Monday: Curried Coconut Chicken
Tuesday: Gobi Gosht
Wednesday: Garlic Chicken Fried Chicken with rice pilaf and corn
Thursday: Biryani
Friday: Leftovers

Monday: Thai fried rice
Tuesday: khageena and roti
Wednesday: kheema
Thursday: stuffed chicken breast and rice
Friday:

Monday: Talawa Gosht

Tuesday: Pesto Cavatapi

Wednesday: chicken philly

Thursday: SLoppy Joes

Friday: subs

I'm Back (Again)

Wow, it's seriously been almost 3 months since my last post! I'm finally back in the groove and hopefully this will be permanent cuz it sure does make life easier! I think I do this more for myself than other ppl do to the lack of traffic on my website...oh well :)

Sunday: A friend of mine made a salad similar to the one at Olive Garden....and it was YUM-O! I am going to try making this recipe to be healthier along with boneless wings or this recipe.

Monday: I hope to be fasting and so I will not make something too hard or that requires tasting...Easy biryani it shall be with leftovers for tomorrow!!

Wednesday: Easy day with Stuffed chicken breast. and a box of rice pilaf.

Thursday: OH lord I think I will be making kichri today!!


Friday:

Monday: fettuccine alfredo

Tuesday: chicken 65

Wednesday: Pla Duk Tod Krob Phat Phed

Thursday: Aloo gosht

Two weeks

Wednesday: Garlic Chicken Fried chicken

Thursday: Turai Chicken

Friday: Easy biryani

Weekend: leftovers

Monday: Palak Chicken

Tuesday: Kabsa

Wednesday: leftovers

Tuesday

Spinach Chicken

Biryani

I'm Back!!!

Sorry for the hiatius, unfortunately I am back in action now! It's been more than a month since I last cooked. I have no choice but to start again in order to save money from eating out (not to mention gaining weight as well). So here we go:

Tuesday: Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs with Rice

Wednesday: Chicken Kofa with rice

Thursday: During the past month, we ate out alot. I finally experienced Japanese cuisine, and now I am in love with a dish called hibachi!

That's it for now, I just want to see how the week goes first

Update

To my readers (if you are out there), sorry for the lack of posts. I won't be around for a while. I was pregnant and I ended up having an emergency c section at 6 months. Baby and I are doing well. Please pray for the baby!

I will be back eventually!!!

Week of 5/11-15

The husband ordered food while I was gone, so there is still alot left. So I only have to cook for myself!!! I'm kind of getting sick of this whole menu planning thing, so i thought I'd take it easy for this week. I am only going to cook what I have at home already and decide the day of or the day before.

So here is this weeks menu:

Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: Olive and Mushroom Sandwich
Wednesday: Pasta

Week of 5/4-5/8

I will be out of town this week, so the kitchen is closed!!!!

Review of 4/17-5/1

Monday: It tasted better the first time I made it...I think I had too much chicken this time and too little onions. So there was hardly any masala.

Tuesday: I used baby goat for the shamis. It was pretty fatty and filled with hair, so it was kind of nasty to clean. The shamis turned out to be very tasty. However, the khorma wasn't that great. I think because the recipe called for peanuts, which made it taste sweet. I should have used almonds instead, which is usually used in qormas.

Thursday: I just ended up making the orzo pasta dish. The husband really enjoyed it. I wasn't too crazy about it. I think it needed more flavor.

Week of 4/27-5/1

So my menu for this was a bit intense, so I decided to change it around a bit. Sorry for not having updated my blog (if there are any readers out there). Just been a little busy and tired this week.

Monday: Talawa Chicken
Tuesday: omg I am going to attempt to make shamis and kofte ka qorma
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: Side dish of Orzo and Caper Cream Chicken

Review of 3/20-3/25

Monday: Despite my cart being stolen with my grocery list, I was still able to get what I needed. As for the kheema, it was a mission trying to get the blood out. I was kind of paranoid about it not being cooked all the way, so I cooked it for longer. I also made tamata ki chutney and we had it with paratas. It actually tasted very good. I think the mint gave it a really nice flavor.

Husbands review: "Mmmm mmm ahh!! LOL!!"

Tuesday: This dish has a very mushroomy flavor. If you are not a big fan of mushrooms, then I would not suggest this recipe. It was very creamy, but I think it would taste a lot better with chicken.

Husbands review: "I would not give this a 10, but maybe a 9"

I don't think he really liked it due to the lack of meat lol.

Wednesday: I followed like three different recipes while making this dish because I was not satisfied with this one due to its lack of spice. And I ended up finding basil at an oriental store by my house that must have just started carrying it. Everyone really liked it. I was only partially satisfied.

Thursday: We had the zuchini salan with roti. The husband needed his protien so he fried up some frozen shami's. The salan was a standard salan, nothing special. Since the husband loves zuchini, he really liked the salan.

Week of 3/20-3/25

Let's hope this coming up week I have better luck....if I don't then I officially quit cooking!

Monday: I think I will be brave and make this recipe for Kheema.....dun dun dun
Tuesday: An old friend (wink wink) recommended Orchiette Pasta, made by Emeril Lagase!
Wednesday: Basil chicken with white rice
Thursday: I will be making a Zuchinni salan recipe from my desi cookbook. You can find a simliar one here.
Friday: Talawa chicken (again)

Review of 3/13-3/17

Monday: The husband said that the Talwa chicken was better than any talawa gosht he's ever had. I had to use nasty fat filled bloody boneless chicken thighs instead of breast. All you do is mix adrak laisan, salt, mirchi, and haldi in the chicken. Then you fry up an onion until red and add chicken mixture. Keep stirring and frying until it looks almost done. Then add about 6 TB of chopped up cilantro and some mirchi. Keep frying until it looks kinda brown and crunchy:)

Wednesday: Days like this make me hate cooking even more. So I started making the dish, noodles were ready to go. I opened the jar of pesto and there was a little bit of mold on the side by the jar rim. I wasn't sure what to do. I wasn't about to give up and not make my dish just cuz of this mold. So I took a spoon and took the moldy part out. I was still uncertain, so after I was done making it, I called Trader Joes. The guy told me it would probably be safer if I didn't use it. UGH!!!!! I was so pissed....and the story doesn't end there. We decided to go to McCormick and Shmick, since they were offering tax special. The wait was 45 min and alot of the menu items were gone. So then we said lets go to PF Changs. I called them, and they had 45 min wait too. Then we went to Big Bowl and it was the worst experience ever. I got green curry and it was not green curry...i had like 3 bites and i stopped eating...and im starving still.....sigh......why do humans need food????

Thursday: So guess what happened today? I opened up the new bag of rice that I got from my new "favorite" meat store. When I opened it, there was black stuff inside. I asked my mom and she said not to use it....so did I make the biryani?? NOPE!!! I ate roti and yogurt while the husband had leftover nasty Big Bowl. If I can use 2 day old marinated meat, I will make the biryani tomorrow...hopefully.....sigh.

Friday: As always, I messed up on the rice...the biryani came out to be gulati (smushy and soft). I was not happy with it at all, but other people were. The problem is that this chef dude does not give exact measurements and I think that might have messed me up!!!

Week of 3/13-3/17

So now I am back in full swing. Sorry for the short week last week, it was just a bit hectic. I am going to be changing some things around. So here is the menu for this week:

Monday: Talwa Chicken with tamata ki chutney. I gotta ask my mama for the recipe, will post later in reviews.

Wednesday: If you've ever been to Noodles and Co, you should try the Pesto Cavatappi. I've had a jar of peso sitting in my fridge forever, so I shall make try a copycat recipe of this yummy dish.

Thursday: I am going to experiment another dish with the VahreVah chef on Youtube. Today I will try making his Mutton Biryani.

Friday: I will more than likely have leftovers from the biryani, so we shall be enjoying that for dinner today. Biryani always tastes good the next day!!!!

Review of 3/7-3/10

Wednesday: So I did not have kaffir lime leaves. I called so many stores, and none of them carried it. Instead, I substituted 1 TB of lemon zest. The lemongrass I had was old, so I don't think all of the flavor came out. Also, the recipe does not have exact measurements. Therefore, I don't think the chili paste I made turned out how it was supposed to. So I thought the Ayam Kelo was missing the umph, but the Husband was quite satisfied. He gave this dish SEVEN stars!!! woot woot!!

Week of 3/7-3/10

Sorry for the short hiatus! I will be back in town on Wednesday-thus beginning my cooking escapade once again. This week will be kind of busy, but I will still plan out the menu just in case.

Also, if anyone knows how I can have my readers post recipes and pics as well, let me know! It will be greatly appreciated!!!

Wednesday: When we were in Malaysia, we tried this awesome coconut chicken dish. I don't remember the name, but we shall experiment with this similar dish called Ayam Kleo.

Friday: Still thinking...

3/31

I will be going home for a visit next week Wed. So I won't have to cook....how exciting! Last week went pretty well. The cooking was definitely easy because I knew what I wanted to make. I just started around 5 pm and was done within an hour. It was quite exciting not to spend ours thinking about what to make.

Update: I won't be able to cook today either due to a busy schedule....YES!!! Mama, here I come to eat your YUMMY food!!! Yahoooo!!!!

Review of 3/23-3/27 Recipes

Monday: The butter chicken was Yum-Oh! We had it with rice instead of naan cuz I was too lazy to make it. I did not have fenugreek leaves or food coloring. Also, instead of using cream, I used 2% milk and it turned out just fine. The husband was very pleased! Unfortunately my camera was dead, so I had to use my horrible cell phone camera. Oh well!

Tuesday: The chicken sandwiches actually turned out pretty good. I was kind of scared they would not taste good. I had some leftover garbano beans so I made some hummus as well. I think this would be better as a lunch item rather than dinner. Also I think it tasted better without yogurt. This would also taste good as a plain salad!



Wednesday: The drunken noodles were okay. I ended up finding Thai Basil at an Asian store in Elgin. However, I was unable to find the Sen Yai noodles. I went to three diff stores and none of them carried it. The only thing I would do differently is use less oyster sauce. It made the noodles taste a little fishy!



Thursday and Friday: I was too tired to cook on Thursday and we had leftover drunken noodles, so we had that. Today (Friday), I won't be home the whole day...which means I can't cook. I'll try the recipes over the weekend if we are home, or they will be pushed to next week!

Saturday: I made the chicken picatta....I think I put a bit too much lemon juice, cuz it was very lemony! Overall, the dish was alright, nothing too ohh ahh about it. I used a cookbook I never used before, so now I am kind of hesitant to try other dishes...

3/23-3/27 Menu

Monday: My cousin discovered this hilarious chef on youtube that cooks Indian food. I have been meaning to try his recipes. So for Monday, I will be trying his recipe for Butter Chicken, which we will have with some naan bread.

Tuesday: Moroccan Chicken and Chickpea Salad

Wednesday: My weakness is Thai food...LOVE it!! I tried this recipe before for Drunken Noodles...Yum! I just need to find me some Thai basil!!!

Thursday: Aloo Gosht (Spicy lamb and potato stew). Although I hate cooking meat, due to the lack of it on the menu for this week, I will compromise and make it for my husband- so long as he cleans it!!! The recipe is from a cookbook. You can find a similar recipe here.

Friday: Chicken Piccata with rice pilaf. I am making this out of a cookbook, but here is a similar recipe.

So we are all set for this week! I have my ingredients list ready for tomorrow!!!

How it will work

Every Sunday, I will decide what to make for the week. Monday morning, I will go buy all the ingredients I will need for the entire week. To make it easier to find recipes, I have divided the days by ethnicity. Here's what I have decided:

Monday: Indian
Tuesday: Middle Eastern
Wednesday: Asian
Thursday: Indian
Friday: American

I am ethnically Indian, and although I don't enjoy eating Indian food that much, my husband does...so that's why its on the menu twice.

I also left weekends open because we are usually not home on the weekends. Plus if I cook the entire week, I can reward myself by going out to eat!!!

Check back tomorrow for this weeks menu!!!

My great idea

I hate cooking. I think I would actually enjoy it if I knew what I was going to make. It takes me hours to decide what to make. Sometimes I decide what I want to make and realize I'm missing half the ingredients. Grr!!

In order to make my life easier, as well as help others out, I have decided to start this blog. Every week (Mon-Fri), I will be posting what I will be making with the recipe. And maybe if I feel like it, I might even upload a pic or two!!

Wish me luck!