Easy Mushroom Coconut Curry

Yeah, I’ve been on an Indian food kick lately. I mean, I’m always on one as a consumer, but in the past week, I made three different Indian dishes. Hopefully, you already saw the delightfully easy and delicious naan recipe I put out. And today…I bring you a delicious mushroom coconut curry! I really really enjoyed it. We received Vegetarian India (a cookbook) by Madhur Jaffrey, a well-known Indian chef and cookbook author, as a wedding present. I’m really loving this cookbook and can’t wait to try more from it.

This recipe is based off of her recipe called “Kodava Mushroom Curry with Coconut,” though I deviated quite a bit. Get her cookbook if you want the exact recipe–she’s a genius! Apparently, this dish comes from a more meat-eating region in India and thus she was fascinated by their vegetarian dishes. It’s rich, scrumptious, and filling. She suggests to have it with rice, but we had it with quinoa. I think it would go well with anything–rice, quinoa, naan, paratha, you name it!

May262018

How to Make Naan to Be Proud of

Here at Hungry & Fit, we are BIG Indian food fans. It competes with pizza for our most-delivered food. We love the flavors, the complexity, and the comfort it brings. I’ve always wanted to cook more Indian food since we love it so much, but I was intimidated by the many ingredients you usually need. Naan, however, seemed to have less ingredients and it is probably my favorite “bread” product on the planet. So one day, I find this wonderfully simple naan recipe from Jo Cooks and I committed myself to trying it. I tweaked the recipe slightly because I’m usually too lazy to get the exact ingredients that the original recipe uses. I can proudly say I now know how to make naan!

I was nervous to try it. I’m bad with tedious things and sometimes recipes that call for rolling and cutting dough are just that. I don’t even have a rolling pin! Naan is one of my favorite things to eat and I wanted to do it right. Feeling creative and ambitious one night, I set out to make my very first naan. And guess what, it turned out great if I do say so myself! And don’t be nervous, it’s honestly incredibly simple.

May062018

Easy Overnight Oats

It’s Sunday! What does that mean? Meal prep time! This is when we prep as much food as we can for the week so that being tired and short of time doesn’t force us into making unhealthy decisions. For this week, I’m highlighting easy overnight oats. There’s actually no cooking required in this recipe, just a tiny bit of prep work (and I mean tiny). What are overnight oats? Dry oats that soak and become edible overnight.

This is a healthy recipe (that I adapted and tweaked from Chocolate Covered Katie) that will get your rear into gear during those sleepy struggle mornings. Basically, you’re just stacking ingredients in a mason jar, putting it in the fridge overnight and then eating it the next morning! I love it because when you actually need it, you don’t have to put any work into making it. The mornings are an important part of my day for personal development and productivity so “hacks” like these are vital! I can just go through my normal routine without spending an extra 10-15 minutes prepping breakfast. Weehaw, more productivity time!

May052018

Healthy Enchilada Quinoa Casserole

Last month, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a lot of time with my family in Iowa, although it was for the sad reason of my grandfather’s funeral. Funerals are always difficult, especially of a loved one, but there’s that bright side of family and togetherness that makes it bearable. Every meal time we would gather round the table (there were quite a few of us) and eat and laugh and cry. Definitely healing for the soul, I would say.

It was spending this time together that brought this amazing new recipe into my life: my cousin Molly’s healthy enchilada quinoa casserole. I can’t tell you how much I ate of this dish. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. It was filled with such healthy and yummy goodness that I couldn’t stop. Just something about a warm nourishing dish in the last throes of winter (yeah, we got 7 inches of snow DURING APRIL). The dish focuses on latin flavors while boasting healthy nutrition facts. The base of the dish is quinoa, but so many others are invited to the party: beans, corn, cilantro, avocado and more. As soon as I tasted the menu, I begged her to write up the recipe and send it to me! So this one, folks, is all thanks to Molly!

Apr252018

What Makes Someone a Great Cook?

We VERY recently shared an article about Millennials being useless in the kitchen and provided our opinions! It sparked more discussion than most of our posts on the blog, receiving all kinds of feedback. People are defensive about titles that are given to them and are often willing to prove their worth. A handful of Millennials were adamant that they were capable in the kitchen, but even more fascinating was the confusion that came over the key words used in the article.

Apr202018

Millennials Can’t Cook

First and foremost, THIS ARTICLE isn’t going to win any Pulitzer Prizes so don’t think we’re sending you off to read something life-changing. It is extremely short and basically states that a recent poll from an entity that we’ve never heard of conducted a study where individuals from different generations assessed their own ability in the kitchen.

It isn’t very in-depth but it does state that about 5% of millennials rated themselves as “very good” cooks. It also talks about Baby Boomers’ inability to identify a salad spinner (baby boomers are the only population I’ve ever seen use a salad spinner) and millennials’ inability to identify a butter knife.

Apr082018

Blue Apron Review

Recently, Fit was gifted a free trial for Blue Apron (by one of the best bakers we know), which we took advantage of to the fullest. We know that there are tons of meal delivery services, which all need to do things a little different to succeed, so we were excited to find out what made Blue Apron so successful!

We received two meals through this promotion, which seemed to be equal to a $50 voucher. That means each meal cost $25 and they were advertised as meals for two. That means, essentially, that we had lunch and dinner for $50. If you think about it, $12.50 a meal (per person) seems reasonable, but that really depends on where you live. Here in LA, a healthier meal out would tend to cost you more than that, while you could have a meal for less than that back in Boulder.

Jan272018

Not-Your-Nonna’s Arrabbiata Sauce Recipe

Sugo all’arrabbiata. The angriest sauce in all of Italian cuisine. It might not be as angry as your nonna when you don’t listen to her, but it can pack quite a punch. Hailing from the Lazio region (think Rome) of Italia, like my ancestors, you’d think that it’d be blasphemy for me to even consider altering the thousand-year old recipe, but… I can’t help myself.

You see, this is a simple sauce that doesn’t quite hit the spice level of fra diavolo, but compared to commercial Italian pasta sauces in American grocery stores, it’ll make your nose run a bit. Typically, its made from striking the perfect balance of tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and red chiles (most use red chili flake), but we’re really going off the walls here and using a much different source of heat.

No, we’re not talking about Calabrian chili oil; we wouldn’t dare use ingredients from Southern Italia. We’d rather take a near 7,000 mile plane from Rome to Jakarta, to pick up some SAMBAL! I hope we haven’t lost you, yet, because this is about to get tasty.

Sep252017

Our Weekend in Pictures

We had a busy weekend!

Jul032017

4th of July Dessert: Cannoli Dip

Independence Day (or July 4th…or 4th of July) is TOMORROW! Do you have something that you’re going to bring to that BBQ or party? No?! Well good thing you found us because I have a 4th of July-themed dessert that takes under ten minutes (perhaps under five minutes if you don’t diddle daddle in the kitchen like me). Who doesn’t love a cannoli? You know, the Italian dessert of creamy middle surrounded by pastry? It kind of looks like a rounded dessert taco. Anyhow, it’s one of our favorite desserts here at Hungry & Fit. However, we don’t have the time to make the dough, cook the pastry in its perfect shape, and then pipe the filling in. Let’s just skip to the good stuff–the filling!

I was watching The Kitchen one day on Food Network and the Sandwich King (Jeff Mauro) made this recipe. I changed it up a little bit and subtracted some sugar so that you can have a sweet treat for this 4th of July. Feel free to get creative with the toppings. I made it as red, white, blue as I could!