Massaman Chicken Curry

If I had to pick one dish that was my favorite in the whole world, massaman curry could be it. I say "could" because as you can tell I am absolutely obsessed with food, so picking one food is next to impossible. However, I adore Thai food, and massaman is so close to heavenly it would at least make the top 5.

Maintaining a recipe blog like this is both a blessing and a curse. You are experimenting along the way, so a plus is you're always making something new. However, you're bound to need to make adjustments along the way which interrupts the recipe writing process. That said, I realized halfway through making this that I needed either a bigger pot or to have made less food. 

So what did we learn? 

You will either need to cut this recipe in half or use a big soup pot to make it!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. oil

1 onion, chopped

2 lb boneless chicken breast or thighs, cut into strips

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced 

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 (14 oz) cans coconut milk 

8-10 tbsp. massaman curry paste (or red curry paste)*

1 (8 oz) jar satay sauce

1 red pepper, chopped

3 oz. roasted peanuts

*The more curry paste, the spicier. If you can't find massaman paste, you can use red curry but it tends to be spicier.

Zuppa Toscana

This is a copy cat recipe for my favorite soup from Olive Garden, Zuppa Toscana, which literally means "Tuscan soup." It is basically an Italian sausage and kale soup, but I added some red Swiss chard to give it some nice color. Also, I did 2 lbs of sausage, which ended up being a little much, so I suggest doing either 1.5 lbs or even just 1 lb, unless you like your soup super meaty & hearty.

Ingredients:

1 lb mild Italian sausage, casings removed

1 lb hot italian sausage, casings removed

5 red potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves

1/2 bunch kale, cut into 1 inch strips

1/2 bunch red Swiss chard

2 cartons (32 oz each) chicken broth

1 cup cream (I used half-and-half)

Shredded parmesan, for garnish

Mushroom Corn Chowder

This soup warmed us up on this chilly evening! I have made this soup vegetarian before by substituting chicken broth with vegetable or mushroom broth. Delicious!

Ingredients:

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp. olive oil

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cartons (8 cups) chicken broth

1/4 oz. fresh dill

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 bay leaves

3 lbs. red potatoes, cut into cubes

1 1/2 lbs. mushrooms, sliced (I used crimini and shitake)

1 c. half and half

6 oz greek yogurt

1 lb frozen corn

Roast Truffled Potatoes

This is a great side dish for my Balsamic Marinated Steak recipe! 

Ingredients:

1 lb. small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1 inch wedges

1 onion, thinly sliced

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1 tsp truffle oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.