the verdict?. . . i'll take seconds

As most moms know, it's hard to find recipes that every single member of the family will enjoy.  I was pleasantly surprised this spring break to find three of those recipes!  Curry chicken, lentils & homemade pita!  These are things that us college students eat quiet often.  They also make GREAT left overs!  My buddy Royce ate my leftover lentils for dinner 4 nights in a row!  Enjoy.  

Start with the pita.  It has to rise.  

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon sugar (or honey)

1 packet yeast (or 2 teaspoons)

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature

2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all ingredients

Kneed for 10 minutes

Let it rise til doubled

Punch down

Separate into 8-10 sections

Let it sit for a few minutes to relax

Roll out til 1/4-1/8 inch thick

Bake at 400 degrees

On a pizza stone or hot cookie sheet

3 minutes for each pita (or 5 if you want them to be a little more well done)

The pita will blow up into a pillow. . . that makes the pocket.  

Some of the reviews of this recipe I read online said that using whole wheat flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white) hinders the 'pocket' formation.  If you used all white flour, you may not have too much of a problem.  

Caitlin/Kindra's Curry Chicken

My friend Kindra and I make this recipe all the time.  We often make different variations depending on what veggies and meats we have around.  Chicken is the best.  But the veggies I put in this batch turned out really well.  I highly recommend it.  And if you don't have coconut milk, you can just use regular milk.  

3 chicken breasts

1/2 onion

1-3 garlic cloves (depending on your garlic tolerance)

Veggies (in this batch, cauliflower and potatoes.  I would also add carrots, broccoli, garbanzo beans, and thai basil)

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup half & half

2 tablespoons curry powder

salt & pepper

2 tablespoons sugar

(you could also add cayenne pepper for spice, if you want it hot)

Soften the onions and garlic in some olive oil then brown the chicken after the onions are soft.  Once the chicken is browned, add the liquids, then the veggies and then the spices.  Let it simmer until the veggies are soft.  If you want them to be extra soft, you could parboil them ahead of time.  The longer it simmers, the thicker the sauce gets and the more integrated into the ingredients the spices get.  Mmmmm.  Serve this with steamed rice.  

Lentils

I got this recipe from one of my favorite recipe blogs, 101cookbooks.com.  It's mostly vegan and SUPER healthy.  One of Cambria's friends told me about it the last time I was in Seattle.  The other nice thing about the blog is that she uses a lot of the same ingredients for her recipes, so it's easy to make a few things with only one grocery trip!  I modified this recipe to fit my liking, but I picked up a few things from the blog too.  

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic

1 box of chicken stock

1 bag of lentils

1 can diced tomatoes

Fresh ground black pepper

Cayenne pepper

Salt

Brown Sugar

Finely chopped spinach

Brown the onions and garlic with some olive oil in the bottom of the pot.  Add the chicken stock and the lentils (and water, if needed) and simmer for an hour or so.  Then add the tomatoes and spices.  Just before you serve it, throw in the spinach so that it softens a little, but doesn't get soggy.  Serve it with a dollop of Greek yogurt! 

The final product.  Bon Appetite!