Refrigerator

I like to have my refrigerator to be organized so I know what ingredient is where so I can access it quickly.  That allows me to spend less time searching for things and more time cooking.  My family sure appreciates it when I'm quicker!  Space management is really crucial when you don't really have a big space to work with.  Smaller refrigerator units are available so they don't really take up too much floor space, but still give you enough room to keep your foods cold.  This "21 inch" narrow refrigerator is a great example.  You can also have a large refrigerator for your dream kitchen!

While we're on the subject of dream kitchens...whenever I'm able to purchase my dream home, I will have a huuuuge refrigerator that is awesome!  I'd like one that is like the coolers you see in grocery stores and convience stores.  That way you can see what is in them and you don't even have to open the door and use more energy.  I've actually found where you can buy a true gdm-49rl refrigerator.  Now of course I'd need my own freezer unit as well.  But that's another story!  Back to dreaming and working on achieving my dreams...

The Best Chicken and Dumplings

Tonight, I was in the grocery store picking up food to make another meal on my list of things to cook.  As I was picking up items from my list, my wife called me.  She has been sick for a few days.  She informed me that she wanted some chicken and dumplings.  Since this was on my list of things to cook, I decided to make what was requested of me.  I used some techniques that I've picked up over the last few months since starting this blog, to try to make a better flavor.  I made this in my dutch oven that my wonderful wife got me for my birthday.  This is what I created:

Chicken and Dumplings

1 large broiler-fryer chicken , cut up

2 celery ribs , sliced

4 carrots , peeled and sliced

1 medium onion , diced  

2 tablespoons dried parsley

2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules

salt
pepper
garlic powder 

1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
water

Dumplings
2/3 cup milk
2 cups Bisquick Baking Mix

• Cut up the whole chicken.  Learn how here.  Pat chicken dry with paper towel.  Season pieces with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Brown chicken in batches.  Learn how here.  Remove all chicken pieces from dutch oven and set aside.  Deglaze the bottom with white wine and chicken broth.
• Add chicken, celery, carrots, onion, parsley, chicken bouillon to dutch oven.  Add enough water until chicken is covered. 
• Bring to a boil; reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is done.
• Remove the chicken from dutch oven.  Strain liquid into another large pan.  DO NOT DISCARD the vegetables that you strained.  Let stock cool in refrigerator until fat rises to the top.  Skim as much fat as you can and discard.  Remove chicken meat from bones and set aside.
• After fat is skimmed, return stock to dutch oven and bring to a boil.
• While stock is heating, mix the 2 cups Bisquick and 2/3 cup milk. 
• Drop spoonfuls of dumpling mix into boiling stock and cook for 10 minutes.
• Carefully add chicken and vegetables back to stock.
• Lower heat, cover, and cook for another 10 minutes.
• Serve and enjoy!

I've never really been a big fan of Chicken and Dumplings.  Now I am.  My wife has declared this to be her favorite thing that I have cooked.  The smells that filled my apartment while this was cooking made our mouths water.  The flavors were incredible and well worth the time and effort put into this dish.

  

Curry Story - Guest Post

For about 5,000 years, turmeric has been an important part of Eastern cultural traditions, including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. Valued for its medicinal properties and warm, peppery flavor, this yellow-orange spice has more recently earned a name for itself in Western medicine too. Turmeric comes from the root of the Curcuma longa plant, which is certainly native to Indonesia and southern India, and is widely used as an ingredient in curry dishes and yellow mustard. As research into this powerful spice has increased, it has emerged as one of nature’s strongest potential healers.

Some Southeast Asian cultures spice up their food for centuries with many different spices to give the courts the desired flavor. In India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia or Thailand, it is still often the case that recipes passed down from generation to generation, and the curry powder, so part of every curries themselves are mixed together.

Indian curries for example have over the centuries more or less the same - with the difference that the former Indian curry was cooked perhaps even much sharper and spicier, to avoid the taste of old and rotting meat. Because back then there was the luxury of not refrigerators, and it was thought to curries and curry sauce "around the meat" out.

And still a good curry consists mainly of the creamy and spicy curry sauce. Will be prepared in all countries mentioned virtually every curry powder ("Garam Masala") just before the actual cooking fresh by the individual ingredients of roasted, ground and mixed. In contrast, contain the finished curry powder, as it is now widely available, are usually a very high proportion of turmeric / turmeric and are adapted to local tastes.

To learn more about curry please visit Esha Curry!