Chicken Curry Masala

Who likes Indian food??

Kelli and Eric, that's who!!

We are slightly obsessed with trying to figure out how to recreate our favorite Indian dishes. This post is especially cool because the mix that we used came from where else, but INDIA! One of Eric's friends at work is from India and knew that we are big, huge fans of their splendorous (just go with it) food. He so kindly brought us 4 yummy mixes to try. 

It took a couple tries to get it just right. Because, well, the measurements on the package are just plain wrong.

But it's all good. They tried. 

I think that there are some good mixes at the store if ya'll feel like giving this one a shot!

Start with the chicky

 Then simmer those mushrooms. We love mushrooms and add them to anything and everything.

Well, not everything.

I prefer my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without mushrooms on most days.

I put butter and garlic in the pan first. You should too.

Then the mix! 

And the RIGHT amount of water. 

Let's just say you don't get the same affect when it's curried water instead of sauce.

Yuck.

And the absolute best part of this meal is....the NAAN!!!

We had to travel to Colorado (Sterling to be exact) for these babies. 

Oh, the things we do for Indian food...

And the star of the show!

And the not-so-star of the show!

Eric thought it'd be good to add some greenery to the mix.

I embraced the experiment.

And of course, it was delish.

I have to be honest. 

This picture looks nastay.

But it's not, I promise.

I threw it all in the skillet and simmered it up.

Not sure why I have this picture.

Maybe I thought it was important to show the world (ha, small world that reads my blog) what the table looked like before the welcome invasion of Indian food

And there you have it! 

It was a successful meal and we both had happy plates by the end of it.

It wasn't quite India Palace (oh how I miss you), but it was close.

If you've never had Indian food, this is the easiest way to figure out! 

Get a mix at the store and whip it up. DO IT.

Herbed Chicken and Couscous

One night last week nothing sounded good. 

So I whipped out the couscous that was politely waiting in the pantry for it's turn. 

And this is what I concocted....

First, I cooked up the chicky in a pan with butter. hmmm, butter.

Then, I threw together my fave herbs. Some fresh, some dried.

And here the couscous makes it's debut

Gotta cover them babies up. Makes for some moistness.

Notice that the herbs are now resting nicely on the chickies.

And on to the couscous prep. 

Well first you....

Just read the box.

And of course, the asparagus. I roasted em'. That's how we like them around here. In these parts.

And that is the hubby digging in. 

I usually don't let him wear hats to the table, but this was a special occassion.

Haha, kidding. 

It wasn't a special occassion.

Ha, and I let him wear hats. Not that he would ask. But if he did, I would totally say yes.

And there she is. 

What a feast indeed.

Raised Bed Garden

It's official, we have a garden! 

Here's how it went down...

 Sidenote, I planted a calla lilly...because I love them. I can't wait to watch this baby grow

 We decided to do raised beds because everything we read said that it's the best way to go.

We put in a handy dandy kneeling board on the sides so that I won't walk on the plants. Eric is a genius!

 We are working on bringing in dirt to fill the gardens up to the sides of the boards

 And another sidenote- Eric made me this planter a while back, so I planted some of my flowers in it. We plan to attach it to the fence.

I can't wait to get gardening soon! Sidney-ites say that they don't put anything (meaning vegetables) into the ground until Memorial weekend. I have a couple weeks to go!

And I have to give props to my fabulous husband. He dropped his fence project this morning to help me with this. It definitely wouldn't have happened without him and his sweet skills in building things :)

Porch no longer in progress!

Eric finished putting the wood where the lattice used to be this weekend. So I went to town on painting!

We are VERY pleased with how it turned out :)

I also did some planting in the flower beds next to the porch with shade plants. I didn't get a picture of the final product, so that'll have to come later.

I would also like to say that this porch remodel cost us approximately $50. I think that's quite a bargain for the pretty dramatic change it made. We just paid for the paint, spindles (which we got 2 for the price of one thanks to a Menard's sale) and leftover fence wood to replace the lattice. We painted over the previous deck, so that saved us a pretty penny on lumber.  

We have had a very productive, fun weekend. I'll be posting more posts of all of the weekend's festivities!