Fun and Fearless Adventures with Chicken Tikka Masala

I have recently been on a huge Indian food kick.  Even though I satisfied some of my cravings at D'Guru, I really wanted to play around with some Indian flavors in my own kitchen.  During a recent trip to Trader Joe's, I picked up a jar of Masala Simmer Sauce and decided to give it a whirl.  Since Friday evening had a bit of that fall chill in the air, I thought it was a perfect night to finally give this sauce a try.

To start, I washed two cups of white rice and let the rice cooker do the rest.  I then got to work on my protein.  I took two medium-sized boneless chicken breasts and seasoned it on both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne and paprika.  I decided to poach the chicken breasts in a saucepan with some leftover chicken broth.  I didn't have enough chicken broth so I added a bit of leftover beef broth as well.  I figured that the beef flavor wouldn't be a big deal with all of the strong flavors of the masala sauce.

I put the chicken on the stove and while I waited for the poaching liquids to come to a boil, I got to work on the other ingredients.  I had a leftover sweet potato that I brought back from Ogunquit during our family dinner.  I sliced and then cubed half of this very large sweet potato.

I wanted to make sure that the sweet potato cooked through so I added it first to a large sauce pan with the entire masala sauce on medium heat.

I then chopped up half a large sweet onion and added that to the sauce as well.

Once the poaching liquids came to a boil, I turned the heat down as low as it could go, flipped the chicken breasts over and put a lid on the saucepan to let the chicken breasts continue cooking for about twenty minutes.  After twenty minutes, I put the chicken breasts on a cutting board and let it cool.  I roughly chopped and shredded the chicken into large chunks.

I lowered the heat on the sauce and added the chicken.  I stirred all of these ingredients together and then put a lid on the sauce to let it simmer.

While I was at Trader Joe's, I also picked up a package of frozen garlic naan.  The preparation was so simple.  I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and once the oven was at the right temperature, I put the naan straight in the oven for just a minute and a half.

While the oven was preheating, I took the time to pour myself a glass of rose.  And I enjoyed each sip until dinner was finally ready.

When I took my first bite, I was really happy with my chicken tikka masala.  There were a lot of ingredients in my masala dish and I wish there was a bit more sauce to go around to make it more like a true curry. Still, I was really happy with the dish. The chicken was moist and juicy as it sopped up all of the great masala flavors. The sweet potatoes were perfectly cooked through and added a nice sweetness to the dish.

And the garlic naan was so garlicky and delicious.  I will definitely be picking up more of this the next time I go to Trader Joe's.

Our dinner was simple but delicious.  I loved all of the great spicy Indian flavors and I definitely want to explore more Indian cuisine without the help of any simmer sauces.  But in the meantime, I thoroughly enjoyed this warm and hearty dish on Friday evening.

What great things did you cook up this weekend?

This week I ate and drank...

A Chai tea latte on the Orange Line.

Free samples of Quaker Oatmeal Squares.

I really liked this cereal. And free stuff makes my day.

Gosling's Rum that's been in the freezer since last summer.

Ginger beer from Haymarket that was way too potent.

A Trader Joe's dinner

with Tempura Veggies.

Roasted Summer Squash over spaghetti with butter and lemon seasoned with parsley and red pepper flakes.

A good Italian red wine.

Aromatic and slightly smokey with a strong berry presence.

A way too sweet (like liquid candy sweet) Riesling.
A bowl of red leaf lettuce.Egg yolks (used in a hollandaise sauce).

My Friday night is kinda blah. Pictures always make me feel better. How is / was your Friday night?

Patriot's Day Weekend Re-Cap

This long weekend couldn't have come at a better time because I'm a little burnt out at work and I just needed to relax.  Here are highlights from the weekend:

• On Friday night, I met up with my Sigma Kappa girls at Sunset Grill & Tap for dinner.  Our friend Angie lives in Indianapolis but was in town this weekend for a wedding so it was a great opportunity for the whole gang to get together.  Sadly, we forgot to take a picture, which is disappointing but I will definitely remember to do so next time.  
• Although severely tempted by the yummy nachos at Sunset, I opted for the chicken cobb salad, which ended up being surprisingly good minus the tortilla shell.  I hate salads in tortilla shells.  The shells are so unnecessary and it makes the salad ridiculously hard to eat!

• On Saturday I was supposed to go golfing with some of my girlfriends but it was raining buckets so we postponed our golf outing.  Instead, I woke up early and started the day with an egg white, mozzarella and spinach omelette.  The omelette was super healthy and super tasty.  Egg white omelettes are becoming my go-to weekend breakfast because they are so easy to make!
• Later in the day, my friend E came over to help me plan out my boyfriend's upcoming birthday party, which she is graciously hosting at her gorgeous South End condo.  One of B's friends is vegan so I'm looking forward to exploring the world of vegan appetizers!  If you have any recipes, send them my way!
• For lunch, B and I decided to try out the Chili-Lime Chicken Burgers that we had picked up from Trader Joe's last week.  We did a simple preparation by pan-grilling the burgers and topping it with a slice of juicy beefsteak tomato and an avocado and aour cream creamy sauce.  I've never had chicken burgers before and I think I will definitely be stocking up on this one again!
• We had a lazy Saturday of catching up on our DVR and doing a lot of reading - perfect for a rainy Saturday.  Our laziness carried through to our dinner and we made a simple pork stir-fry with leftover veggies that we had on hand - yellow squash, broccoli, yellow onions, garlic, and green beans.  This is our go-to lazy meal and the spicy stir-fry hit the spot on Saturday night.

• On Sunday, B thoughtfully let me sleep in and dealt with the morning Peapod delivery.  Since he let me sleep in, I decided to make him breakfast.  I made an egg white scramble with sauteed mushrooms and mozzarella cheese along with a side of Savenor's chicken sausage and fresh strawberries.  Delish.
• We headed home to my parent's house for dinner and my mom made amazing grilled shrimp and zucchini skewers, beef stir fry and a spicy chicken and chili dish.  She really outdid herself!  It was great to be home with my parents and see how gorgeous the house is turning with the landscaping and gardening (it is my parents' passion) and the new interior renovations.

• On Monday, we woke up bright and early to meet the gang for the Red Sox game.  We had breakfast at the Lansdowne Pub and I got my first taste of Irish bacon, which was surprisingly not too bad!
• We headed to the game and I was thrilled to find out we had bleacher seats.  Although I am pretty lucky to get some fantastic seats, I absolutely love bleacher seats because the crowd is super fun and the view actually isn't that bad.  It was a cloudy and windy day but we had a blast.  Here are some photos:

• Afterwards, we headed back to the Lansdowne Pub to hear one of our favorite bands, BearFight, play.  We met up with our other friends from the game and the marathon and danced the afternoon away.  
• I was feeling pretty exhausted so B and I left after the first set.  We got home rather quickly (the MBTA got it together on Patriot's Day) and we got off at Arlington to walk home to Beacon Hill.  But we took a detour into Boston Common when I discovered that they had a carousel!  B and I took a turn, which resulted in some fun photos:

This last photo was taken from B's iPhone using the Hipstamatic application recommended by Chels from We Are Not Martha.  Thanks Chels!  You might be B's new favorite person!

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend with lots of relaxing and time with friends and family.  How was your long weekend?

Did Easter Happen?!

It was such a whirlwind but I have all these fun pictures that I feel it wouldn't be right to not dedicate a post to Easter Sunday and all the post joys of the celebration. Adam and I have a pretty good rotation going with this holiday, so since ast year (and last weekend) we were on the Cape with my Mom, so this year we spent it at his parents house in Quincy. You may recall my awesome Easter strainer "basket" from Mom with the rainbow flip flops (not the brand Rainbow, legit rainbow striped.) My sister got a the pair of Havaianas.
Funny thing - I also got an adorable pair of flip flips in my Easter basket from Adam's parents and a matching purple tee, both from Old Navy.
Adam's basket came with 2012 on Blue Ray. (Great flick btw.)
Easter in Boston was a gorgeous day. On the walk to South Station I drank a Dunkin' Blueberry iced coffee with cream and sugar.
And I ate this "spring" munchkin.
I snapped a few pictures of the blimp floating over head (Red Sox opening day!) Doesn't it look oddly close to that building?
The candy spread at Adam's parents house is always fit to satisfy a king's sweet tooth. From marshmellow Peeps to chocolate Reeses Cups, to Cadbury Cream Eggs, their is no shortage of bright and pale colored pastel treats.
We had an awesome meal but unfortunately the only pictures you are going to get are leftovers. My leftover plate on Monday night includes: Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and smashed turnips. My plate on Sunday afternoon included all of the above plus: Ham, green beans, squash, a sweet potato, cranberry sauce, salad and a crescent roll. Easter at Adam's parents basically equals a Thanksgiving meal, which is pretty amazing if you ask me. There was still some goods in the fridge by the time Wednesday rolled around. I made a turkey wrap with honey mustard, Munster cheese and spinach, with a heaping plate of mashed potatoes.
On Monday when I was out in Coolidge Corner I took advantage and stocked up at Trader Joe's. I was pretty excited about my Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches purchase.Wednesday was a whopping 85 degrees. Perfect.
I am excited to be heading to Colorado tomorrow - which boasts a mixture of warm weather and snowy mountains. This means I have lots to pack, wish me luck!!