Food Point

n a pressure cooker heat the oil on a medium flame.
Add the mustard and cumin seeds and heat till mustard seeds start splattering.
Add the onions and sautee till golden brown.
Add turmeric powder and saute for another minute.
Add mashed ginger, garlic and green chillies and sautee for about 1 minute.
Add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cardamom and cloves and saute for about 2 minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes and saute till the tomato smell disappears and mash the tomato with your stirring spoon.
Now add the potatoes and stir for 1 minute.
Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, pepper powder, garam masala and saute for about 1 minute.
Add the potatoes and stir well for about 1 minute coating the potatoes with the mixture.
Add the cleaned mutton pieces and stir till mutton turns slightly pale on the outside - approximately 3 minutes.
Now add the yoghurt, lime juice and salt and stir well mixing all the ingredients in the cooker. Let it cook for about 2 minutes.
Now add the water and coriander leaves and stir well.
Close the lid of the pressure cooker and let it cook for about 3 whistles and then off the gas.
Let the pressure escape from the cooker and then open it.
Check if the mutton is cooked thoroughly. If not switch on the gas and let it cook on medium flame till the mutton is cooked.
You may add additional water if you want more gravy or if you need more water for the mutton to cook.
Check for the salt content and add salt if required.
You may chose to add one boiled add cut into two halves at the end to the curry for those who love boiled egg.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve warm.

Are you caught in a peanut butter and jelly rut? It is amazing how that sandwich of yummy goo can stunt lunch-time creativity! Today I hope to inspire some creativity and help you reclaim your lunch time menu.

French Bread

This seemingly plain loaf of bread makes some delicious creations that are perfect for lunches. Slice in half to make:

Instead of Fast Food:

A favorite meal we have stemmed from when we lived in Germany. Eating out was very expensive and we tried to reserve it for fun, planned days or events. Sometimes, we would be out to late to get dinner going, but I did not want to take the family to eat out. I would stop by the E-Mart and bought Brotchen (hard rolls), freshly sliced salami, Gouda cheese slices, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and seasoned cream cheese. We also would get chocolate milk as a special treat.

Boboli Pizza Crusts

Mexican pizza- ground beef, jar salsa, top with cheddar cheese.

Soups & Salads

Soups and salads contain digestive enzymes that help our bodies break down the heavier meals better. This is a reason why restaurants serve these first. It’s something to remember the next time you dine out and help your body a little more by eating a soup or salad before the main course.

Soups:

Brunswick Stew (See the recipe in the free sample ebook on our website.)

Chicken noodle with grilled cheese

Taco soup

Spicy Chicken

Ham and Potato Soup

Double Duty Meals:

Just like Rachel Ray has double duty meals in her cookbook, I like to do these once a week too. Some ideas she had were to make this Mexican bean and rice dish for dinner. The next meal you use the leftover mixture to fill green or chili peppers. She has many other ideas as well. Here are some of mine:

Thinking outside of the “BOX”- OR INSIDE Rather

We love new and creative ways to eat mac and cheese! Here are some that we have tried or heard of:

Tuna- add a can of drained tuna fish.

Peas- Cook the peas in the extra water macaroni water and then add to the pasta when cooked.

Ketchup- sometimes I add some ketchup in my bowl of mac and cheese- mmm!

Chicken and salsa- add a can of drained chicken breast and 1 cup of salsa–ole!

Chili Mac- mix a can of chili in with the finished mac and cheese.

Other Ideas:

Rice and refried beans (rice cooker- best invention ever!)

Spaghetti- are you getting tired of the same old thing? Make it green olives instead of mushrooms- Superb! Salt and tastes better than mushrooms.

1. Use small pieces of lumber as a turkey rack. We all know turkey cooks better if it’s sitting up on a rack, not in the bottom of the pan stewing in its own juices. But how many of us actually bother to get this special piece of equipment for something we cook only a couple of times a year? Metal jar lids are usually recommended for improvising a rack, but wood does nicely too. We used two eight-inch long,unfinished pieces of 1×2 - finish grade. (Yes, wood can be both finish grade - the non-splintering kind used for woodwork that shows - and unfinished.)
2. Stuff the turkey only partway, with vegetables and spices. This is an idea I got from Rick Rodgers’ Turkey Cookbook. One onion, one carrot, one stick of celery, and a few spoonfuls of spices are all you need for a small turkey. The turkey cooks much more quickly, and the vegetables combine well with leftover turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes to make a pie the next day.
3. Put the turkey neck on to boil on top of the stove, and if you need liquid to keep the pan drippings from burning, use that. When you’re getting ready to make gravy, combine the remaining liquid with the pan drippings. Take as much as you need for the gravy and put it in the fridge so the fat will rise to the top. (Save the rest for later.) Then spoon off the fat, thicken, and there’s your gravy.
4. Make raw cranberry sauce or relish. This is something else I got from The Turkey Cookbook. Just grind up the berries with sugar, maple syrup, fruit, and nuts. No standing over a pot of boiling water and sugar - no settling for canned cranberry sauce, either. And it tastes great.
5. Bake some pumpkin pie filling without a crust. Got too much filling for your piecrust? (This happens a lot, no matter what the recipe on the canned pumpkin label says.) Just pour the excess into a greased baking dish and bake it along with the pie. This makes a somewhat lighter dessert for the days after Thanksgiving, with enough of the pumpkin pie flavor to bring the holiday mood back for a moment.