the flavors. Also soak the corn husks till pliable.  Remove meat and cut into chunks and shred. Now add enchilada sauce and mix. Add all the Masa ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer till combined. Take the masa mixture and spread over a corn husk and then add about 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture to it and roll the coated corn husk around the meat so it surrounds it. Fold the end of the tortilla up and set on a plate so it doesn’t unravel. Continue to repeat all tamales are done. Now stack as many as will fit into a steamer leaving enough room between for steam to flow around all of them and steam for about 20 minutes till the masa is firm. Let cool enough to eat. You can refrigerate or freeze the extra and microwave later.

Chicken Makhani (Healthy Version)

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I tried to come up with a healthier version of Chicken Makhani since this dish is usually loaded with a lot of fat. I used whole milk instead of cream and used lower fat yoghurt, and use boneless skinless chicken breast. However I did use butter to help add in some richness, but it is still much lower in fat and tastes great.

Ingredients

  • 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1/2 cup low fat yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon red chili powder (cayenne pepper)
  • 1/4 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 onion chopped coursely
  • 1″ piece of ginger sliced across the fibers
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 Serrano pepper stem cut off
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Add yogurt into a bowl and mix in garam masala and when mixed evenly add chicken and stir to coat the chicken. Cover and put into the refrigerator for 1 hour to marinate. Add onion, garlic, serrano pepper, and ginger to a food processor and process till it becomes a paste. Heat pan till hot and add olive oil and chicken. Brown chicken, but do not cook all the way through then set aside in a bowl. Add the paste from the food processor to the pan and fry till most of the liquid has evaporated. Now add chicken, cayenne pepper, cumin, tomato sauce, butter, and milk to pan and cook uncovered for about 5 – 7 more minutes till the chicken is fully cooked. I served with brown rice to keep it healthy all around.

Italian Seasoned Grilled Chicken Breast

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This is a great easy to make recipe. Just slice boneless skinless chicken breast up, add marinade mix to oil, water, and vinegar and marinate for a few hours. Grill and eat! They taste great. In a pinch you can use a packet of Good Seasons Italian Salad dressing mix instead of the mix on this recipe, they are pretty much the same.

Ingredients

  • Italian Dressing seasoning mix along with wet ingredients (See Recipe on this site)
  • 3 bonelesss skinless chicken breast (slice to split into 3 thinner beast pieces)

Directions

Mix together we and dry ingredients on Italian Dressing Mix Recipe, then add sliced chicken to marinade in a bowl or ziploc bag and marinade in the refrigerator for 1 – 4 hours. Heat grill very hot (I shut the lid with the burners on and heat to about 450 degrees fahrenheit) then add chicken to grill and cook till browned. Serve and ENJOY!

Italian Dressing Mix

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I wanted to make some fresh Italian Dressing, but don’t like that the Good Seasonings mix packets cost around $1 – $1.50 per packet so I decided to make my own. It came out great, and tastes almost exactly like the packet. It takes spices that you most likely already have setting around and takes less than 5 minutes to make. Here is the recipe for the mix and for the dressing if you want to make it right away.

Ingredients for Mix

  • 1 tsp of granulated garlic (garlic powder)
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp parsley flakes (crushed)
  • 1/8 tsp sugar

Ingredients to make Dressing

  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 1/8 cup water
  • 1/2 cup of canola oil

Directions

Mix all the ingredients for the Mix together and store till ready to use. When ready, add the mix into a bottle with a lid along with all the ingredients for the Dressing and shake well.

Tunaless Tuna Salad Recipe Where You Don’t Miss the Tuna.

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This is a simple recipe that is as easy to make as tuna salad and it tastes very similar and is just as filling.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 can of garbanzo beans drained and rised.
  • 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise of Vegan mayonnaise.
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon or regular mustard.
  • 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic.
  • 1 stalk of finely chopped celery (optional).
  • 1/2 small onion finely copped (optional).
  • 1 heaping tablespoon of finely chopped pick (sweet or dill) (0ptional).
  • Salt to taste

Directions

Put garbanzo beans into a food processor and pulse several times till chopped finely but you don’t want to have a paste that way you still have a little bite to the garbanzos. Mix all other ingredients in and stir till combined.  You can either eat on top of lettuce or put in a sandwich with lettuce and tomato, or however you would use tuna.

Spicy Garlic Green Beans

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Spicy Garlic Green beans
Spicy Garlic Green beans

When we go to the local Vietnamese Pho restaurant we always order the Spicy Garlic Green Beans ( Đậu Xanh Xào Tỏi ) as an appetizer. They taste great but cost about $5 and we always want more. I decided to see what I can make them at home and have come up with my own recipe that tastes remarkably similar.

Ingredients

  • 1-1.5 pounds of green beans
  • 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of crisp chili oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce (For Vegan/Vegetarian use  either Vegan Fish sauce or about 1/4 teaspoon salt)
  • 1 large clove of garlic minced very finely
  • 1/2 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon finely minced cilantro (Optional)
  • 1 tablespoon finely sliced green onion (Optional)

Directions

Mix all the ingredients but the green beans in a bowl and adjust with additional sugrar if needed. Cook the green beans by putting about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of a sauce pan and bringing to a boil. Add the green beans and cover and let steam for about 10-15 minutes till tender. Pour the water off now add the sauce into the pan and mix the green beans in the sauce. Pour onto a plate and serve.

Mexican Chicken Rice bowls

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Mexican Grilled Burrito Bowl
Mexican Grilled Burrito Bowl

This is my own version of a Chipotle burrito bowl. You can make this vegetarian by leaving out the Chicken or vegan by leaving out the cheese also. One meat substitute that I have not tried is to marinate tofu and grill it instead of chicken, which might turn out to be good also, if you try it you can leave a comment on how it comes out. Also if you leave out the meat you will probably want to add in guacamole.

Ingredients

  • 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts Sliced thin (I slice each to make 3 filets)
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp salt for marinade + 1/2 tsp for black beans.
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 4 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1/3 cup of canola oil
  • 1 bunch of green onions sliced finely
  • 2 cups of black beans (1 can rinsed or two cups of cooked black beans)
  • 1 chipotle pepper (canned in adobo sauce) minced along with 1 – 2 tbsp of the adobo sauce
  • Sour cream
  • Shredded Cheddar Cheese
  • 6 -8 cups of cooked rice

Directions

Mix the first 9 ingredients in a bowl and let the chicken marinate for 1 – 4 hours. While marinating chicken mix the chipolte pepper and adobo sauce and 1/2 tsp of salt with the black beans. Remove chicken from marinade and grill on a very hot grill so it is slightly charred on the outside and done through. Dice chicken into pieces. Now put 1 cup of cooked rice in a bowl, add cooked diced chicken, a scoop of the black bean mixture, a spoonfull of sour cream and sprinkle cheese on top. You can also add your favorite hot sauce on top also. Enjoy.

6 Minute Steel Cut Oats (Cinnamon Roll Flavor)

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Delicious Cinnamon Roll Oats
Delicious Cinnamon Roll Oats

This is a great quick and inexpensive meal to make in the morning when getting ready for work and is very healthy. You get the health benefits of the oats and the cinnamon. If you use maple syrup, it is a little less refined than sugar also. You need to use the Coach Steel Cut Oats and not regular steel cut oats since they are cut differently and cook quickly.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup of Coach Steel Cut Oats (I have found these at Costco also)
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1-2 tsp of maple syrup (Can use sugar instead)
  • 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon

Directions add all ingredients to a bowl with about 1″ of space from the fill level to the lip of the bowl. Microwave for 6 minutes at 40% power (On a 1000 watt microwave). Any higher setting and it might boil over.

Chettinad Chicken Curry

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Healthy Indian Curry
Healthy Indian Curry

When you get cravings for Indian food and have about 45 minutes to make this, it really tastes great and is healthy too (Low in sodium and fat). Not too much saturated fat or salt and still has a lot of flavor.

  • 2 large boneless skinless Chicken Breast Chopped in 1 to 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1/2 tablespoon Ginger very finely minced
  • 1/2 tablespoon garlic very finely minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
  • 1/2 onion chopped finely
  • 2 tomatoes chopped finely
  • 1 lemon juiced
  • 1 sprig curry leaves (if you have them)
  • 1 teaspoon Salt (more at the end to season to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • Chopped Cilantro for topping
  • 1 cup of water

Following ingredients will be pan roasted

  • 1/3 cup ground roasted unsalted cashew nuts (grind in food chopper or processor)
  • 3 Dried red chillies
  • 1/2 teaspoon Coriander seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon Fennel seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds
  • 3 Green cardamom
  • 1 inch Cinnamon stick (or 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, don’t roast if ground just add in)
  • 2 Cloves 1 Star anise

Directions

Add the turmeric to the lemon pour over the chicken pieces in a bowl, mix and let set while you prepare the other ingredients. Put ingredients for pan roasting in a dry pan, heat on high and roast briefly till fragrant.  Then transfer to a spice grinder (or coffee grinder) and grind to a powder and set aside. Add oil and mustard seed to pan and heat till starting to pop, then add in curry leaves and onion. Fry till the onion is starting to brown then add in the tomato and cook for about 10 minutes on high till starting to disintegrate then add the ground cashew and cook cook for another 3 minutes. Now add in the ground roasted spices and cayenne pepper and stir, now add the chicken and stir again and add in water. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes till chicken is cooked through. Taste and add salt, sugar, or more cayenne pepper to your taste. Serve with rice and enjoy.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

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Delicious Chicken Cordon Blue
Delicious Chicken Cordon Blue

This is a great quick tasty meal that is great to make on a weeknight when you don’t have a lot of time. Definitely healthier than take out.

Ingredients

  • 3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
  • 6  Slices of Ham lunch meat one each (not really thin sliced)
  • 6 slices of Swiss Cheese
  • Dijon Mustard
  • Bread crumbs
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Toothpicks to secure rolled up Chicken Breast.
  • Cooking spray for baking dish

Directions

Slice the Chicken breasts to make them thinner so that you can roll them. You can slice them down into thirds if the are really thick or you can pound them out flatter. After they are all sliced, sprinkle them with salt and pepper on both sides. Then put the flat side up and lay a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss cheese on top and then put a thick stripe of Dijon mustard on the cheese and roll up and secure with toothpicks, cheese side in. Now roll in bread crumbs lay in greased baking pan and put into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes, until you can see the cheese is melted and just starting to ooze out. Serve and enjoy.