Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my 34th birthday. I spent the day doing somewhere around 632 loads of laundry. But last night, four of my faves came over for dinner. Here’s 2 of them:

And here’s the other 2:

My sister was having a fit about me making my own birthday dinner, but I kept it simple by making one of my favorite meals: chicken curry. Yum! I’ll put the recipe at the end of this post.

The fun thing about eating this curry is the toppings that go with it. Everybody gets a dish of rice and curry, then we each add our own toppings according to what we like. Last night the options were tomato chutney, pineapple, coconut, and sunflower seeds.

After dinner came dessert: creme brulee. And not just any creme brulee. . .my sister’s creme brulee! I have had creme brulee at some pretty fancy pants restaurants, but none of them is as good as Kimmie’s. Heaven in a ramekin!

Here’s Jon torching the sugar:

And the final product:

After dinner, all I wanted to do was hold the new baby. I can’t get enough of that little munchkin!

I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday!

Here’s the recipe for chicken curry:

Saute:
2 Tbsp. butter or oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Blend in small bowl:
2 Tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar
2-4 tsp. curry powder (I used a heaping tablespoon and I wish I would have added a little more)

Stir this mixture into the onions and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add 3-4 cups chicken, chopped, shredded, or whatever. Stir-fry briefly to coat meat with spices, then add:
1 cup tomato juice or sauce
1 tsp. salt
1-2 cups broth or water

I put this in the crock-pot on low for several hours and by the time we were ready to eat, the seasoning was perfect.

To serve, put rice in a bowl, top with curry and your choice of toppings. Some ideas:
tomato chutney (tomatoes and onions mixed in vinegar/lemon juice, sugar, and salt), peanuts, sunflower seeds, coconut, scallions, peppers, pineapple, apples, raisins, banana slices, chopped hard-boiled eggs.

This recipe is super forgiving and can easily be altered to fit your family’s taste. Hope you give it a try sometime!