Butter Chicken.... oh baby.

Warning: I am not Indian, and I'm not great at actually measuring things.... but to my taste, this was so so so yummy, easy and I hope you try it.

Marinade: I used 5 HUGE chicken breasts... in olive oil and a bit of lime juice (or vinegar or lemon juice works to tenderize the meat)...1 fresh onion diced, 6 cloves garlic minced, 3 Tbspns Garam Masala, 2tsp, ground cumin, 1-2tsp coarse salt, black pepper to taste, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp curry, 1tbsp corriander.  Let sit overnight in your fridge... you don't have to... but the flavors get deeper.  I used frozen chicken breasts so I put the spices on them as they thawed in my fridge.

Fry in 2-3 tbsps butter... about 5 minutes each side, so that they get a little brown on each side. Medium heat.

Flip and brown each side.

My breasts were so big (hahahaha, All you Mintz ladies know exactly how funny that is!!), that I reduced the heat (NOTHING ELSE) to low and put the lid for 10 minutes on so that they would be thoroughly cooked inside.

Let them cool a bit, because you're going to chop them up... at this point you could even put them in the fridge and cut them another day... you've done the most time consuming part of this recipe already... most of the time I use the leftovers of a roasted chicken.  See all that GOODNESS in the bottom of the pan? DON'T throw it out. Don't you dare. That stuff right there is THE  mind-blowing flavor that will have you wanting this dish over any thing else in your life.

Next you'll need some Crushed Tomatoes.  I know. What is someone who's not in the food industry doing with such a HUGE (2.4 Liters to be exact!) can of crushed tomatoes.  I'll tell you.  It's 3$.  THREE DOLLARS PEOPLE!  This can is as cheap as two small cans of crushed tomatoes and it's at least 4X as much!  Just half of this can means I can cook this sauce and it will last me 5 meals... I freeze it and don't have to cook another day.  I give it away as an easy meal to those who are under the weather, just had a baby, or as a fair trade to someone who gives me raw milk. AND I still have the other half to make pasta sauce with! Score.

Add the leftover goodness from the bottom of your fry pan to HALF that large can (or about TWO 796ml cans) in a stock pot.

Your chicken should be cool enough to handle... cut it up, de-bone it (SO easy to de-bone it when it's already cooked... and way cheaper to buy bone in...) CONTROL YOUR SELF at this point. DO NOT EAT ALL OF THE CHICKEN... one or two bites at the most... the chicken GOES IN THE POT.

Add to your sauce.

Don't wash that pan yet.  Add a bit more butter and fry some more onions in it.  oh baby baby baby. You might lose me here.

Add 1-2 cups of cream or milk, whatever you like, fuller fat is yummier, but that will mean you'll have to watch your portion intake!

Add enough so that it turns a nice pink colour.  Serve over brown rice with Naan Bread... You MUST have the Naan Bread.  Get it, keep it in your freezer until you are ready to make this meal. 

Special shout out to Nicole Krahn for inspiring me to make this dish when she dropped it off at my house when Nova (I think) was born. YOU HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE.

The best part... I can't believe my kids eat it.... like GOBBLE it up.  To make sure I have leftovers, so that I can eat it alone the next day in the privacy of my obscene facial expressions and moans, I need to limit the amount that they eat.  Wes hates spicy food, but to him spicy food means you can see little bits of something in it... like parsley... oooo that's so spicy Wes... and THIS isn't?  Cool.  I won't argue.

All the Single Ladies....... meet... Joel.

He's from strong pure bloodlines... he's a Silver Bantam Pheonix... which means he's not super huge, and his cockadoodledo isn't quite as loud.... his tail will likely get to be about 4 feet and drag on the ground (hence the Pheonix part of his name)... he'll work it for the ladies like a peacock.  His love life has recently been arranged for him.  My 9 mixed flock chickens.  Maybe this time next year we'll be hatching chicks?!!!  He traveled here from Grand Forks.... riding in a mini-van the whole way in a simple box... every once in a while getting out and freaking out the 4 children in the van riding with him. What a trip!

This morning, for about 2 hours all he did was bok bok BOK as loud as he could... perhaps missing the attention of the ladies he used to bunk with... (they were a little older and well... were quite attentive to his needs...)

 

 Right now, these ladies don't pay much attention to him... and he doesn't pay them much back.

He's been getting out of the pen.... I've corralled him back in there a few times, but the last few days I've just left him.  Good grief.  I do NOT have time to chase a rooster all day.

He just marches and struts back in forth in front of the pen... like he's on guard.... taking his job very seriously.... I think. Either that or he's trying to figure out how to get back in.

Look at that swagger! 

Then at night... he puts himself to bed.... he's supposed to chase the ladies in and put them to bed too, but perhaps since they aren't putting out for him, he won't be put out for them just yet...

Thanks for him Marie... he's beautiful, tame & keeps us entertained!

The Ladies - Round Two

When we moved last June we were so excited to get chickens.  We had them within a week of moving to our little acreage and their coop and run were degenerating to say the least.  We lost 3 of 6 of those chickens before we ever got any eggs from them.  The remaining 3 became dinner... the last of which we had just last week.  Mmmm. There are 2 yogurt containers of stock in my freezer just waiting to be turned into pasta sauce or corn chowder one of these days.

This past month, one of our goals has been to fortify the chicken coop and rebuild their run and fencing.  Dave dug in a few solid posts and put on a new farm gate to the run.

Dry Enchilada Sauce Mix

So I recently came upon Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution show. I know. It's old, but I just found it so that makes it noteworthy. It's inspiring. Over the last year or so I've strived to buy and use less processed foods and to serve foods without packaging, without processing. Raw. Since moving to 2.5 acres in the Lower Mainland last June... just 10 months ago, we've raised our own chickens, pig, bought a side of beef, started a garden and have big BIG plans to raise our own meat, perhaps a dairy cow (aside: did you know you get 16 plus litres of milk FROM ONE COW!!!? What would I DO with all that freaking MILK?!), get a llama, some sheep or goats. We're not sure....when we moved in, the entire house was stuck in the 70ies... that little point deserves and entire post dedicated to it. For tonight, I'll just repeat a facebook post that I made.

When I look up a recipe on the internet, what I find really frustrating is reading on the ingredients list: "1 package dry enchilada sauce mix". I mean, that's why I looked up the recipe. I WANT TO MAKE IT! I don't want a package.... that's why I looked up the recipe. Duh.