Easy "Mediterranean"

Two in one night!  You lucky dogs, you.  Actually, I just wanted to make up for not doing another post all week.  So, in anticipation of probably not doing another until Wednesday-ish, here's an easy mediterranean style plate.

But before I start, can I just share these super adorable containers with you?  Remember how I told you that Target was on an organization and stock-up bender as their "seasonal" items for the start of the year?  Well all that stuff went on clearance, and I may have gone crazy for these little babies.

Are they not super cool?  Don't answer that, I know I'm a little too into these.  Anyways...they're little veggie savers.  So cute!  I'm always super annoyed that I can't find another tupperware because I have like four veggies in the process of being used in the fridge.  Problem, meet solution.  These little babies are just the right size/shape for the onions, peppers, tomatoes, lemons, whatever I'm only using part of...no more rearranging which containers are holding what or using a million Ziplocs.  Anyways, on to the main event!

Quick lunch/dinner in T-minus 10 minutes!

This will require:  A little bit of chicken (I had 6 oz on hand, but only half is actually plated), flatbread, hummus, persian cucumbers, tomatoes, a red onion, and tatziki sauce (or plain greek yogurt style sauce, which I will describe for you later).

Dice up the chicken and pan fry.  While the chicken is cooking, cut the cucumber and tomatoes into similar sized pieces--think 1" cubes.  You can do the same with the onion, but sometimes red onion is too strong for me when it's a big piece, so I did really thin slices.  Mix these together with about four tablespoons of tatziki sauce.  Serve with hummus and flatbread and you're good to go--you can even make a gyros-style sandwich with everything, if you wanted.

Cucumber salad almost done.

Side note:  Tatziki sauce is a cucumber yogurt dish that you can buy pre-made (guess where!) at Trader Joe's.  It's in the section with hummus, veggies, and sushi--yeah, I don't know why sushi goes right there in their cold sections, either...just deal with it.  If you want to do it yourself, you can either buy some plain greek yogurt or use sour cream and add a bit of salt and pepper along with dill...same flavor.

Here's the finished product:  I added a bit of olive oil with paprika to the hummus and some celery sticks for something extra crunch...I love crunchy foods!  Remember to check out tonight's other post!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Let me confess something to you right now:  I love Trader Joe's masala simmering sauce.  I mean, since I found it a few months ago, it has been a favorite, go-to kind of thing in our house.  So, without further ado, I give you the easiest tikka masala you'll ever make.

Everything you need!

You'll need:

1 to 1.5 lbs of chicken

1/2 yellow onion

1 bell pepper (any color)

1 jar of Trader Joe's Masala simmering sauce

Heat up a skillet with a bit of oil while you cube up the chicken into manageable pieces.  Throw those on the skillet while you dice up half a yellow onion and a whole pepper the same way.  Following the directions on the jar for simmering.

Simmering away...almost done

I have noticed, just as a side note, that when I use chicken thighs (a little more fatty) rather than chicken breast, the sauce doesn't seem to be quite so runny.  I might just be over-cooking the chicken breast, which has been a little more dry than when I use thigh, so I'll have to experiment a little more to double check that.  I might just be adding more water (part of the simmering directions is to add about 1/2 a jar of water while its cooking) without realizing it.

Bruno and I really, really like the garlic naan that Trader Joe's sells.  I know, I know, this is turning into a TJ promotion.  But it's totally true!  So, Trader Joe's brand garlic tandoori naan--go check that out.  It's literally the best naan I've found at a grocery store.  So grab some naan, whatever your favorite happens to be, maybe some fruit (we had pineapple with ours), and enjoy!  Also, don't forget to check out the other post from tonight!

Mmmmm...delicious delicious Trader Joe's Tikka Masala

Recipe Free Cook Returns!

Since Recipe Free Cook is under a different email, and--quite frankly--I'm too lazy to figure out the log in and email that I used for it, so I'm restarting with this one!  The original is linked in the sidebar, but since I'm trying to get healthy while slowly planning a wedding I figured it'd be nice to have a fresh start.  Anytime I cook something, barring any repeats, I will post the recipe and a few pictures here.

Tonight, I got home a little after 19:30--a typical time for Bruno and I to get home on a weekday.  I have a slight weakness, every now and then, for Real Simple magazine.  And Cooks Illustrated.  Mostly because I love the covers of both and because they always have good recipes and organization styles.  If you aren't familiar, here are how their covers look:

     


Bruno's mom actually has a really sweet framed set of four back covers (Cooks Illustrated) that used to hang in their kitchen that I love, so I've been thinking about subscribing and saving them up.

But anyways...dinner tonight was kebabs!  I stopped at Safeway for some of the pre-cubed beef (I think the label says something like "stewing cubes" or something like that).  We already had onions and bell pepper, so it was just a matter of skewering and cooking them up really quick on our griddle-like pan.

It's pretty simple to whip this one up.  Since the meat is already cubed, just heat your pan up with a bit of olive oil and soak a few kebab sticks in water while you wait.  I like my meat on the rare side of medium rare, so I put the heat up.  If you don't like your beef still mooing, make sure you stay on a medium-low or medium temperature and the cook time will take just a bit longer.  As much as I love kebabs, we all know those veggies never cook at the same rate as the meat.  Do yourself a favor and make a few sticks with meat and a few with veggies, that way you can control the even cooking of everything.  I actually forgot to take pictures of our plates, but I have one of the leftover meat and veggies.  Salt and pepper everything to taste and eat with your favorite BBQ sauce and a side (we had garlic naan, but potatoes or a Pastaroni type side would work well, too).

Here's a few shots:

And it's that easy!  See you next time. :)