Small Town Healthy Living: Chicken Korma and Cheesy Chowder

I finally have some new recipes for you. I somehow managed to make a couple meals in the last couple days, even though Tyler was not too happy this weekend. Thank goodness for Grandma Pat. She really saved the day, coming over to watch Tyler on Friday and then helping out Saturday and today. He has been running a fever on and off throughout the last couple days, and the congestion has moved to his head, so he's a nonstop snot faucet. He keeps rubbing his nose, then his eyes, then his ears, so he has a lovely red rash all over. I looked in his ears with my otoscope, but could hardly see anything because there was so much wax. I'll check again tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure this is all viral anyways. No green mucus or snot, no extreme high temp fevers (besides the first day) and he seems to be getting a little better. If he's still running a fever tomorrow and being extremely crabby, I guess we'll have to take him in to see the doctor.

He's been very fussy at night, waking up a couple times a night- I feel like we're back to the newborn days! Just amazing how my body adjusts to very little sleep.

Back to the blog... as you'll notice, I did not have time to switch the blog from blogger to wordpress, guess that will have to wait for a rainy day.

So let's start with Friday night's project: Chicken Korma. Hubby and I both love Indian food, but I've never really tried to make anything authentic (not that I really know if this is authentic or not). I had some Smart Chicken from Hy-Vee, but this package was made up of bone-in thighs.

At lunch time on Friday, I threw together the ingredients and put them in my crockpot on low. By 6 o'clock, the chicken had fallen off the bone and the potatoes were soft. I made some long-grain organic brown rice and supper was made!

It was decent... the cloves were definitely potent and kind of overtook everything, but I didn't mind. The chicken was so tender and juicy, but the consistency was kind of watery, even though I added the Greek yogurt. It was a good meal- mostly because it was so easy!

Chicken Korma (adapted from Stephanie O'Dea- A Year of Slow Cooking)

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken (I just threw in 4 whole thighs- bone-in)

1 large potato, cut in 1/2-inch chunks

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes (I used petite diced tomatoes)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon curry powder (I used more like 1 1/2 T- we like curry!)

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cinnamon stick (didn't have this)

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (to add later) (I used plain Greek yogurt)

cooked white or brown long grain rice for serving

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the chicken into the bottom of your pot. Add potato and onion. Pour in the tomatoes, and add garlic and all spices. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3 to 4. Discard the cinnamon stick, and stir in the sour cream or yogurt. Serve over rice.

After a quick supper I was off to Bunco with the girls, but didn't stay very long because I was so worried about Tyler. That night was a pretty long night too, and of course we had to work the next morning.

After work, the three of us traded off holding Tyler and cleaning. We are hosting my immediate family for Thanksgiving so we're trying to get this place looking respectable. Or at least livable. We ordered some Chuong Garden for lunch, and I enjoyed some cashew chicken with a crab rangoon and egg drop soup. I actually displayed some self-control and only ate half of it!

Supper was a homemade pizza, using pizza crust from a tube (one of Hubby's impulse bread-in-a-tube buys). I'm glad he bought it, because it tasted great. Toppings included: sauce, Italian sausage, pepperoni, ham, green peppers, green olives on my side, and cheese.

Today I made our Sunday morning usual- pancakes. I had a couple blueberries left so I tossed some into the last couple pancakes.

That was the perfect fuel for vacuuming and cleaning the bathtub. Just have to do the wood floors and I'll be ready!

I made up a little afternoon snack for Hubby and I, since Grandma had to go home. I pretty much just cleared the fridge of our taco fixin's. 2 ounces of low fat cream cheese, 3 ounces of plain Greek yogurt, refried beans on Hubby's half, taco sauce, cheese and chopped spinach made a nice snack with some blue corn tortilla chips.

I had been craving some soup since it's been a little chilly out, so tonight I made some Cheesy Chowder. I didn't feel like typing the recipe, so I just took a picture of it. The recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks- the Hope Lutheran Church cookbook. Many recipes from family and friends.

Here's the recipe:

I pretty much stuck to it, except added more of each veggie except the potato- I just used one cut-up potato. I also added some hot pepper cheese along with the American.