10 random things. (part one)

I've had a rough go at it the past month.  Nothing seems to be going the way I had envisioned and nothing is coming up Ashley.  So.. while I work on feeling a little better I have also made myself a deal:  Whenever I feel like I need a little pick-me-up or I am feeling down I am going to write a list of ten random things.  The list will be things that I love, that make me happy, or that cheer me up--no matter how little or silly the "thing" is.  That way when I am feeling a little blue I can come back to these posts and remind myself of beautiful and simple happy things.  Here's the first installment.  

• Diet Coke.
• Learning crochet.
• Welcome to Myrtle Manor.
• Goldfish graham crackers.
• Sunshine.
• Pinterest.
• New York City.
• Text messages.
• Coach bags.
• BWOWW.

betta fish.

One of my best friends came home to a disaster tonight.  Her betta fish (which she bought a week ago) is dead.  She isn't sad about this.  I tried to give her my condolences and she let it be known that she was angry.  She also took to Twitter to rant about this dead fish anger where she let the whole world know that "Big Al's better refund my dead fish and all of his shit. I hate him, HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO ME?! Now I have a fish ghost in my apt, great."  

This is Surg who is now swimming in the air as a fish ghost.  

Her fish was anorexic.  He had a serious problem.  She purchased two types of food for him and he wouldn't eat either of them.  Surg was an anorexic fish who refused any food and decided that being vain and full of himself was a life for him.  Surg was so full of himself that he thought being the skinniest Betta on the block would also make him the most popular.  He was a calorie counter who paid for his mistakes.  And now he's a fish ghost swimming in her apartment and terrorizing her.  

Basically, the point I am getting at is that Betta fish are the asshole fish of the sea.  They cannot even live in the same bowl because they'll try to kill each other.  If you don't believe me I have another story about a horrible Betta who broke my heart.

When I was in high school I was dating a guy with a younger sister.  She was a sweet girl.  For Christmas she bought me a Betta with a cute little bowl and pink rocks.  We named him Sparkle.  I put Sparkle on the dresser in my room.  He was a good little fish.  I talked to him and pretended he listened.  He ate his food.  I thought we were a perfect match.  

While I was laying in bed at night I would hear him jump out of his bowl and splash back into it.  I would laugh at his little game every night.  Until one morning...  I woke up and Sparkle was dried up on my dresser.  I had to scrape my fish soulmate off of a dresser.  I was defeated.  As my friend asked, "HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO ME?!"  Until I finally woke up and realized that he was suicidal the whole time.  THE ENTIRE TIME.  He was jumping every night because he couldn't stand to live with me.  If it is a reflection of my lovelife at all then that is even more depressing and it makes me hate Sparkle. 

The moral of the story here is buy a kitten.  Or a puppy.  Or a pet rock because at least you can train a pet rock to attack if a burglar busts into your place.  Betta fish are the assholes of the sea.  And I hope she gets a full refund.  

EDIT:  
My friend is now using the fish death as an excuse to make sarcastic comments about pictures of a boy she does not like.  "I commented 'COOOL' on a stupid picture he took of himself lol.  And he was like, 'Sarcasm?'  and I said, "Maybe a bit, sorry, my fish died and i'm taking it out on your picture."

big black book.

One of my favourite Christmas presents from Christmas that just passed was from my dear friend, Beverly.  That girl knows me so well.  I had been eyeing this recipe book for about a year when magically it appeared to me from her.  She is too sweet.  I cannot believe she remembered that I talked about it months and months prior while I was condo shopping.  I never bought the book.  She made a mental note and it equalled one of my best gifts ever.

As if the book isn't lovely enough... the recipe cards are also darling.  Now... I just need to start writing down all of my recipes onto the cards and start sorting them.  I will take a picture of the dividers and update this post because they are amazing too.  

If you want to buy your own, Chapters sells them:  The Big Black Book of Recipes.

chicken tikka masala.

I don't use my Crock Pot nearly as much as I should and this recipe proves it.  This is by far the best meal I have ever made.  And it was probably also the easiest.  Sure, it simmered all day but the Crock Pot did most of the work here.  I was able to sit back, relax, and pray that my naan dough would rise.  

Here's the sauce, pre-mix.  I think once I replace the food processor I broke I will start buying my own tomatoes and making my own tomato puree rather than using a jar of store bought.  

Literally, it took me 20 minutes or so to chop and mix everything and then six hours in the Crock Pot later it was a meal... 

ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced (or 1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger if you forgot to pick up the fresh stuff)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• Half a juiced lemon and some grated rind
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tbsp. garam masala 
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 3 tsp. cayenne pepper (reduce if you're not into spicy)
• 2 1/2 tsp. minced onion (I used dry because I am not a huge onion fan but you can use a small minced onion)
• 2 tsp. black pepper
• 2 tsp. salt 
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups of plain yogurt
• 1 28 ounce can of pureed tomato or tomato sauce
• 1 small can of tomato paste

for the finish

• 1 1/2 cups of cream (I use fat free)
• 4 tbsp. corn starch 

directions

(1)  Place everything but the finish ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.  Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces.  Add chicken to sauce and mix well again making sure the chicken is very well-coated.  

(2)  Slowly pour the entire mixture into your Crock Pot or slow cooker.  I sprinkled some extra garam masala on top once it was in the pot.  Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.  Stir occasionally if you're home.

(3)  Pour cream slowly into the sauce and add the corn starch.  Mix everything really well, place the lid back on the pot and cook for 20-30 more minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.

(4)  Serve with rice or naan bread.  (Homemade Naan Bread)

(5)  Enjoy one of the best and easiest meals EVER.

homemade naan bread.

Naan bread.  It's delicious.  And expensive.  And insanely hard to find sometimes.  So.. I took matters into my own hands (literally) and made some homemade naan bread.  I was making chicken tikka masala for dinner on Sunday as a request and decided that after humming and hawing and working up the courage to make homemade naan I might as well go for it!  (I bought back-up pita bread since our local grocery store was out of naan.  As usual.)  To be honest... it turned out so well that I do not think I will ever buy it again.  Why buy it when it is so easy and inexpensive to make?

Here's the ball of dough after I mixed and kneaded it.  And before I started praying that it would rise while I waited two hours for a ball of dough to work some magic.  

This was probably the point that I started praying... after I covered the dough with a damp cloth.  This is also probably one of my favourite kitchen pictures because my handwritten recipe is sitting there too.  Candid shot of a hidden dough ball.  And now... the good stuff!

ingredients

• 3 cups of flour (approx.)
• 2 tsp. dry active yeast
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. garlic powder (or 1 tsp. minced garlic)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 cup of warm water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt (I used fat free because that's what we had)
• 1 egg (I might just substitute more yogurt next time to replace the egg)

directions

(1)  In a small bowl combine yeast, sugar, and warm water.  Stir and make sure all of the yeast dissolves--I did not know yeast had such a rancid smell.  Once it's mixed and dissolved, let the mixture stand until the top is frothy which will take about 10 minutes.  Then stir in the oil, egg, and yogurt and mix until everything is combined well.

(2)  In a larger bowl, combine 1 to 1 1/2 cups of flour with salt and spices.  Then, carefully add the bowl of wet ingredients to the dry mixture.  While mixing with a spoon continue adding a bit of flour at a time until it becomes tough to stir.  

(3)  Make sure you have a table top or counter well-floured and knead the dough on your surface adding more flour as needed for about 5 minutes or until the ball of dough is soft with an elastic feel to it.  Make sure it isn't sticky.  

(4)  Place the dough ball into a bowl with a damp towel on top.  Let it rise until it doubles in size.  I let it sit for 2 hours. 

(5)  Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Use a cooking spray, butter, or olive oil to lightly grease the skillet.  (You will likely have to grease it between individual breads.)  Cut the dough ball into 8 equal portions and then roll each portion into a ball.  Using a lightly floured rolling pin roll one of the portions out until it's about 1/4 of an inch in thickness.  Brush lightly with water or butter and cook on one side until large bubbles form  (I didn't think it would happen for mine but it did!) and the other side is golden brown and then flip and cook the other side.  Repeat. 

(6)  Brush each side lightly with butter or ghee and enjoy!  

I am going to see how well they freeze and make a few batches so I can have them on hand when I need them.  My taste tester doesn't like rice so naan is always a big deal when I cook Indian food.  I can imagine more possibilities for this delicious naan:  hummus, flatbread pizzas... the possibilities are endless in my mind.  

It has also taken a lot of willpower for me to save the last piece.  I am definitely making more this weekend.  You'll have to wait until Thursday or Friday for the second half of the best meal I've ever made:  Crock Pot Chicken Tikka Masala.  (It's even better than my White Girl Butter Chicken which I am going to turn into a Crock Pot meal someday soon.)

easy italian chicken.

Sometimes it's all about simple meals.  This recipe is easily doubled or tripled if you have a big family--for us we just needed two servings.

ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• light mayonnaise 
• parmesan cheese (fresh works best!)
• italian seasonings--I used garlic powder as well as Salt-Free Herb and Garlic mix
• Panko or regular breadcrumbs

directions

Preheat the oven to 375.

Basically all I did was throw the chicken breasts on a pan lined with parchment paper, took a tablespoon full of mayonnaise for each piece of chicken, spread the mayo all over each piece.  Then I sprinkled parmesan over each chicken breast.  Then I mixed together two tablespoons of breadcrumbs, two teaspoons of herb and garlic mix, and a teaspoon of garlic powder into a cup and evenly coated each chicken breast with the breadcrumb mixture.  

If you're making more, just remember it's a teaspoon or tablespoon for each piece of chicken.  Honestly, you can't really go wrong here.  Sprinkle away!

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes and enjoy.

I served these with my Butter Pecan Sweet Potatoes because I had leftover supplies for them from Easter.  You can find that recipe here:  Butter Pecan Sweet Potatoes.

I just really love that casserole dish.  It makes me very, very happy.  

So there you have it, easy peasy dinner!  I will say one thing about this recipe... although my sister said it was great, my taste tester still likes Jalapeno Popper Chicken much better.  He loves that chicken so much.  We also added sriracha to the chicken while we were eating it for some kick which is NOT Italian at all... but delicious!