My Madison Bistro

It’s only been in the past couple of years that I’ve discovered my love of curry. But until a few weeks ago, I’d never ventured beyond yellow curries.

When I opened the can of green curry paste, my sinuses immediately cleared, and I wondered what I had gotten myself into. You see, fifteen years ago, I was all about the heat. I chose the hottest salsa I could find (which granted, in the Midwest probably is not all that hot, but I thought myself quite the rebel at the time). The local Chinese restaurant knew my friend and I by our order: beef & broccoli: extra, extra, extra spicy.

But then something happened to me in the past few years, and I simply cannot tolerate that kind of heat. I now order everything mild; beyond that, I need a side of dairy (my lactose intolerant self has been known to desperately chug milk after a hot & spicy meal).

So imagine my fear when I got a whiff of the curry paste!

Continue reading “Green Chicken Curry”

Tags: chicken, curry, everyday food, rice, Vegetables

Is there one kind of cookie that you’ll throw your diet out the window for? Or no matter how full you are, you simply cannot resist?

For me, it’s white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. The funny thing is that for years, I didn’t care for them all that much. My mom, however, has always loved them. A few years back, she wanted to make some around the holidays and tried out this recipe. Like many of us, she read the comments and made adjustments to the original recipe. I’ve never tried the original, but this version is so good that the only changes I would make, should I dare to make them myself, are to increase the vanilla slightly, which I almost always do, and add more white chocolate, because well, I love it.

I have never actually made these cookies myself. It’s too dangerous. When my mom sends some of these home with me (or comes to my place bearing gifts), I often hoard them and don’t share them with friends. (Don’t worry, my friends never suffer, however – I feel bad for hoarding and end up making something else that I give away.)

Continue reading “White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies”

Tags: cookies, macadamia nuts, white chocolate

Remember when taco night meant a quick dinner? The kits contained a seasoning packet, taco sauce, and hard or soft shells. All you had to supply was the beef, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese.

Those little seasoning packets made quick work of the beef, but have you ever looked at the label?

Here are the ingredients for one popular brand: Yellow Corn Flour, Salt, Maltodextrin, Paprika, Spices, Modified Corn Starch, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Citric Acid, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Natural Flavor, Caramel Color (sulfites).

Sugar? Maltodextrin? Are two forms of sugar really necessary for tacos?

It’s scary stuff. The good news is that it’s easy to make your own seasoning mixture from spices you probably already have.

Continue reading “Homemade Taco Seasoning”

Tags: Mexican Food

I have no idea what I was searching for when I found this recipe, but boy, I’m glad I did. I believe I was looking for a vegetable side dish to serve with tacos, and somehow I got to this.

Hey, it has vegetables in it, and the end product is green. That has to count for something, right?

Irregardless, this dish is delicious (I wanted to hoard the rice and ditch the rest of my dinner), easy to prepare, and if you time your cooking right, it doesn’t take a whole lot of extra effort to make.

Continue reading “Green Poblano Rice”

Tags: cilantro, Mexican Food, poblano, rice