Being a married lady, I have found the importance of keeping certain items in the frig or in the pantry. Here are my household's favorite ingredients to "always" have available.
1. Peanut Butter- I never thought I would be such a peanut butter lover as I am now. Hubby did it to me. His peanut butter must be Peter Pan. I like any kind, but I try to eat more natural or organic peanut butters, but that doesn't happen all the time.
2. Apples- I feel deprived if I don't have an apple a day. We literally buy a bag of apples from Sam's once a week.
3. Oranges- We now buy these oranges from Sam's that are very sweet. Love them!
4. Milk- I don't like drinking milk, but hubby must have it. I usually try to keep Almond milk on hand.
5. Red Onions- I don't know what salads were like before red onions, and I love my black bean and corn salad w/ red onions.
6. Black Beans- I make the Black Bean and Corn Salad probably every other week, if not every week.
7. Nuts- Almonds, pecans, peanuts, cashews...love nuts!
8. Eggs- For 2 people, we sure do crack 18 eggs quickly.
9. Bottled Water- I think we should get away from buying bottled water. My mom always scares me that water bought in a plastic bottle is nothing safe. Yikes!
10. Sardines- You're probably thinking, yucky!! I thought that too before I read how beneficial sardines are to the body. Hubby loves the sardines in mustard or Louisiana Hot Sauce. I've only tasted the ones in water. I remove the inside spine(bones) and mix the sardines as I would tuna salad. This is a great grab and go lunch when we don't have time to make something.
These are our semi-healthy must haves!
Earlier last week, I made Curry Chicken for dinner via the wonderful Crock Pot. I had a random can of cocunut milk in the fridge and wondered what I could do with it. I've been wanting to use the crock pot lately to have a week's worth of meals, so I thought of the Indian seasonings that I have and said to myself, "What about Curry Chicken?" I looked up a few recipes and put something together.
Ingredients
3 boneless chicken breasts (mine were thawed)
1/2 of an onion
1 bell pepper (I used a red bell pepper)
2 celery stalks
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of spaghetti sauce (it should have been a can of tomato paste, but I didn't have any)
2 tsp of cumin
2 tsp of turmeric
1 tsp of pepper
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
Creole seasoning (or salt & pepper) to season chicken
2 sweet potatoes (cubbed)
2 cups of carrots
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 1/2 cups of brown rice
1 tsp of cornstarch
cilantro for garnish
Directions
1. Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes. Season lightly with Creole seasoning or salt & pepper. Sit aside.
2. In a food processor or blender, place onion, bell pepper, celery stalks, coconut milk, spaghetti sauce/tomato paste, cumin, turmeric, pepper, and salt. Puree together.
3. Place cubbed chicken in the bottom of crock pot. Place sweet potatoes and carrotts on top and pour chicken broth over the 3 ingredients.
4. Pour curry sauce over chicken and vegetables. Stir lightly to make sure the sauce travels to the bottom of the crock pot.
5. Turn crock pot on low and cook for 6-8 hours. (I'm usually gone to work for about 10 hours so my dish usually cooks on low for about 10 hours.)
6. When you return home, mix cornstarch in mixture 1 hour before serving.
7. Cook a pot of brown rice to serve with curry chicken.
8. Serve curry chicken over rice and garnish with cilantro if desired. Enjoy!
