Ella's Easy Chicken Curry

This comes out of the Ella's Kitchen Cookbook (kid-friendly recipes) and we all loved it!  Exotic taste that is still appealing to kids.

Serves 4
Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min

Ingredients:
2 T. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1/4 inch piece fresh ginger grated (I just used a tsp or so of powdered ginger)
1 t. mild curry powder
1 small sweet potato, diced
4 carrots, sliced
1 c. coconut milk
1/2 c. vegetable stock
1 small mango, cut into chunks
1 1/4 c. trimmed green beans
2 T. finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion and garlic.  Saute for 1 min. stirring, then add the chicken pieces and cook for 3-4 mins over med. heat, stirring every now and then until chicken pieces are golden brown all over.

Add the grated ginger and curry powder and cook for another 1 min, stirring all the time.  Add the sweet potato and carrots, then pour the coconut milk and stock and add the mango.  Mix everything together really well and bring the liquid to a boil.  Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 mins until sweet potato is soft.

Add the beans and cook for another 3 mins until beans are just soft.  Finally stir in the parsley.  Serve immediately on a bed of rice or with a pita bread (we served ours on quinoa).

Cream Cheese Flan

I made this for Cinco de Mayo (got it from Kraft.com) and I didn't even get a picture because it got gobbled up by the friends we were having dinner with!  Seriously, if you've ever tried to make flan before, you know that it can be a huge pain and sometimes the flan is totally not even that delicious.  This recipe was fairly easy/simple and taste was delish!  Really people kept asking me for the recipe afterwards, so I thought I'd share it with my favorite people.  Make it now or save it for next Cinco de Mayo...:)

what you need

2 cups  sugar, divided

1 can  (12 oz.) evaporated milk

1 pkg.  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed, softened

5 eggs

1 tsp.  vanilla

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COOK 1 cup sugar in small saucepan on medium heat until melted and deep golden brown, stirring constantly. Pour into 9-inch round pan; tilt pan to evenly cover bottom with syrup.

BLEND milk and cream cheese in blender until smooth. Add remaining sugar, eggs and vanilla; blend just until smooth. Pour over syrup in pan. Place filled pan in larger pan; add enough hot water to larger pan to come halfway up side of small pan.

BAKE 50 min. to 1 hour or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool slightly. Carefully remove flan from water; cool completely on wire rack. Refrigerate several hours or until chilled. Unmold onto plate just before serving.

SIZE-WISE

Sweets can add enjoyment to a balanced diet, but remember to keep tabs on portions. One serving of this flan is 1/2 cup.

HOW TO UNMOLD FLAN

Bake and refrigerate flan as directed. Run metal knife around edge of flan. Invert onto plate; shake gently to loosen. Gently twist to remove pan. To soften any remaining caramel in pan, dip bottom of pan in hot water; spoon caramel over flan.

FLAVOR VARIATIONS

Prepare as directed. Choose one of the following options: Guava: Add 1/2 cup guava paste, cut into pieces, or 1/2 cup canned guava shells in heavy syrup to cream cheese batter before pouring into prepared pan. Lime: Add zest from 1 lime to boiling sugar mixture; remove from syrup before sugar caramelizes. Pour into prepared pan as directed.Cajeta: Add 1/4 cup cajeta (Mexican goat milk caramel) to cream cheese batter before pouring into prepared pan. Chocolate-Orange: Add 2 oz. BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted and cooled, and 1 Tbsp. orange zest to cream cheese batter before pouring into prepared pan. Coconut: When serving adults, omit vanilla. Add 1/4 cup BAKER'S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut or 1/2 cup coconut milk, and 1 Tbsp. rum to cream cheese batter before pouring into prepared pan