Chicken Curry

I had Indian food for the first time in middle school when my family visited London. It was a great trip – the British Museum! History! Sparkly objects! But the Indian food experiment was a disaster. We’d successfully experimented with Thai food earlier in the week (life-changing) and so we thought we’d try another new cuisine.

We were basically the only people in the restaurant and since we had no idea what we were doing, we asked our waiter what we should order. Sadly, the waiter didn’t account for our weak New England-raised taste buds. I got a dosa that was so spicy I basically drank the cucumber sauce it came with. I don’t remember if either of my sisters ate more than a bite of their meals. Only my father appeared to enjoy his meal.

Fast-forward about six years and I’m in Chicago for college. Had I heard you can get amazing Indian food in Devon? And it’s only an hour and a half away on public transit, totally worth it! Not wanting to look like a complete idiot, I agree to go and hope that someone orders something I can copy from. And that I can digest.

And when I got my meal, it was transformative. It was delicious! And spicy! Turns out I like spicy foods, who knew?

Since then, I’ve been a fiend. I live too close to my favorite Indian restaurant here in DC – it’s only a 20-minute walk! I drag visitors and friends alike there whenever I get a chance to suggest where to eat (or sometimes we alternate and go to the Thai restaurant next door. Again, thank you trip to England!).

But I’ve never cooked Indian before. And I’m fairly sure I still haven’t. I mean, yes this recipe uses curry powder, but I’m fairly sure in the world of food blogging that’s like claiming you’ve cooked Asian food when you make peanut butter noodles. In any case, this recipe is a keeper and definitely going into rotation. It’s delicious, creamy, and bursting with flavor. Though I’m thinking next time I might throw some lentils in there for kicks.

Or maybe I’ll get adventurous and try to make dal as a side dish.

Faux Ice Cream

I am a huge ice-cream fan. When I was a child, it was the first treat I had once I was gone from the careful watch of my parents (thanks grandparents!). In college, more than one meal was a pint of Chubby Hubby from Ben & Jerry’s.

But sometimes you want to eat ice-cream without dealing with all of it’s lovely additives – sugar, cream, oh my! It’s not the healthiest of treats, sadly. Nor is it very kind to those with lactose problems (not me, but several of my friends and one family member. They get sad when faced with such delicious dairy treats like ice cream or macaroni and cheese).

I’ve talked about the joys of frozen bananas before and how creamy they can make a smoothie. Incredibly, this trick works perfectly well when it’s just a banana; it blends into a thick, creamy mix that tastes incredibly similar to frozen yogurt or slightly melted ice cream. Since you all know that I’m a fan of the chocolate-peanut butter, it’ll be no surprise to see what I did with my frozen banana – added cocoa powder and topped with peanut butter!

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Center

Yes, another recipe for a chocolate peanut butter cupcake. You’d think I was obsessed or something. Whatever, it’s a winning and delicious combination.

I like this recipe because I don’t have to bother with piping or even too much prep work. But the cake is amazingly moist and chocolately. And the peanut butter center in the middle is a great treat for anyone in their right mind.

Hope you enjoy!

Apple Brownies

I saw the name of this recipe and was halfway to the kitchen before finishing reading. And I’m happy to report these bars are just as good as they sound. It’s like someone squished an apple pie into bar form, but gave it a cookie texture just for kicks. Awesome kicks.

These are surprisingly simple to make; the hardest part was peeling the apples. I definitely plan on including this recipe in my repertoire of apple recipes for the fall. I try to take at least one trip to a nearby orchard to pick apples and I always come back with at least 10 pounds. While I have no problem eating apples plain (in fact, I eat one every afternoon as a snack) after a while you want something new. And pie can sometimes be a pain – so many steps!

But these are a great compromise – same apple and cinnamon taste, half the effort. Enjoy!

Spinach and Orzo Salad with Chicken and Almonds

Pasta salads are a staple of American picnics and barbeques for a reason – they’re easy to make, it’s easy to scale them up to feed a crowd, and they taste fantastic at room temperature on a hot day. Growing up I was never really a fan of the traditional pasta (or even potato) salad because I don’t like mayonnaise.

I know it’s weird. I get the same looks I’m sure you’re giving the screen right now when I tell people I don’t like mashed potatoes either. It’s a texture thing. Both just strike my taste buds as wrongwrongwrong even though I know 98% of the country could probably happily live on mashed potatoes for a couple days (or years in the case of my sister).

In any case, I was a happy camper when I realized you could make pasta salad with olive oil rather than mayonnaise. I’m sure I’ll be sharing a couple other pasta salad recipes down the road with you all as we get deeper into summer, but for now I hope you enjoy this one!

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Almond Cookies

I’ve mentioned before that I love oatmeal raisin cookies, but I understand that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea (cup of cookie?). Maybe some people find the inclusion of raisin too healthy?

This recipe, however, replaces raisins with chocolate chips. There’s no mistaking these babies for something healthy! The inclusion of cinnamon and nutmeg just makes them even better.