Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken

There is butter in Butter Chicken, but not much so don’t be alarmed.

Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken

3 tbl Butter

1 Medium Yellow Onion

1 tbl Minced Garlic

1 1/2 tsp Minced Ginger (or ground)

1 tsp Garam Masala (which is a blend of spices I didn’t have so I blended 1/4 tsp of each: black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. Go heavy on the pepper)

1/4 tsp Cayenne (I went light on spice for my kiddos, feel free to add more)

1 tsp Salt

1 lb Chicken (I used organic chicken tenderloins via http://www.doorganicsgr.com)

1 can (14.5 oz) Fire Roasted Tomatoes

1 can (15oz) Tomato Sauce

1/3 cup Whole Milk (you can use cream if you prefer)

1 cup Peas (frozen works great)

Place butter, chopped onion, garlic, ginger, ‘garam masala’, cayenne, salt and chicken in crockpot.

Go outside with a handsome little man and play.

(If you are leaving the house and won’t be back until its time to eat just add everything into the Crock Pot except the cream and peas, add those just before serving and should only need a few minutes to cook).

When you come back from you’re play date the slower cooker should look like this:

Add tomatoes and tomato sauce. When you are ready to serve add milk and peas, and allow to cook for a few minutes.

I cooked some rice while the peas and milk simmered and served with store bought Naan.

Family Reviews:

Brandon “We should eat this every night.”

Addy “It’s good, I like the bread.”

Lulu “I only like the bread.”

Wyatt (ate 2 bowls)

Happy Friday! Have an amazing weekend!

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The Results are In!

Thanks to everyone who participated! Don’t worry there will be more giveaways in the future!

Misty check your inbox I’ll be emailing you for a shipping address!

Happy Friday All!

Last Day of the Giveaway!

Your neck is feeling chilly isn’t it?

Today is the last day to enter the Fall Scarf giveaway! You could be rocking this gorgeous Stella & Dot scarf just in time for fall. All you have to do is:

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You have until tonight at 11:59pm EST (US residents only).

Best of luck!!

We called it ‘Dirty Rice’…

Dirty Rice

(Rice Bowl, Kielbasa Risotto, Rice and Sausage….I don’t know what you want to call it, but it was good)

1 lb Kielbasa

2 tbl Olive Oil

1 Medium Yellow Onion

1/2 pint Grape Tomatoes

1 Handful chopped kale (or spinach/brussel sprouts)

1/4 cup White Wine

1 tbl minced Garlic

salt & pepper

1 cup Rice (I used brown)

1 cup Broth (I used veggie broth)

1 can Black Beans (drained and rinsed)

1 tsp Sirracha

1 jar Salsa (I used a homemade jar of my moms)

Toppings: Avocado, cilantro, sour cream, cheese, hot sauce, whatever tickles your fancy

Brown the Kielbasa in the olive oil

I chop the veggies(onion, kale, tomatoes) while it browns, then remove the kielbasa and allow to cool. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and allow the alcohol to cook off for about 1 minute.

Add the chopped veggies, garlic, salt & pepper.

Reduce heat and cover, stirring frequently.

Once the onions are translucent and the kale has wilted, ‘squoosh’ the veggies to one side and add rice.

Allow the rice to toast for a few minutes before adding broth. Check your rice instructions for cooking time(I used instant brown so this was a quick meal).

While the rice cooks, chop the kielbasa (on an angle if you’re feeling fancy) and add back to the pan when rice is finished ie all the liquid has absorbed.

Add beans, sirracha, salsa and stir together.

I topped mine with avocado, cilantro, and some Frank’s Hot Sauce (because I really do put that sh*t on everything).

Feel free to substitute the kielbasa for chorizo, chicken or steak. What would you put in your dirty rice?

My first GIVEAWAY!

Up for grabs is this Stella & Dot scarf. They are huge! and they come in a little bag so you can travel with them or I like to keep one in my purse this time of year. So cute, and so cozy. Retails for $59

I mean come on, how happy does she look about her scarf 🙂

Rules:

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Enter by Thursday October 16th 2014 11:59pm

Winner will be announced Friday October 17th 2014

Good Luck!

Artprize 2014

Artprize 2014

Our amazing little big city of Grand Rapids, Michigan plays host to Artprize every year for the last 5 years. It’s open for 19 days and covers the downtown area with art from around the world. If you’re interested in more facts than that check out http://www.artprize.org because that’s about all the facts you’ll be getting from me, all I know is that I love it. I’ve been down to check it out twice and I’m heading back tomorrow night as well.

To all my out of state friends living in fun, new and exciting cities feel free to live vicariously through me.

  

These are raindrops carved out of wood. You can see the wood drops ‘falling’ in the image on the right, and the left is a close up of the spash. This one is a serious contender as my favorite because of the amazing detail.

(Sorry for the glare) this drawing is done completely in pencil.

He was big and muscly and I’m sure he had something important he represented, but not my favorite.

How many garage sales must one shop to acquire this many clocks…?

(sidebar: I swear this guy was trying to block my shot, I moved like 8 times and he was the only person blocking me in every pic)

These fierce little knights are also in my top picks. (I named the dragon Trogdor, “burnanating all the people“)

This piece is by Carole Roeda, who makes the magnetic photo frames and has a studio in Breton Village. It was playing the most calming music.

WAR, Women At Risk International http://www.warinternational.org, aimed to raise attention and funds to combat human trafficking. Incredible stories thoughout the piece, this is just one small part of a trucking container you walked though filled with battered doors that told the stories of too many women and children sold into sex slavery.

This is a huge photograph from a man who traveled to Iraq and followed this group of soldiers through 3 months of their deployment. One of the most moving pictures was a soldier seeing his child born via skype. I cannot even imagine.

These bottom two pictures are from a series at the Grand Rapids Art Museum called Shattered. They are made with a hot glue gun. Talk about up-ing my Halloween decor this year.

Also felt like being in a Halloween fun house, a very pretty one.

I love everything about Artprize, mostly seeing people travel into Grand Rapids as a destination! Because I love this city and its good to see others fall in love with her too. If I were pressed to pick a favorite, and I am because you can only vote for one more day, I am torn between the silverware knights and wooden raindrops for no other reason than they make me happy.

Which is your favorite entry?

Butternut Squash Bisque

I had some butternut squashes from our organic grocery delivery service, shout out to http://www.doorganicsgr.com, so I decided to make some butternut squash bisque to accompany the meatloaf my husband was making. After church on Sundays you would be hard pressed to get our family to leave the house. It’s our day to relax, and when we relax we generally are cooking.

Butternut Squash Bisque

2 butternut squashes

1 medium yellow onion

1 medium apple

3 carrots

2 tbls butter

1 clove garlic minced

1/2 tsp cayenne

salt & pepper

 vegetable broth

1 tsp nutmeg

whole milk (cream or 1/2 & 1/2 will work also)

Cut squash in half, drizzle some olive oil and season with salt & pepper, then roast at 425 for 45-60 minutes. While they roast chop the onion, apple and carrots.

or have your handsome assistant chop them for you.

Melt butter in a pot and add chopped items, garlic, and cayenne. Leave over medium heat covered, and stir often.

Once the squash have cooled a bit, spoon out the squash from their peel and add to your pot with the apple and veggies.

Add 2 cups vegetable broth or enough to cover the squash. Then I grate some fresh nutmeg into the soup.

Aren’t hazelnuts pretty?

I use an emulsion blender to combine my soup, you could use your food processor or regular blender as well.

Now is also a good time to see if you need a little more salt & pepper. When you are ready to serve the soup add the milk and mix it through.

Here is the final product! We brought the bisque, meatloaf, and potatoes to our neighbors for Sunday football. I used the soup as a gravy on my 14 month old’s serving of meatloaf and he ate TWO bowls!!

24 Hours in Chicago

I spent a glorious 24 hours in Chicago last week, kid free and husband free. Just me and my tour guide Kate, who happens to also be by sister in law. I was in Chicago Thursday night for a Stella & Dot party I was doing for one of the most amazing women I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, Randi if you read this, you are awesome 🙂

I spent the night at Kate’s and then we got to explore all day Friday before both of us heading back to Grand Rapids, MI.

Woke up and headed out to do real city girl work, ie using our computers at a coffee shop. (not prostituting, just to be clear)

Kate took me to the Blue Door Farmstand http://www.bluedoorfarmstand.com, I highly recommend finding this place. The atmosphere is cozy and friendly, and the food is delicious. Kate and I both had the Sunrise BLT, it was served with greens and I have to say I’ve never had a salad for breakfast, but it was awesome. If you’ve ever had Garlic Expressions salad dressing (which is all we eat in our house) the Blue Door’s homemade salad dressing tastes amazingly similar! 

I blogged, Kate actually worked, and we were just a super impressive power couple in the corner booth.

After we finished up the necessities of the day and were well amp-ed up on coffee, we rented some bikes and headed down to the lake shore. I’m pretty sure I had permagrin all day from our touristy adventures. We took our bikes to the Magnificent Mile and hit up the American Girl store to bring home some goodies for my girls. We walked down to TJMaxx, because lets be serious, its my favorite and the Chicago store did not disappoint.

so sparkly.

Our final stop in our day was Eataly http://www.eataly.com

An Italian market, like I’ve never seen before, probably because I’ve never been to Italy…regardless, it was beautiful. Every backdrop is white, and all the food jumps right out at you. We grabbed a cappuccino and walked around, I started drooling when I saw the Nutella bar.

I was a good girl and just kept walking, but I was insanely jealous of the people enjoying their grilled croissants covered in nutella.

Then there was the desert case…

I decided it was time to try out a new floor.

Upstairs were people sitting a little cafe tables, or standing a tall tables eating a variety of foods and drinking wine and beer. I saw quite a few delicious looking meat and cheese trays go by.

Hanging cheese might be my new favorite thing.

There was a fish cooler, one for meat, one for pasta, and olives had their very own counter as well.

The quarter of the second floor was wine, there was a market for fresh produce, and they were even brewing beer.

Kate and I bought some jars of sauce, noodles, a sandwich to share, and I found Brandon, the hot sauce connoisseur, a new bottle to try.

We carted all our belongings to the ‘L’ and rode back to Kate’s apartment.

Like I said, it was honestly a perfect 24 hours. Thank you Kate for showing me how awesome your city is and being super touristy with me. I loved every second.

Kate the tour guide

Friday Fashion Rewind

Its Friday!!! I’m in Chicago with my beautiful sister-in-law Kate, we are currently working from an amazing restaurant called The Blue Door Farm Stand (Pics to come). She has a ‘real job’ in sales, she just moved to Chicago this summer and I’m listening to her make a sales call and can’t believe how mature she is! Okay that’s cheesy, but its the truth. I’m next to her on a rustic blue bench working on my new ‘job’, my blog. So thanks for joining with me today.

ITS FRIDAY! I’m headed home later today, with Kate in tow, and my husband gets home from being in South Carolina all week. Insert contented sigh Life is good.

Friday Fashion Rewind: A few of my favorite outfits from this last week

Shoes: Target, Jeans: Gap, Sweater: JCrew, Scarf and Jewelry: Stella & Dot

The whole back of this shirt is the plaid fabric and really soft.

Shirt: TJMaxx, Seven 7, Leggings: Lululemon, Jewelry: Stella & Dot

Shirt: TJMaxx, Jewelry: Stella & Dot

Shirt: Macy’s Jewelry: Stella & Dot

Tank and Pants: Lululemon, Sweatshirt: TJMaxx Jewelry: Come on, you know the answer…

Have an amazing weekend! Here is a preview of my brief, but wonderful trip to Chicago

I know, she’s adorable 🙂

Chicken Sweet Potato Soup with Rice

Nothing like a little inspiration from your butter before you start cooking.

Chicken Sweet Potato Soup with Rice

2 Tbl Butter

1 medium Onion (I used a yellow)

4 medium Carrots

2 small Sweet Potatoes

2 Tbl minced Garlic

2 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 tsp Thyme

1 lb Chicken (I used tenderloins)

1 1/2 cups Brown Rice

1/2 cup White Wine (I had a Riesling open, just use what you have)

2 1/2 – 3 cups Chicken Broth

1 Bay Leaf

Saute onions, butter, salt & pepper until onions become translucent. Add garlic and saute until fragrant.

Chop carrots and sweet potatoes and add to onions.

Push the veggies to one side of the pot and brown chicken on the other, I cubed the chicken up before browning it. Once chicken has cooked, I deglaze the pan with the white wine. Which is just a fancy way of saying, scrape the brown chicken and veggie bits off the bottom of the pan because they add a lot of flavor and you want that in the broth. Allow the wine to cook a bit before adding rice and chicken broth, maybe 2 minutes. I add enough broth to cover the rice, and once the rice cooks you may want to add a little more. Add a bay leaf while the rice simmers, depending on what type of rice you use this could be ready to eat in about 10 minutes, but with most things in life…the longer it cooks the better it tastes.

Enjoy and please share how your soup turns out! What did you garnish your soup with?