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By Kim, May 26, 2010 7:31 pm

Yesterday my wonderful husband made us dinner.  Unfortunately, he misread the directions and added way too much curry powder to the rice.  It made the dish soooo spicy! The rice was so spicy that I felt like my sinuses were cleared up instantly! It was a little too much for me to handle, but my husband still liked it. With the right amount of spice, the rice curry turns out really good.

Shrimp Rice Curry

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

1 red onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 cup long grain rice

2 tsp. curry powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne powder

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 lb. shrimp

3 tsp. parsley

Directions:

In a large frying pan, melt butter, add onion and celery.  Cook for about 8 minutes.  Add the rice, curry powder and cayenne powder.  Cook for about 2 minutes.  Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice is done, about 20 minutes.  Gently stir in shrimp and parsley and cook until shrimp is warm.

Serves 4

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By Kim, April 12, 2010 8:04 pm

Yesterday we made a barbecued a chicken on the grill that turned out delicious.  We had so much leftover and sometimes we don’t want to eat just the chicken. So I told my husband, I would find a way to eat the leftovers in different ways. So tonight we had a homemade pesto chicken pizza. It was so awesome! I love pesto. So when you combine pesto with bread, you are in for a real treat.

Check out how amazing the pizza looked:

I have never been a big fan of leftovers.  Maybe it’s because I was used to just reheating it and serving it the same that you ate it the night before.  It must have been food boredom. So I am trying to realize the importance of leftovers. Most of the time I put the leftovers safely in a Tupperware and then to the refrigerator.  Then I make my husband take the plain leftovers to work for lunch the next day.

I think it kind of hit me when I realized how much money we could save by reusing leftover food. We are trying to budget out grocery bill more and this is a perfect opportunity. Sometimes we run out to the grocery store on work nights and end up dropping $30! So many times I wonder, how did we just spend that?!?! So hopefully by enjoying leftovers more often, I can help us save some money!

So stayed tuned tomorrow for leftovers in the form of chicken Panini sandwiches!

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By Kim, March 15, 2010 7:52 pm

On a cold day, a nice warm bowl of chili always hits the spot.  We had some cold weather on Friday, so on Saturday I pulled out the crock pot and let it do its magic! I love my crock pot.  I put everything in and it all comes out delicious.  If you don’t have a crock pot, I highly recommend getting one.  But enough of my crock pot and back to my chili.

I have a classic go-to recipe that I have been using for a while now.  It always turns out good and is super easy to make.  I always make corn bread to go with our chili, but this time I decided not to use a mix and make it from scratch.  I have to say that homemade corn bread is so much better than any mix.  It had a hint of sweetness and it was not too dry.  Sometimes the mix stuff turns out so dry, I feel like I need water to wash it down with.

Doesn’t that look awesome? It was!  We had leftovers all week-end and it is already gone! I guess my husband must have liked it!

Check out the recipes below of you are looking for a great easy meal.

Homemade Chili

Ingredients:

1-1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or turkey

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 15-ounce cans dark kidney beans, rinsed

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes

6 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Cook ground beef/turkey with onion, peppers and garlic.  Drain the fat.  In a 4-quart crock pot, combine the meat mixture with the kidney beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili powder, basil and pepper.  Stir well. Cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours.

Adapted from Better Homes Cookbook.

Homemade Corn Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow corn meal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1- Preheat over to 4oo degrees.  Grease a 8-inc square baking pan.

2- Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Combine milk, oil and egg in a small bowl, mix well.  Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir just until blended.  Pour into prepared pan.

3- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

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By Kim, February 21, 2010 7:49 pm

Not to long ago, I tried split pea soup for the first time.  I guess the look of the soup may have turned me off to it for all these years.  Whenever I saw it, I always thought of that scene from the Exorcist.  I guess no matter how hard you try, split pea soup will always look a little “different.”  But once I finally got past the look of it, I discovered that I loved it.

So I decided I wanted to make it because I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  It just so happened that the day I made it was a cold, snowy day and the soup was a welcomed warm up on a chilly day.  I made it in the crock pot because I also love the smell that fills the house all day long.

I found the recipe on Whole Foods and added some potatoes to it for a little extra flavor.

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By Kim, January 10, 2010 9:27 am

It’s been a while since my last post, but with the holidays and then a great mini vacation, it was simply too hard to find time for a ton of cooking. I did want to share my mom’s awesome lasagna recipe that I made for Christmas day. It has been a tradition in my family to have lasagna for Christmas Eve and it always taste so good.  So this year, how could I possibly break that tradition?

The recipe is so easy and great to make ahead of time and just stick in the oven. Plus it always turns out so good! As a side note, it also freezes really well, so you can enjoy it at a later date.

Mom’s Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

32-45 oz. jar spaghetti sauce (depends on how much sauce you like)

1 1/2 cups water

8 oz. lasagna noodles (uncooked)

2 cups (15 oz.) ricotta cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

3 cups (12 oz.) mozzarella cheese

2 eggs, beater

1/4 cup parsley

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions:

Brown meat and drain the fat. Add the spaghetti sauce and water and then simmer for 10 minutes. Mix all the other ingredients in a large bowl (except noodles). Note: You may want to have extra mozzarella cheese to sprinkle on the top of the lasagna.

Then layer 1 cup of sauce on the bottom of pan, 3-5 pieces of lasagna noodles, 1 1/2 cups sauce, 1/2 of the cheese mixture, 3-5 pieces of lasagna noodles and then the remaining sauce. Optional: sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.

Cover with foil. (May be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated, allow for extra baking time.)  Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

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By Kim, November 15, 2009 5:23 pm

One word for homemade meatballs: Delicious! These were seriously one of the best meals I have made  in a long time. They were super easy to make and they turned out so good! My husband loved them so much, he had leftovers the next night! Needless to say, this will definitely be a meal I make again.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

7 mushrooms, diced fine

1/4 yellow onion, diced fine

1/4 cup Italian style breadcrumbs

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 egg

1 tbsp basil

1/2 tbsp parsley

Salt & pepper for seasoning

Combine all the ingredients. Form into small meatballs and place in a lightly greased baking dish. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Adapted from For the Love of Cooking

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By Kim, November 15, 2009 5:19 pm

I really enjoy reading and following many food bloggers, but sometimes I wonder where they find the time to do all this cooking.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy cooking but some nights when I get home from work it’s the last thing on my mind.  I want something quick, easy and good.

So the other night, after a long day of work, it was time for dinner.  I had purchased garlic herb pizza dough from Trader Joe’s so I decided to make homemade pesto pizza.  It was super easy and super good.  So for those of you who need something quick but good for dinner, try out this recipe.

Ingredients:

Garlic Herb Pizza Dough

Mozzarella cheese (as much or as little as you like)

Pesto (I purchased mine from Trader Joe’s)

Follow the directions for the dough, then shape on a pan or pizza stone and add your favorite ingredients!

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By Kim, November 15, 2009 5:17 pm

This entry is written by my husband because sometimes I like to give him credit for the delicious meals he creates!

As the chef in the family I felt it was my turn to weight in at Kimmy’s Kitchen.

Honestly, I’m loving the blog, I get to try all of the new recipes and, in my opinion, they have all turned out totally awesome and delicious (even the thin mints).  Baking is definitely not my foray, but I love trying new grill and Italian recipe, so I’m going to try to guest blog from time to time.

My first guest post is a play on a recipe I learned from the caterer I used to work for. It’s pretty basic but always turns out pretty good. In the end, it’s mozzarella wrapped in a pounded out chicken breast and wrapped in prosciutto.

The recipe:
4 small chicken breasts
1/3 pound of prosciutto (thinly sliced)
2-3 slices of mozzarella per breast (more or less depending on preference)
4 cloves of garlic
4 sprigs of rosemary
1 dash of cracked black pepper (per breast)
(serves 4)

Pound out each chicken breast and roll up 2-3 slices of mozzarella in each breast. Wrap each breast with 2 slices of prosciutto. Insert the sprig of rosemary, and garnish each breast with a clove of minced garlic and a dash of cracked black pepper.

Throw on the grill (low heat), rotating each breast 1/3 of a turn and cooking for 6 min. on each side. Generally when the mozzarella starts to melt out the ends it should be close to done.

Enjoy!