Green Curry Chicken, Potatoes, and Onions over Brown Rice

We love us some curry, especially the Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce from Trader Joe's. Though the simmer sauce is delicious, it is just that - a sauce, so we tend to add a few touches here and there to make a hearty-quick-and delicious-perfect-for-a-weeknight meal. Yes, I know - it's from a jar! True. But sometimes you don't always have time to make a curry and you want something tasty, cost effective, time efficient, and healthy.

Chop two good sized potatoes with a small onion and sauteed these together with a bit of vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is thicker than olive oil, but you don't need much - just enough to moisten your pan, really. Toss rock salt, cumin, and fresh minced ginger into the mix, stirring every now and then. Setting aside the potatoes and onions, saute two diced chicken breasts until nearly done, adding one jar of Trader Joe's Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce and the potatoes and onions. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally. We like to serve it over brown rice, but jasmine rice is tasty too. Total time? About thirty minutes.

Recycling in the 215

Quick - take a poll of your friends and neighbors on the topic of recycling and recyclable materials. I guarantee you that not one Philadelphian will get all of the answers correct at the first go-around. At least these were my results, and given the ongoing conversation in my own household ("Are you sure we can't recycle a #6?" and "Why do all the non-recyclable plastic containers seem to come from Whole Foods?") no one seems to have a clear grasp on the recycling system.

In January of 2009, Philadelphia went from biweekly to weekly curbside pick up of recyclables AND around the same time, we also joined the ranks of the highly civilized around the country by going "single stream," meaning that no longer did we have to separate our plastics, paper, and metal and aluminum. Most, if not all of the confusion, stems from which "numbers" on the bottoms of plastic containers may be recycled. The answer is sadly, only Types #1 and #2.

It isn't as hopeless as it seems, however - Type #4 Plastics are the type of plastic commonly found in plastic bread and grocery bags, which can be recycled at local grocery stores. Rather than floating about in the ocean, these are recycled into lumber, trashcan liners, and other plastic bags. Type #6 Plastics are the hardest it seems to recycle as they are the evil foam materials. Some states and counties around the country do have drop off sites for these types of plastics, though Philadelphia currently does not. Click here for all thing (or at least, what the city offers) recycling in the 215.

Whole Foods has a program where you can drop off your Type #5 plastics (which tend to be commonly found on nearly everything - medication bottles, hair product, rotisserie chickens from Trader Joes, hummus, etc.) in the corresponding bin. Whole Foods will send the amassed Type #5 plastic containers to Preserve, a company who makes recycled household products. When they get your plastic, Preserve gets a little Sweeney Todd and grinds up your old shampoo, medicine, and/or yogurt and hummus containers into clean plastic pellets. These pellets will then be used to make new items. Click here for more information about Preserve's Whole Foods program and to find a participating store near you.

Aside from the plastic confusion, there is another very important contamination issue to be covered with your recycling: that which has not been rinsed of food residue. We all understand the need to be tidy and desire to make a difference but clearly, people, pizza boxes covered in grease cannot be recycled just as it would be preferable if you there, eating your chicken wings while walking your dog did not see open recycling containers on the sidewalk as "trash." When you do either type of "co-mingling" the recycled material just sits there. Because the recycling attendants do not collect trash. They collect recycling. And trash is what dog poop, chicken wings, and greasy pizza boxes are.

Kathy's Krazy Chicken

Guest Blogger Lawral the Librarian (aka My Librarian) introduced this and many other delicious "meal in a bowl" recipes to the kitchen. From time to time she might drop in with a recipe or two that won't disappoint. Enjoy! - CMolieri

This is a recipe that my mom made all the time when I was little. It is GREAT potluck fare, and having grown up Baptist, I know potlucks. The actual recipe appeared in a Blackfoot Baptist Church fundraiser cookbook, or maybe a Campfire Girls fundraiser cookbook. Whichever book my mom found it in, it is long gone now. Kathy, whoever and wherever you are, I am so glad you spilled Coke in your bbq and decided it was good!

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs chicken - I usually use boneless breasts; my mom used bone-in drums and thighs. Whatever you use, just make sure it's skinless
  
• 2 bottles of bbq sauce - I prefer a bottle of Kraft's regular or Mesquite with a bottle of Honey or Brown Sugar
• the "recipe" calls for 1/2 a can of Coke, I usually use the full can. I cannot stress to you how important it is to use regular Coke and not diet. I don't know why, but the diet makes this whole thing taste nast.
  

Directions:

• Throw everything in the crock pot or countertop skillet and cook it till it's done!

Now seriously, I use a full can of Coke to make everything a bit saucier and cook it in the crock pot on low for roughly 8 hours and then serve it over rice. Left in the crock pot that long all the chicken will fall apart and it will end up tasting as American as Apple Pie (and goes really well with it too) but will look like Indian food. I like my food this way; it fits better in the ice cream bowl I take most of my meals in.

My mom uses only half a can of Coke so that the sauce is more likely to cook down into something un-runny enough that you could actually eat it off a paper plate. She cooks it in the countertop skillet for about an hour at around 350. This way the chicken is still cooked all the way through but still in whole pieces which she pulls out of the sauce. If the chicken is actually going to a potluck, only a little bit of the sauce is kept to keep everything moist during transport and the rest gets chucked. If we're eating at home, Mom also serves this with rice, using the leftover sauce as a kind of rice gravy.

Now that we're getting to the colder months, I love cooking "outside" recipes like this so I can pretend it's warm enough to picnic (or potluck). I hope you all have fun putting Coke in your food!

MANNA Pie in the Sky 2009

Each month, MANNA (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance) prepares more than 65,000 delicious, nutritious home-delivered meals for individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS, cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. MANNA's small professional staff and 1,000 dedicated volunteers deliver 100% complete nutrition to their clients - 3 meals a day, 7 days a week - at no charge. MANNA dietitians promote wellness through nutrition education and counseling. Every day, people at acute nutritional risk from life-threatening illnesses count on them to deliver delicious, nourishing meals along with counsel and hope. By buying pies, YOU help MANNA continue to provide this vital, free service to people living with life-threatening illnesses right here in the greater Philadelphia region.

Buy a pie and a MANNA client will be delivered six life-sustaining meals. It doesn't get any sweeter than that. This year marks the 13th anniversary of the Pie in the Sky fundraiser! Help MANNA celebrate a baker’s dozen of delicious years by purchasing gourmet pies!

Since the beginning of November, tasting events have been the fashionable craze around these parts, but if you’ve been unable to make one you still have time to order. Can’t decide which pie to buy to woo your family and friends this Thanksgiving? I ask you but one question: Can you say “Chocolate Ganache Cheesecake?” We can. And yes, it tastes as good as one can imagine. Actually, scratch that – it tastes better than one can imagine. As an added bonus, with the purchase of just one of the aforementioned cheesecake pies, you’re entered to win the US Airways $1,000 raffle. In addition to the Chocolate Ganache Cheesecake, take your pick of Pumpkin, Pecan, Apple Crumb, and Sweet Potato.

So buy one, or two, or (as in our case) three; you can’t go wrong with tax-deductible gourmet pie for a great charity.

Roast Chicken with a Rosemary-Orange Butter Rub, Sugar Snap Peas & Sweet Corn, Mashed Potatoes and Pan Sauce

The Rosemary-Orange Butter was a success and this is definitely something we plan on repeating.

Mix 3/4 of a stick of softened butter, 1 shallot, 4 teaspoons of minced rosemary and 1 tablespoon of zested orange peel. When zesting, rotate your orange often as you don't want to include the pith - that's the white skin between the peel and the fruit - with the peel.

Use your fingers well with the skin - you want to be careful not to break the skin apart, but insure that you are able to get the rub inside throughout the chicken across the breast, thighs, and wings. I seasoned the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper and stuffed it with peeled boiling onions and the two oranges, sliced, zested and their juices squeezed over the top of the chicken, along with the remainder of the butter rub. Figure that half will go under the skin, half across and over the chicken, again paying attention to the thighs and wings.

I almost didn't make the pan sauce from the giblets, but I decided that I couldn't really call myself a foodie chef and avoid touching organs. As it was, they were all nicely wrapped in butcher paper stuffed inside the chicken so really, I didn't have to touch them - I just dumped them into a saucepan. adding 3/4 cup of dry white wine and 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, along with a chopped onion, 2 carrots, and 1 celery stalk.

When the chicken was nearly done, I steamed the sugar snap peas, started the sweet corn, and strained the potatoes to prepare for the mashing. As the chicken was setting, I mashed the potatoes and strained the sauce after adding the chicken roasted pan sauce. Total prep and cook time, from raw chicken to heaping plates was approximately an enjoyable 3 hours.

A Teaser for What's To Come

Greetings Fellow Foodies! Do not dismay at the lack of posts; I promise there is a scheduled arrangement coming your way very soon. Life has been busy, but it has certainly not been too busy to cook and bake (!), though, sadly, I have had difficulty in finding the time to post.

Coming this week and next I have a Roast Chicken with a Rosemary-Orange Butter Rub, Green Curry with Chicken and Potatoes, an example of a cozy and sweet Autumnal snack, Classic Italian Chicken Parmigiana, a delicious concoction called Kathy's Krazy Chicken, and a homemade adventure resulting in a chocolate cake for a recent birthday. I'll also be taking on some more baking challenges and adventures and posting about a local fundraiser - Pies for Charity - what could be better?