Thank You Chicken

Dredge cut chicken pieces (breast) in flour with salt and pepper. Brown in olive oil; you are using an iron skillet, right?? Take the chicken out and set it aside.
Saute: shallots, green and red pepper strips, mushrooms, garlic. When the vegetables start to change consistency add artichoke hearts, squeeze half a lemon in, and chicken broth. Return the chicken to the pot and simmer until the chicken is done. You will probably want to thicken the sauce before you eat it. I take some of the broth out, let it cool, and then add corn starch for my thickener.

Green Curry Chicken

Blend in the food processor: cilantro, red onion, mint, garlic, 1/2 cup of white cooking wine, ginger, 2 tsps cumin, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp turmeric, salt and pepper. Cook onion or shallots with olive oil in an iron skillet. Brown the chicken in the same skillet. Add the mixture from the food processor to the skillet. Add more cooking wine if it starts to dry out as you will now be simmering it until the chicken is done. When the chicken is done add about 1/4 cup of plain yogurt.
If you don't want to use cooking with use more chicken broth.

Beef Vindaloo

Cook onion and garlic in olive oil. Then add: grated ginger, 1 tsp cumin, 1 and 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp turmeric, chili powder, black pepper, green chili peppers, salt and a cup of broth. Cook until the beef is tender. Maybe about 45 minutes to an hour. Serve with white rice to offset the heat of this dish.

Lemon Rice Indian Style

Got your glass of wine? Got your music going?

Have you watched Today's Special?
Cook one cup of rice. I always put a bit of olive oil in the rice I am cooking.
In a small skittle add olive oil and spices. I do this to make a paste. Be careful not to overdo the spices, this will make your rice taste somewhat grainy. Plus, these spices carry a big punch. 
Spices to add: red chili powder or achar masala (how much depends on how much heat you want to your rice), curry (1/8th to 1/4 tsp - I'm still playing with this amount myself - just don't overdo), a pinch of turmeric, maybe a titch of garam masala.
Add this to the rice with the juice of 1/2 to a full lemon.
You can also add peanuts or roasted and salted pumpkin seeds. I just happened to have those left over from the last dish!

Prepare For Indian Cooking

Indian cooking can be difficult simply because we don't have the spices on hand. My first suggestion to you is to watch the movie Today's Special. This will get you in the creative mood of Indian cooking. The next thing to do is to supply your closet with the spices. Go to an Indian market or Whole Foods. Buy:
turmeric powder, garam masala,red chili powder, achar masala, cumin seeds, coriander powder, and curry powder. This will get you started and possibly be all you will need to get on with it.

Pasta Salad With Pumpkin Seeds

I found a recipe I wanted to try and lost it. I remembered it had pumpkin seeds, so I used those and made up the rest.
I'm not one on measurements because it all depends on how much you are making and what you want. That being said ...
Boil the noodles for your pasta salad. What type of noodle is up to you. After you have cooked them let them cool off. I poured some extra virgin olive oil over mine so they wouldn't stick together. Then I added the following ingredients:
roasted and salted pumpkin seeds (I threw in about 2 handfuls to start with.)
green pepper
red onion
roasted corn (from the grill - cut off of the cob after you have roasted them)
peppers (I picked from the garden and I'm not sure what kind they were exactly because I lost the tags. Does it matter anyway? I used 2 different kinds.)
fresh basil
fresh oregeno
sea salt
Italian salad dressing
(Consider more pumpkin seeds!)
You can serve this cold or heated. Feta cheese in it would be good also.

The Garden

I do not have a raised bed garden, but everything is in pots. So even if you do not have a yard you can still garden! My garden has: thyme, sweet basil, Thai basil, lemon basil, oregano, green peppers, banana peppers, black peppers, egg plant, and some other sort of pepper ... I'm not sure as I lost the label for that pot! I highly suggest you try growing at least your own herbs for cooking. I use the basil for salads as well as Italian cooking. If you use your herbs for a red sauce, you will need to use more than you think is necessary.

If you want to start small I would suggest the sweet basil and use it in your salads.