Strawberry Cake

Cream 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup sugar together. Blend in 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla. Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt. Spread in lightly greased pie pan. Cover with sliced strawberries, sprinkle with sugar, and bake at 350* for 45ish minutes. Eat warm...preferably with whipped cream. How easy is that??

Chicken with Spicy Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar (don’t add this if you have sweetened peanut butter)
1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil (I reduced this already, and might try to leave it out altogether next time)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (this amount just lets you know the red pepper is there, it’s not really spicy…of course, I think that I’ve had my red pepper since we got married. Hmmm.)
4 cups broccoli pieces

3 small onions cut into wedges
4 chicken breasts, cut into strips (or equal amount of deboned, cooked chicken)

Mix first 7 ingredients together until smooth. Set aside. Saute chicken in small amount of oil for a few minutes. Add broccoli, onions and ¼ cup water. Cover tightly and steam until broccoli is slightly tender and chicken is done. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and stir gently. Serve with rice.

Ok, I’m the only one in my family who liked this, but I really love it. I found it on a blog and made a few changes, but basically this is the way it was. I think I’ll add carrots next time. (Believe me, I will make this just for myself.)

Naan

1 Tbsp. yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups flour
butter

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for about an hour.
When ready, punch down, and break off into small balls about 2" in diameter. Roll very thin, and cover the rolled ones with a towel. When they're all rolled out, you can start frying them (it's good to let them rise for a few minutes while you finish the others. No need to wait too long though).
Heat a skillet, just on medium heat. You can adjust the heat as you go. I like to use my cast iron. Put just a dab of butter in before you start frying, and every so often. You don't want them greasy, but just a bit is good. Fry until golden and puffy, then turn over.

*It's really good to have some cucumber/tomato/yogurt salad to dip these in.
*I forgot to count how many pieces this made, but it was plenty for our family.

Indian Butter Chicken

I don't know how proper it is to copy recipes off of another website, but I did anyway...This is from allrecipes.com, and credit goes to the original poster. It is SO good.
1)It's really rich, so I'd save it for a special occasion if I were you.
2)Don't think about substituting anything for the heavy cream. I and another friend have both tried substituting, and it didn't turn out right.
3)Make sure you serve it with some type of flatbread for dipping. Preferably naan.

1 cup butter, divided
1 onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala

1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons tandoori masala

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic, and cook slowly until the onion caramelizes to a dark brown, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat along with the tomato sauce, heavy cream, salt, cayenne pepper, and garam masala. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low; cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir in caramelized onions.
While the sauce is simmering, toss cubed chicken breast with vegetable oil until coated, then season with tandoori masala and spread out onto a baking sheet.
Bake chicken in preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 12 minutes. Once done, add the chicken to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes before serving.

Monkey Bread

Mix together:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp soda

Cut in:
1/3 cup margarine or Crisco

Mix in:
3/4 cup buttermilk (or a little more, make it a sticky dough that forms a ball)

Lightly grease a 8" cake pan and drop the dough into it by teaspoonful. Don't pack it in, drop it lightly. It will make more than one layer.

Mix together:
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Pour evenly over dough in pan.

Bake at 350 for about 20ish minutes, or until it's browned and the dough in the middle is done. Cool for a few minutes and then invert onto a plate. Enjoy.

I found this recipe online, but it called for 2 cans of refrigerated biscuits. This biscuit recipe is the one I always use, and it worked fine for this. If you like nuts, I'm sure they'd be a great addition.

Lisa’s Fruit Tea (or as Larissa calls it “Ice Fruit”)

Brew 8 tea bags in 4 cups boiling water. Discard tea bags and stir in 1 ½ -2 cups sugar. Add 1 litre orange juice, 1 litre pineapple juice and ½ cup fresh lemon juice. Add water to make one gallon (like how I’m switching from metric to imperial and back again?) Chill thoroughly.

I use sweetened orange and pineapple juices, so I only use 1 ½ cups sugar (or less, sometimes), but if you have unsweetened juices I’m pretty sure you’ll want more sugar.

This is a very refreshing drink for a hot day.

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix the first three ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Stir in the zucchini and nuts. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 for 20ish minutes. Cool for 30 minutes. Ice with the following:

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt the margarine and cocoa together. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.

I got this off of allrecipes.com, and it’s really rich. I already lowered the sugar in this version, but you might be able to lower it even more. The “batter” is really crumbly looking when it’s ready to bake, but it turns out fine. Also, the icing is so rich that I would probably only use half when I make them again.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

Cream together:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup of unsalted real butter

Add:
1 8oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract (I didn't use this and they're still really good)
3 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

Refrigerate for 8 hours, or overnight. Preheat oven to 375. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/2 at a time to 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 5-7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light and golden brown (and very doughy). Cool cookies completely before frosting. Make sure you frost with Anna Mae's icing, or else.

King Arthur Flour Classic 100% Whole Wheat Bread

Combine:
2 1/2 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/3 c. lukewarm water

Add:
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. honey, molasses or maple syrup
3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together and let rise 1 hour. Shape into 1 loaf, cover, and let rise 30-60 minutes. Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with tin foil after 20 minutes.

My notes:
I use olive oil and honey in this, and sometimes I use a little white flour instead of all wheat. Be careful not to overbake it; I think 40 min. is almost too much. At least in my oven. By the way, it has the wonderfully long name that it does b/c it comes from the bag of King Arthur whole wheat flour.

Sweet and Spicy Cashew Chicken

**Robyn told me about this recipe from Best of Bridge, and it is awesome... enjoy!

Sauce
1/2 c. ketchup
4 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 c. chicken broth

The Rest
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1/4 c. oil
2-3 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 sm. onion, chopped
2 red peppers, cut in strips
2 carrots, thinly sliced on diagonal
2 c. snow peas
1 1/2 c. cashews (I used peanuts)
Sprinkling of sesame seeds, toasted

Are you ready? combine sauce ingredients and set aside. In a bowl, combine cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add chicken and toss. Heat wok or frying pan to highest heat. Add oil. Heat to hot, not smoking. Add chicken, ginger, garlic and onion. Stir until chicken is opaque (about 1 min.). Add pepper and carrots. Stir 2-3 min. Add peas and sauce. Cook until sauce comes to a boil. Add cashews and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately. Serves 6.