Chalupas!

I LOVE tacos. And I love fry bread. How can you go wrong putting the two together? You can't. These were so good, I just ate three and only stopped because I literally couldn't fit any more in my stomach.

(recipe from stolenmomentscooking.com)
Ingredients:
4 c. Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk (original recipe uses evaporated milk. I didn't have any but whole milk worked just great)
1 cup water
3 tablespoons oil
Additional oil for frying

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients. Stir in wet ingredients until ball forms. Knead until well combined. Let rest at least 15 minutes. Pour about an inch of oil into a frying pot and heat up oil. Separate a small section of dough and roll into a thin circle.  Fry for a couple minutes on each side. Bend in half immediately when placing on plate. Stuff with your favorite taco fillers and enjoy!

I used taco meat (mixed with kidney beans before seasoning), cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sweet peppers (my favorite addition), sour cream and salsa. Yummmmmm....

Oh! A side note....unless you have a big family, this will make more dough than you need. I only fried up about half of it for chalupas then later for dessert we used the rest for fry bread! Roll and fry the same as before, then top with butter and powdered sugar or honey.

Simple Chicken Curry sauce

Here is a recipe for when you need chicken curry but don't have any coconut milk or a lot of time! (like me tonight) Serve with Jasmine rice.

Ingredients:
-A few Chicken tenderloins
- about 1 tablespoon curry paste, more or less to taste (or powder will do, amount will be different I believe...)
-onion, chopped
-garlic
- chicken broth/bullion, start with 1 cup, add more later if needed.
-milk, opt.
-corn starch (opt.)
-any variety of seasonings that you fancy. I Used: spoonful of sugar, splash of lime juice and soy sauce, a touch of ginger, cilantro and red pepper flakes.
-would be great with potato chunks and garnished with peanuts!

Directions:
Saute onion in oil and cook the curry paste for a few minutes. Add a little garlic at the end.

Salt and pepper your chicken then add to pan. Add chicken broth. Let chicken cook, flipping halfway.
Remove chicken as soon as it is no longer pink. Chop when cool.

Season the sauce to taste. Add milk if you want it creamy. I also added about a tablespoon or two of corn starch (mixed with a little cold water) because I like my sauce a little bit thick. Personal preference.

Return chicken to sauce and serve over hot rice. Mmmm.

Chicken Soup/ Dumplings

This recipe is pretty versatile. Can be made with noodles, dumplings or even rice I suppose. In this picture, I used a little noodles and dumplings. I will add the dumplings recipe at end.

Ingredients:
-1 or 2 chicken breasts (depending on size and how much meat you want. I sometimes cook extra to use in a casserole another night.)
-couple cups of vegetables (carrots, potatoes, celery, onions..)
-chicken base/stock (I use "better than bouillon")
-garlic, parsley, thyme (go easy), 1 bay leaf, salt, pepper, onion powder (if not using fresh onion) all to taste
- about 1 or 2 cups medium egg noodles (depends on how much broth you have...) or dumplings

Directions:
1. Boil your chicken and vegetables together in pot of water. (start chicken first) Season while cooking. Check chicken and vegetables often to avoid over cooking. When chicken is done, remove from pot to cool on plate.
2. Add chicken base a little at a time and play with seasoning, tasting the liquid until it's just right!
3. When vegetables are almost done (but not quite!) add noodles or dumplings.
4. While that is cooking, chop the chicken, cutting out gristle and fat.
5. When noodles are tender, stir in the chicken and serve!

Dumplings
Ingredients:
-1 cup flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 Tablespoon butter, melted
-1/2 cup milk

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients, gently stir in milk and butter, just until moistened.
Drop by spoonful into boiling soup. Cover pot and cook for about 15 minutes without lifting lid.

If you like a lot of dumplings, you can double recipe. I found that making 1 and 1/2 this recipe was just right for my average pot of soup.