Spaghetti with Broccoli and Garlic

I am so sorry that I have not posted here for a couple of days. The past two days have been crazy hectic and I haven't had much time to cook or post on this blog. Hectic days are something that everyone in the 21st century is very familiar with. It is so much easier to just pick something up on the way home from work than to come home from a long day and cook a homemade meal. Yesterday I was extremely tired, so I came up with this quick and easy recipe. It turned out that it was really delicious.

Ingredients

1/2 box of spaghetti

1 clove of garlic

2 Broccoli Florets

olive oil

Pesto (we used a delicious spinach pesto from Fairway)

Step 1: Boil a pot of water and cook your spaghetti. When spaghetti is at the firmness you desire strain it and return it to the pot.

Step 2: While your spaghetti is cooking chop up your garlic and separate your broccoli.

Step 3: Heat a few lugs of olive oil on a frying pan. Add your garlic and cook on medium heat for about a minute. Then add the broccoli and cook till the broccoli becomes a lovely brilliant green and is tender.

Step 4: Add the broccoli and garlic mixture to your spaghetti and toss together. Add the pesto and serve.

This entire meal takes about 15 minutes to cook and is a great way to get a full serving of vegetables. I will be back tomorrow with another cooking tip. Enjoy!

Simple Chicken Curry

Yes it may have been 107 degrees out last week, but that didn't stop me from making one of my favorite dishes, chicken curry. I think that in India part of the reason they make curry is so your body temperature rises to closer to the air temperature and therefore you will feel more comfortable in the heat. This made sense to me as I sat in my apocalyptically hot kitchen and ate my lovely curry. This is a really easy dish, but everyone likes their curry spiced differently so remember to season cautiously and to your own taste.

INGREDIENTS

2 boneless chicken breasts

1 onion

1 red pepper (optional)

1 14 oz can of diced tomatos

1 heaped teaspoon mild curry paste (Patak's is my favorite)

1 heaped teaspoon coriander

salt & pepper

vegetable or corn oil

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CURRY

1. Dice your onion and your red pepper. Heat a few lugs of oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add your onions and red pepper. Add the coriander and some salt and pepper and coat your vegetables. Cook until the onions are brown (5-7 minutes).

2. While your onion is frying clean your chicken breasts (my mom likes to wash them then coat them with kosher salt to clean them so that's what I do too). Then cut your chicken into 3/4 in. chunks.

3. Add your chicken to the frying pan.

4. Add the curry paste and coat the chicken with the curry paste and onion and pepper mixture. (depending on the amount of chicken you use you may need slightly more or less curry paste)

5. Add the can of diced tomatos and stir. Then add about a quarter can of water. (Use your judgement as to how thick you want your sauce when adding the water. Some of the water will evaporate during cooking but you don't want your sauce super thin.)

6. Bring your curry to a boil then turn down and let simmer for 30-35 minutes with occasional stirring.

7. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve your curry over basmati rice or accompanied by some naan bread. Additionally you may like to top your curry with a dollop of plain yogurt.

This is a really straightforward recipe and one of the first I made. The great thing about chicken curry is that you always have leftovers and it is one of the few dishes that tastes just as nice heated up in the microwave. Play around with it if you like. I am not a huge fan of coconut milk which is why it is not in the recipe but coconut milk can be added with the diced tomatos in step 5. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

A simple solution for a delicious iced tea

In the summer I like nothing more than a nice glass of iced tea; however I don't drink caffeine so I tend to make my iced teas with fruity herbal tea. (If you like black tea this will probably work for you as well) When most people make iced tea they fill their pitcher half with boiling water and half with cold water. I have been using only boiling water which means your tea takes a little longer to get cold, but you can use less tea bags.

Step 1: Boil the amount of water that fits into your pitcher (mine is about 12 cups)

Step 2: Place the teabags in the pitcher and pour in the boiling water (I use 3 tea bags for 12 cups of water)

Step 3: While your tea is brewing add a teaspoon of honey.

Step 4: Place the pitcher with lid in your fridge with the teabags still in the pitcher. (This extra steeping time works great with herbal teas, especially white teas, because you get a much stronger flavor.)

Step 5: After about 6 hours your tea should be nice and cold. Enjoy, with or without ice.

Now, step 3 is obviously optional but I have found that adding that honey while the tea is still hot makes your end product absolutely delicious. I really don't like sweetened tea in general but this recipe has been great. You can barely taste a teaspoon of honey in 12-14 cups of tea, but it gives the tea a little extra flavor.

Some of my favorite herbal teas to use to make iced tea are:

Lipton's White Tea with Blueberry & Pomegranate Flavor $13.28 (you can definitely find it at the grocery store for cheaper)

Fortnum and Mason Black Current Infusion 4.50 GBP

Twinings Peppermint Tea $4.49

A quick hello

Hello blogging people. My name is Chaya and I love to cook. I am by no means a chef, but my friends and family seem to enjoy what I make. I thought that starting a blog would be a great way to document my recipes and share them with the world. I hope to put one cooking tip or recipe on this blog every day. It's summer and I know that cooking can be a pain when it is this hot out, but I hope that whoever reads this gets some ideas of delicious healthy meals for this hot season.