Vegetarian Vindaloo Curry (Gluten Free)- Using a Crockpot!

Lots of people love the ease and convenience of the crockpot to get healthy low fuss meals on the table especially when you know you are going to have a long day.  I love using my crockpot when I have big projects planned, we have a day full of doctor appointments- or late appointments, or when we are planning a fun day out and I want to have a good dinner waiting for me instead of hitting a fast food place before coming home.

I am picky.  Very picky.  You won't see any "add cream of blah blah blah" recipes or anything that ends up muck at the end.  A few days ago I knew I would not be home from a doctor appointment until close to five and I have been trying to have dinner served before six every night.  It has been a while and my husband and I have been craving curry so I decided on chicken.  Looking at it sitting on the counter I changed my mind and decided to add some veggies.  Then I changed my mind again and decided to do only veggies.  It is the first vegetarian curry I've made so this was an experiment of sorts.

This is a "15 minute meal" Curry Sauce packet that I am using.  I doubled the water it called for because I planned on it cooking for so long.  You can use 2 packets of sauce and no additional curry powder or corn starch and water.  Depending on the amount of sauce you want and how strong you like it you can adjust it to your taste.  Like a little more heat?  Add a little more curry powder to your serving or the entire pot.

Time for the recipe:

Vegetarian Gluten Free Vindaloo Curry 

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time:  Crockpot- High for 6 Hours

Ingredients:
1 or 2 Pkg Sukhi's Vindaloo Curry Sauce (Available in some stores or here on Amazon)
2 Cups water
1 Tbs Curry powder
1 Head of cauliflower
7 Medium carrots
3 Medium potatoes
1/2 Onion chopped
2 Tbs corn starch
1/4 C cool water

• Prep your Crockpot- I use a Reynolds Crockpot liner.

• Mix together curry sauce, powder and water in a bowl or right in your Crockpot.

• Chop cauliflower, carrots and cube potatoes keeping fairly uniform sized pieces.

• Add vegetables and sauce to the Crockpot and turn on high for 6 hours.  Stir occasionally to incorporate the sauce in to the veggies well.

• At the end of the cooking cycle mix the corn starch and water.  Stir it in to the sauce well avoiding any lumps.

• Serve over rice, quinoa etc. and pair with chutney or naan bread.

We have naan bread with our curry.  I buy multiple packs at a time and freeze them and pull them out as needed and toss them in the oven to warm.  I should start baking my own and will likely include a recipe in the near future.  

Teriyaki Salmon with Siracha Cream Sauce

I thought I would start off with a recipe from our dinner last night that got a lot of interest on my Facebook page.  It is healthy, delicious and surprisingly easy and quick to make.  I am typically very last minute so for all those other people out there that can relate my recipes will be user friendly!  Just a heads up also- most of the time I reserve a portion of what I cook for my kids because they don't eat spicy foods.  My son is also very picky and is not a fan of anything squishy or possibly slimy.  If anyone is ever interested with how I tailor their meals just let me know.  (This was my husband's plate hence the abundance of the cream sauce.  He is a huge fan of sriracha so I gave him extra without dousing the salmon in it.)

So to the meal plan!
Teriyaki salmon with sriracha cream sauce served over rice
Green Salad
(Steamed veggies for the kids)

Remember I said I am usually pulling stuff together last minute?  Last night was no different.  I tried to finish unpacking our kitchen and looked up and it was already four in the afternoon.  I pulled a frozen salmon top loin filet out of the freezer and tossed it in a sink of COLD water.  You can thaw meat really fast that way but remember always COLD never warm.  If you use warm water it can make you incredibly sick.  Don't risk it.  The salmon was thawed in 30 minutes- by the time the marinade was made and cooled.  For those that actually think ahead- you can prep this the night before and marinate the salmon overnight and it will be oven ready and cut your before dinner prep.

2 Servings
Total Prep Time: 45 Mins
Total Cook Time: 25 Mins
(I marinated for 30 mins)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 clove of garlic finely minced
• 2 salmon steaks or 1 salmon top loin filet (the really long piece) *BONELESS SKINLESS 
FOR THE SRIRACHA CREAM SAUCE
• 1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
• 2-3 tablespoons Sriracha

INSTRUCTIONS

• To make the Sriracha cream sauce, whisk together plain Greek yogurt and Sriracha in a small bowl; set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; set aside.
• In a small saucepan over medium heat, add soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and 1 cup water; bring to a simmer. Stir in cornstarch mixture until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes; let cool to room temperature.
• In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine teriyaki marinade and salmon filets; marinate for at least 30 minutes to overnight, turning the bag occasionally.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8×8 baking dish with nonstick spray.
• Place salmon filets along with the marinade onto prepared baking dish and bake until the fish flakes easily with a fork, about 20 minutes.
• Serve salmon with Sriracha cream sauce.
  
  NOTES
• To quickly cool marinade: fill a large bowl half way with water and ice.  Fill a smaller bowl that will fit inside the large bowl without tipping easily with the marinade.  Sit the smaller bowl in the ice bath.  Stir the bowl regularly while you are prepping everything else for dinner or stir it continuously to cool the mixture quicker.
• Use a baking dish lined with Reynolds Non-Stick Pan Lining Paper for a quick and easy mess free clean up.  
• I let my salmon rest for five minutes after removing it from the oven so that the sauce doesn't just melt everywhere.  I prefer to let any meat I cook rest as I believe it improves the flavor.

For the rice I have a small rice cooker and I use 1 cup of Jasmine rice and 2 cups of water.  It is set to cook itself and shut off when it is done.  You can use any variety of rice you would like or change it up and use quinoa.

I try and include green salad with every dinner we have.  Typically it is romaine lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper, carrots, and tomatoes diced and tossed together.

For the kids:
Dinner tonight was a little different.  They had tilapia instead of salmon with veggies.  I have a three year old and an eleven month old so dinner options for both are usually a challenge.  As I said before my son is very picky.  Last night my son had cucumber and carrot sticks and rice with his fish.  The baby had steamed broccoli, carrots, and zucchini cubes with her fish.  You will notice a lot of these sides for both kids- these are their favorites.


* Adapted from Damn Delicious