Prevention RD is 1 year old today!
Time flies when you’re having fun! I thought I would recap some of this year’s highlights…but most of you have been reading since last June – thank you! Best readers ever? Yep! You! Mucho gracias!
It’s funny because I’ve been looking forward to my Blogiversary/Blog Birthday much more so than my own birthday coming up here…quickly. And it’s probably no surprise that for my birthday I want a DSLR camera (Mr. Prevention, I hope you’re reading this!). If anything has changed over the past year, it’s my love for photography. I have always loved food (shocker, I know!) and creativity the kitchen brings, but I have made cooking habitual and fun. I have tried so many wonderful recipes (a few not so wonderful…) over the past year, and as you may have noticed by now, I try to give them all an honest critique and provide the full gamete of nutrition stats.
So, yay for one year of Prevention RD in the books…bring on the next and let’s hope for the best!
In honor of this special day (it feels like Christmas in my heart today, I swear!), I present to you a very special meal Mr. Prevention and I shared last evening:
Chicken Biryani adapted from Indian Food Forever
2 cups Basmati Rice, dry
1/2 cup skim milk
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
1 tsp ginger paste (I used jarred ginger)
1/2 tsp garlic paste (I used fresh minced garlic)
1 tsp green chili paste (I could only find red chili paste, so I used that)
1/2 cup tomato paste
2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
2 tsp Garam Masala powder
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
Saffron a pinch
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp Green Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste (approx. 1 tsp)
3 small onions, sliced
7 5 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Directions:
Mix tomato paste, yogurt, ginger, green (or red) chili paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder, roasted cumin powder, garam masala, coriander powder and salt. Stir well. Mix in chicken and allow to marinade for 3-4 hours or overnight in the fridge.
Heat oil in a pan. Fry the onions until golden brown. Add the marinated chicken and all marinade. Add the cardamom powder. Cook for 10 minutes, on until chicken is cooked through.
In a pot, bring to a boil 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups of water + the milk. Add the rice. Stir and cover with lid. Allow to simmer 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.
Combine the rice and chicken mixture, stir until lightly combined. Serve hot. Makes 8 generous portions.
Nutrition Information (per serving): 358 calories; 10.3 g. fat; 64 mg. cholesterol; 491 mg. sodium; 43.5 g. carbohydrate; 1.7 g. fiber; 25 g. protein
Result: Mmmm! If you are a lover of Indian, you will love this dish. If you marinade the chicken overnight, the dinner comes together in 30 minutes or less and it is delicious! Even with the substitutions I made, the biryani was so flavorful! A huge thumbs up from Mr. Prevention, too! 😀
And to go with our biryani…
Homemade Naan Bread slightly adapted from A Pinch of This and A Dash of That
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons skim milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour—ended up using about 3 3/4 cup
2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional) – I omitted
1/4 cup 1Tbsp butter 50/50 Smart Balance Butter, melted
Directions:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
During the second rising, prepare a medium-sized skillet. Lightly oil skillet.Place dough in skillet and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from skillet. Yield: 20 small naan.
Nutrition Information (per naan): 101 calories; 0.9 g. fat; 11.6 mg. cholesterol; 239 mg. sodium; 19 g. carbohydrate; 0 g. fiber; 3.5 g. protein
Result: Sooo good! My first 2 were duds and never got bubbly. Just like crepes, toss the first 1-2 naan. The naan was so airy and I was surprised how not terrible the nutrition stats were! I made the naan the night before and it kept perfectly well in a Zip-lock over night. Mmmm mmmm! Love naan and it tasted as good as in Indian restaurants!
Question: If you had to write out a birthday wish list right now, what would be at the top of your list?
Have a wonderful day! Thanks for making it a special year, Prevention RD readers 🙂 I appreciate all of your support! 😀
Much love,
Happy birthday to you, Prevention RD! The chicken biryani and naan looks delicious! Thanks for the recipe. I really gonna try to make the homemade naan.
Happy Birthday to Prevention RD!!! (And Happy (almost) Birthday to you, Nicole! 🙂 ) Biryani is one of Mike’s absolute favorite dishes…I’m bookmarking your recipe so next time he requests it I’ll give it a try! You are a rock star for making your own naan!!!
What a great Indian meal! You are so creative. My birthday wish would be to find a career that I love 🙂
Well, Happy Birthday to Prevention RD! And I wanted to share that I love photography, too. So much so that I, too, want a better camera (DSLR). So I found a web site yesterday that I now follow on Twitter, too. It’s Digital Photography School at http://digital-photography-school.com/ There’s a “Photography Tips & Tutorial” section. You can get info on all types of cameras, transition from a point-and-shoot to DSLR, tips for taking photos, etc. Check it out. It might help you with your camera selection and you might also find some helpful tips for taking pictures. Let me know which camera you choose!
Happy blog birthday!
Happy Blogday to you! Time is flying by SOOOO fast! My bday wish would be a vacation or wireless mouse for when I hook my laptop up to the tv. The vacation is still a month or so away.
Have a great rest of your week :).
Ooo your Indian feast looks SO good as well! You did an awesome job on the naan and so glad you enjoyed it 🙂 Thanks for the shoutout–and I love your blog, so keep on bloggin so we can celebrate a 2 yr anniversary!
Congrats on 1 year! Happy blog birthday. 🙂
Congrats! One year of wonderful posts. Indian food is a great way to celebrate.
Happy Birthday to your blog! 🙂 A DSLR is exciting; can’t wait to see you experimenting once you get it!
Happy blog anniversary nicole, congrats on complete one successful year and really a great way to celebrate it with an complete indian meal, biryani is one of my fav too as its full of lovely flavours in it and naan too looks soft and delicious….perfect….
Happy blog birthday! At the top of my list would be healed-up knees. Kind of a far-fetched wish, but this is a make-believe question!
Happy Blog Birthday!!!!!! I’m so impressed that you made naan!! It looks so wonderful!! 🙂
Happy blog birthday!!!
Happy birthday to your blog 😀
Chicken biryani is my fav indian dish.
Congrats on the one year! Isn’t it crazy how time flies?
Happy blogiversary!
Happy blog birthday! 🙂
Your naan looks simply amazing. I’m definitely going to try it!
Wow – I feel like I just started reading your blog! Happy Blog Birthday, Nicole!
Hmmm….if I could have one thing on my birthday list, it would be a food processor – or a necklace from Tiffany’s. 🙂
Happy birthday, blog! 😛
Ahhh the biryani looks delicious. I adore Indian food with a passion. 🙂
At the top of my birthday list, that I will never get, are a Vitamix blender and a Canon Rebel xi with 100mm lens. I want both sooo bad, but both would bankrupt whoever got it for me. :S
Happy BLOG Birthday!!! 🙂
Happy Blog Birthday!!! I want a blender, for sure–It’s hot and I want to make up some smoothies!
Happy Birthday-versary!!!!!!!
Happy blog-a-versary! That naan recipes looks amazing, definitely going to try it!
Happy Blogversary!!!
Mmmm! That Indian looks great. I’ve never tried to cook Indian at home. Maybe it’s time I gave it a shot!
All the best on your blog anniversary. Hope you have many more great years.
Cheers!
Happy 1 year!! That Indian dish looks divine and simple to make…I will be writing this down! Thanks!
Just read your comment, sounds good to me! Even Sunday evening might work 🙂
Happy Birthday to your blog!!
I would wish for new blinds for our house, first and foremost. So boring, right?!
The Chicken Biryani looks like it packed full of flavor.
Congrats on hitting the one year mark.
At the top of my wish list? One of those really fancy bikes with the thin wheels because a trip might be too much to ask for. 😉 Well, on second thought, they might cost around the same.
Happy birthday to your wonderful bloggie!!!
Seeing how we are moving soon, I think I’d want money to put towards new decorations!
Congrats on one year! It is such an exciting time! I have really enjoyed reading your blog!
I love indian food and this dish looks delicious! I am super impressed that you made homemade naan. My mouth is watering. haha.
Nicole…congratulations on your 1st anniversary 🙂
The rice dish with chicken looks delicious…and I just made naan once and did not like it, will try your recipe, it sure looks yummie.
Happy Blog Birthday!! You’ve come so far :-).
Congratulations on one year!!! That’s great!! Hope you blog for many many years!
I’m dying to make my own naan!! Yours looks great!!
If I could make a birthday list (birthday is a little over a month away so I guess it’s not much of a stretch), I would put a 50mm lens on the top of that list!
How exciting! One year! Your celebratory dinner looks amazing. I made homemade naan a couple months ago and made it a bit too thin. It’s on my list to make once again because I sure do love it!
Happy birthday bloggy! Love reading Nicole-you are so down to earth-thank you 🙂
Happy blog birthday!! 🙂
Happy Blogaversary Nicole!! I’ve loved getting to know you over these past months!
I desperately want a DSLR, but with the hubs out of work, not gonna happen any time soon – I can dream, right?!
I keep searching on eBay for a used Nikon D80, but while they start low, they end up selling for $400+!
Congrats! You’ve done a fantastic job, keep it up! Looking forward to more great posts from you. 🙂
awwwww HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am so happy that you decided to start this blog!
Hmmm the first thing on my list would be a 80’s bday party with all my bloggie friends! Seriously that is what I want for my 30th in July ha
I felt like that too. Blogging totally made me rediscover my love for photography.
Happy blog birthday!
Happy Birthday Prevention RD and great biryani
Happy Blogverssary! All the best for the next year!
Happy Blog Birthday!!! If I could do a bday wish list, a massage would be at the top of my list!
Happy happy blog birthday!!
Homemade Naan? Amazing!! Happy blog birthday to you 🙂
Happy blogiversary!!!
I am wishing for a Road ID 😉
Happy (belated :P) blogiversary!!! Hope you get that DSLR 😉
I am DEFS stealing that Indian dish recipe! I’ve been surviving off curries for the past few days and haven’t been happier in a while! Lovess
izzyy
xox
Happy birthday to your blog. I had no idea we both launched in the same month. My blog b’day is on the 25th….I am planning the giveaway now 🙂 xxoo
Happy Blogiversary!!
I’m impressed you made your own nan -yum!