Fancy Pantsy

this very casual (no measurements)  Curry Recipe I invented is perfect for leftovers.

1) Put on rice

2) Blend or whisk together 1 can of coconut milk, a blob of curry paste, some salt, some pepper, some sugar, and a spoonful (tablespoon or teaspoon, whatever) of tomato sauce or tomato paste.

3) Cook some fish, or chicken, or meat. If you aren’t off soy, tofu would work too.  Saute some fresh veggies, whichever you want, while you are at it. Feel free to skip the cooking and sauteing, and unwrap some leftover fish, or chicken, or meat or veggies from the fridge. Also feel free to grab a handful of frozen veggies instead of cooking fresh ones. Don’t worry what leftovers were cooked in, the curry sauce is strong enough to mask any previous flavouring.

4) Once well mixed, throw the curry sauce in a pot (saucepan? What’s the diff?) on a medium high stove-top. Drop in your leftover or  freshly cooked fish, or chicken, or meat, and your freshly cooked, leftover, or frozen veggies. Consider dropping in some chick peas as well.  Let it all get nice and hot, mixing when you remember.

5) Serve over the rice.

Yummy! Too bad the girl wont eat it, but she will eat the stuff over the rice minus the sauce, so it works for her too!

Leftovers taste great the next day. Just pre-mix before refrigerating.

On Saturday night, my salad got the most raves. One question that came up again and again was, “what are the yummy crunchy bits?”. I shared the secret with my guests, and I’ll share with you.

I spray a pan with Pam, the set it on medium heat. Then I drop a few tablespoons of brown sugar on the pan. As soon as it started to melt I turn down the heat to low, throw in a handful of slivered almonds and use a wooden spoon to swish the almonds around until they are coated in the sugar. Then they get spread out on a piece of wax paper to cool, crushed a little with my fingers. Voila, crunchy bits.

My salad dressing is half olive oil, half balsamic vinegar, and a splash of maple syrup. You can throw in a little Dijon to make it less sweet. This dressing compliments of my mother.

I like to use spring mix for lettuce, and toss tomatoes, chunks of avocado and feta cheese in as well.

 Yummy salad for all.  With crunchy bits.

I know I’ve posted my favorite and easy recipe before, but it was on the blog that no longer is, and I have gotten a lot of new readers since then. I made it for a pot-luck yesterday and got rave reviews, and felt it was time to share again. 

PR’s five-minute low-fat tiramisu
 Ingredients
1 lb low-fat ricotta (available at most major supermarkets)

1 egg (I use one egg and two whites to lower the fat content)

1-2 oz rum (optional…I threw in some Bailey’s once and it was YUMMY!)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup sugar (I use spenda instead of sugar in all my baking to lower the calories)

1 cup espresso or very strong coffee (I just make strong instant de-caf)

1 package savoyardi (“ladyfinger” biscuits, look in Italian groceries, maybe in supermarkets)

1/2 tsp. cocoa

Instructions
Combine first five ingredients in food processor and whiz until smooth (a minute or so). Arrange savoyardi in a single layer in the bottom of a 9×13 pan or casserole. Dribble half the coffee over them. Spoon half the cheese mixture over top, evenly. Repeat with second layer. Dust top with cocoa. Refrigerate for at least a day.

*to make it higher fat, but more authentic and decadent, use Marscapone cheese in place of Ricotta. I’ve tried this, it is yummy but very heavy but you need to process the cheese a lot longer.

*for individual cups, I sometimes layer crumbled coffee soaked ladyfingers and the cheese mix in sundae cups and cool for a few hours. A nice fancy dessert or fun fmaily treat. I often make a little extra mixture when I am making a big tray to take somewhere just for this purpose!

1. Mash up a very ripe avacado or 2 with a fork.

2. Dump in some lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and a drop of tabasco sauce.

3. Stir well with a fork.

4. Eat.