Life and "Sloppy Supper"

Life has been crazy at our home lately. 2011 has not been very kind to us so far, but we are hoping the rest of the year will go better.
Because of the craziness that is life I have let a lot of things slide, this being the first of many things that went by the wayside when things got stressful. Posting recipes just didn't seem appealing when there was hardly any food in the house due to cash inflow problems. But lately I have felt more like sharing some of the recipes I have come across lately, especially those that I have tweaked to make Vegetarian.

So here I am, posting, can you believe it?

Not going to promise I will post with any sort of frequency, but we will see how it goes.

The first recipe I want to share comes from a kids cookbook called "Eat It Up", though I have tweaked it to be vegetarian. My oldest loves to help make this Indian inspired dish, and we all love to eat it. I will warn you that it is a tad on the spicy side, so if you or your kiddos are not into spice I would suggest finding as mild of a tandoori paste as you can AND cutting the amount down to 1/3 a cup!

Sloppy Supper

1/2 cup Tandoori paste (can be found at most grocery stores near the Asian foods)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 14 oz can Diced tomatoes (or try the kind with Cilantro and lime!)
1 bag Chick'n tenders (We use the Quorn brand)
1 medium onion, diced

1. Combine tandoori paste, plain yogurt, and diced tomatoes to make the sauce.
2. Pour over Chick'n tenders in a small casserole dish (you can let this marinate in the fridge overnight for extra yummy Chick'n!)
3. Fry onions in a small amount of oil until soft, combine with Chick'n and sauce.
4. Bake for one hour at 350 Degrees. Serve with Naan bread and basmati rice.

Great Find: GrocerySmarts.com

Dom and I had discussed earlier this month getting the paper so that we could get the coupons and the Thanksgiving ads. We thought that we could easily recoup the cost of the paper with one good deal in the thanksgiving ads, and that the coupons would help save some money so we could have a better Christmas.
Well I signed up for the paper, and while talking to the man who signed me up I mentioned the coupons and he gave me a website to check out: Grocerysmarts.com. He said that the website would help me save even more than just using the coupons, so I looked it up, and lo and behold I was hooked!

When you arrive at the site there is a drop-down menu where you choose you state, then you are directed to your state's page. From there you choose your local grocery store (we shop at smith's, so that's what I will show you) and it lists that weeks ad, the price before and after the discount, applicable coupons, and the price with the discount and coupon. An example is below (sorry it is blurry, it was the best I could do!):
Our Smith's happens to be having a really good sale right now, as shown by all the red stars in the left hand column, and because of the sale and some of the coupons there are a few items I can get totally free! How awesome is that!
If the coupon is online it gives the link to where to print it, and if it is a mailer coupon it tells you the date it was mailed out and in which mailer! So simple!
I went through the list and figured out I could get two tooth brushes (which are always needed), two packages of cough drops, three cans of cream of mushroom soup, some quick cooking pasta, and two 2 liters of 7-up for a total of *Drum Roll Please* .79!
Yup, you heard me right, all that stuff for less than a dollar! I could hardly believe it!
Anyway, this was so great that I had to share it with you guys. It happens to be a great sale week at my local store, so this may not be a great indicator, but I am willing to give it a shot!
If you live elsewhere could you put in you things and let me know if you've got great deals in your area too?

These are a few of my favortie things...

I think everyone who cooks has a few staples in their kitchen that they just can't live without. Things that they use over and over and always replace when they run out. Growing up it was always parmesean cheese, the grated kind that comes in a can. I could not get enough of it, and I put it on EVERYTHING! Since then my tastes have evolved (though there is still always parmesean cheese in my fridge, it's now freshly grated), but there are still some things in my kitchen that I love and find myself using over and over. I thought I would compile a list of my top five condiments for the vegetarian kitchen and share it with you. This will be the first in a series of "favorites" posts. Hopefully you'll find some of your favorite things here too, but if not feel free to leave some comments with your favorite kitchen staples!


1. Colgin's Liquid Smoke: This is an excellent staple to have around! I use it in sauces, marinades and soups a lot, and especially when converting a non-vegetarian recipe to something vegetarian. It's great to give that smoky flavor to a vegetarian split pea soup, or to add that "just out of the smoker" flavor to portabello mushroom burgers.

2. Dynasty Thai Chili Garlic Paste: this is one of my new favorites! It has only been in my fridge a few months and it is already almost needing to be replaced! Used in a lot of Asian recipes, it is a great staple to spice up any recipe a bit more! Be careful though, a little goes a LONG way. Two teaspoons of this stuff gives you about the spiciness of a can of diced green chilies, so I use it when I don't have diced green chilies and don't want to run to the store.

3. Sabra Roasted Red Pepper Hummus: Though this one is mostly consumed with bits of bread and crackers as a snack (because I cannot resist is red-peppery goodness) I have used it for a number of things. It is an excellent sandwich spread, and it does wonders to pasta sauces, adding both flavor and protein. Any hummus is good, but this particular brand is my favorite! So glad are local grocery store finally started carrying it!


4. Spice World Minced Garlic: Okay, this one should go without saying... recipe after recipe uses garlic and sometimes you just don't want to go through the trouble of peeling and mincing one clove of garlic. I get the 24 oz size I think. I know it looks like a lot, but if you cook regularly you will use it up in no time! You do lose a little of the garlic flavor, so if you are making something where Garlic is the star flavor you'll want to get it fresh.

5. Jack Daniels Original No. 7 Barbecue Sauce: This is the only barbecue sauce we ever have around the house, as the hubby is quite particular about his barbecue sauce. This is an essential for wonderful marinades in the summer, great as a sandwich spread, and delightful in soups! It is an essential ingredient in my favorite black bean soup!


These are just a few of my favorite things! If you watch for them in my recipes you will see that they recur quite frequently! Remember to comment with some of you favorites. Who knows, they might be seen in a recipe later. ;)