Afghan Chicken.......you won't be sorry!

Hello....Hello....

Anyone out there.....

No...I didn't think so.....my little unplanned hiatus...was longer then I planned....

And even now...half of me would rather be napping....something I have been doing a lot...

Something my body has required...or it refuses to function....

Incubating is more work then anyone knows...unless you have sat on the nest!!!

But here I sit, and must, must, MUST share a few of these recipes with you!

Our li'l family has decided...or rather, I have....that to eat healthier we need to explore other cultures and other ways of cooking......

Thank goodness!!!!  Boy have we found some simple and delicious ones!!!

AND..I have realized that often we over process, over cook and even over think our food....

but if it is good.....I will eat it!  HA!

The below recipes are from Afghanistan cuisine that I tweaked just  a little. When Mackdaddy was over in Helmand, he learned the simple goodness of their food and their hospitality....and my mouth waters just thinking of the first time he made it for our family.And it was so good I ate it today for lunch today! Along with yummy homemade pita bread (which my kiddos and hubs took for lunch today...stuffed with turkey and cheese) and yogurt dip!  Enjoy!!

YELLOW RICE with Carrots and Raisins

• 1 lb long grain rice, preferably basmati
• 4 fl oz olive oil
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 1/2 diced onion
• 4 oz black seedless raisins
• 2 tsp char marsala or cumin
• 1/4 tsp saffron (optional)
• 2 Cups Chicken Broth 
• 1 cup water
• salt and pepper

Directions

Dice carrots  and onions, or like I had to do...rehydrate some dried carrots from your food storage. Saute carrots and onions in  1 tsp sugar in about 1/4 cup of olive oil. Cook until they are lightly browned (not semi- burnt like mine...since I stepped over to the neighbors!). Add  raisins (I prefer golden..sweeter) to the oil and cook until they swell up. Pour in Chicken broth and water, add rice long with spices. 

Boil the rice mixture until the water comes down, just past the rice, turn to low, adjust the lid and continue to cook for about 30 minutes. (Follow the directions of the basmati rice!  Best rice ever!!)

Mourgh (Afghan Chicken)

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 lg Cloves garlic
• 1/2 ts Salt
• 1 1/2 c Plain, whole-milk yogurt 
• 1 c whole milk
• Juice and pulp of 1 large lemon, 3 to 4 tablespoons
• 1/2 ts Cracked black pepper
• 2 lg Whole chicken breasts, about 2 pounds

Directions

Long, slow marinating in garlicky yogurt tenderizes, moistens and adds deep flavor, so you end up with skinless grilled chicken that's as delicious as it is nutritionally correct. Serve with soft pita or Arab flatbread and fresh yogurt. Put the salt in a wide, shallow non-reactive bowl with the garlic and mash them together until you have paste. Add yogurt, lemon and pepper.Skin the chicken breasts, remove all visible fat and separate the halves. Bend each backward to break the bones so the pieces win lie flat.Add to the yogurt and turn so all surfaces are well-coated. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate. Allow to marinate at least overnight, up to a day and a half. Turn when you think of it.



To cook, remove breasts from marinade and wipe off all but a thin film. Broil or grill about 6 inches from the heat for 6 to 8 minutes a side, or until thoroughly cooked. Meat will brown somewhat but should not char. Serve at once.I ended up putting ti in the oven at 350 for an hour and then placing it under the broiler for a few minutes on each side since my grill was busy meting the pita bread!  The FAM loved it...even though they were skeptical!!!



If you would like more recipes, go here and if you would like more info on why basmati rice is better for you then brown rice, visit Sara's blog.


This post has been shared onThe Healthy Home Economist, which has fabulous posts on healthy eating!

Start every day with a smile...and get it over with!

You ask: How do I do it all?

HA...HA....hahahahahahahhahah..................that's my hubs......

I don't......as we speak...I sit in old track pants...U of U of course, a white (huh? I know white....so ridiculous!) shirt and ...um...no brassiere...though I do throw on a tank with some support in it if you must know and my hair is thrown up in a knot....

Why get dressed I think...when already five hours into the day, I have finger print smudges, a runny nose imprint, pen...probably permanent....coconut syrup drips...and now some purple splashes from the beets I threw on...along with a few green ones from the shake I just made the kids.....and the babies are usually nekkid or in their pj's until we must step out of our house!

and it is green...because there is spinach in it! AND  they love it....

My kitchen floors need mopped and the carpets vacuumed for the hundredth time...but we will do that just before the hubs gets home....and really I think of myself as successful for the day if I get two cleaning chores crossed off my list!

There is broken glass in my bath tub where the mctwins decided to test Newton's theory with one of my decorations...it has been there since Monday....thankfully...I have other tubs and showers!

I am not crafty...and sewing takes more concentration then what I want to devote most of the time, I crochet, but only when I am sitting with the hubs listening to him read....so those don't really take up my time....

AND I don't shop because well that takes money...and as we have told the kiddos.....we chose to have each on of you and sacrifice....why wait to lay on the quilt?!

Grocery shopping is done quickly at Costco and Bountiful Baskets which I highly recommend, as it is a co-op that pools the buyers money to get nutritious fruits and veggies and wholesale prices. Costco is because we buy in bulk and really on the basic ingredients....

And don't forget, I have little minions that I boss around constantly in doing chores, dinner prep and any other thing I can think of like....massaging my feet!!

So while I kick back and order the mckiddos to rub the ole dogs....I assign my self a couple of  task for the day.....and consider myself accomplished. Sorry June Cleaver and Aunt Bea...I do you wrong....but that is how it must be...

Like today list is the following:

Finish canning the beets, Put up some pork and beans. because...well....we love them....and I want more then two piece of pork in my beans...AND I DO NOT want high fructose corn syrup in my food!  Just sayin....

Along the way, I will most likely throw in a few loads of laundry, pick up children, make four dozen meals because everyone is always starving in our house or so it seems! blog, wipe a few noses, change a few dozen diapers...jk...only two are in diapers...but well they do enough for a dozen...sign a few permission slips and close my eyes when I walk into my bathroom becasue there is still glass in the tub....and yes...the sides are high and the mcbabes cannot crawl into it....kiss a few booboos and break up a few squabbles...

but none of those are on the have too...so if they get done...wonderful!  If not well, the glass will still be there along with the runny noses..... 

Yesterday was simply folding the whites....as in underwear and socks...because, well Mr Macdaddy suggested divorce was an option if he had to pull his socks outta the basket...personal childhood issue I know...but because I love him...I complied...

and to try and make yogurt and cream cheese....from yogurt...I did it!  So there you go success for the day! Everything else is just the cherry on top!

Wait....why do I want to make cream cheese?

have you read the label on what they put into the cream cheese to make it?

....so not natural...

which is also is unhealthy as  the more ingredients there are the more processing they do!  So I decided to make my own cream cheese from the homemade yogurt we make! If you want to make cream cheese, you can go here. And if you want to make homemade yogurt, you can go here. Just try and use the most natural milk and or yogurt possible....milk should not be skim or homogenized...as I write, I am still trying to find raw milk that is produced from green grass pastured cows.....

no luck...so right now I have really cut down on the milk we drink and try and buy only pasteurized milk.....(Cheese, cream and butter are among the products that are still healthy for you, and are the least processed!)

one day...one day....

love yer guts!

signed,

almost June Cleaver

Easy Homemade Greek Yogurt

Soooooo...I should be mopping the floor while the babes are napping and JD is absorbed in cartoons (aren't I a terrific mom....o...whatever...he is sick...a sick kid totally has free reign of the cartoons!)

but, instead, I am going to post the homemade greek yogurt recipe and ways that I use it.....while your kiddos are sleeping and you are blog surfing.

See we are both productive...sorta...

.

I decided I needed to make my own yogurt after we knew that one of my twins (see the little squeak above) needed a daily dose of yogurt to keep the thrush away and keep her tummy active (if ya know what I mean!).  But have you read what is in store bought yogurt?  ...and the kids versions are just as bad if not worse! Aiyyiyi.what would our grandmothers think?  well mine didnt like yogurt...so they would have thought no way am I trying it.....

My thoughts were...I need a cow....

but instead I turned to the internet...

I don't know what I would do without the internet.....oh yeah...I would have gone to the library...

but I found many a helpful ideas out there! For you newbies out there......mom...grandma....click on the hi lighted words greek yogurt...it will take you to the link!)

Here are my side notes to this demonstration...first, I used 1% milk, which worked, but I imagine that whole milk wold be ooo so much creamier...but the reason  made it with 1% milk is because I wanted a lower fat yogurt.....not that milk fat is bad for you....

milk fat, or rather cream makes the world go round and makes it so much easier to take a bite out of life...

let's count the ways.....

sour cream....can't live without it
butter...won't live without it
cheese...have to have it
cream cheese...just love it!
buttermilk....must cook with it
cottage cheese....shouldn't live without it

should I go on......ok...you get the point!

I also didn't add in the honey, I like my yogurt a little tart...that is how I like all my honey's..ok my one honey, but if you want to make different flavors here is another helpful website .

So (I just realized why Carrisa uses that dang word so much!) one of my favorite ways to incorporate this yummy greek yogurt is really Mack daddy's...he brought the recipe home from Iraq with him.....

and that is homemade crusty bread.....of which I will give you the secret recipe once I get permission from the source.....

For lack of a better title....I'll just call it Mack daddy's dip

Mack daddy's a dip? No I would never say that...

ok you can call it Greek Yogurt Dip if you must

- Place yogurt on a plate (with a deeper rim) and spread it out, do it s thick as you like.
- Sprinkle ground cumin all over the yogurt...the more the better...cumin is my favorite spice...next to posh!
- Gently drizzle olive oil (if I was cool like Racheal Ray I would call it OVOO, but I'm not, so  won't pretend!)
- Dip in nice crusty bread, or cucumbers, red peppers and carrots or whatever sounds good at the moment...if I get desperate, I am not above dipping ritz cackers...and sometimes it is a double dip.  sssshhhhhh...more for me!


I also love this yogurt with homemade granola (no store bought granola......it is so BAD for you!), making pound cake (except the one I made last night...went online to find a more lemony one...ugh..it was terrible! So if any of you have a wonderful tarty lemon pound cake recipe...please send it my way!)

I also love it on baked potatoes and anything you would top with sour cream....Mack isn't a fan...but it has a wonderful creamy texture and better for you if you think you need to be watching your fat intake (which far too many of us do! read here)

I am also going to try out making cream cheese.......so wish me luck and a cow long with it!

Hope you like!!