All Easy Food Recipes

Chana Masala

Dealing With Dietary Requirements

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas in water (also called garbanzo beans) or 1 1/2 cups precooked + 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• juice from one lemon, (approx 2 tbsp )
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 large bunch of spinach or two handfuls, rinsed

Preparation:

In a large skillet or frying pan, sautee onions and garlic in olive oil until soft, about 3-5 minutes.

Add chickpeas straight from the can, including all the water. Add spices and lemon juice, cover, and simmer about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, adding more water if needed, until chickpeas are cooked and soft.

Reduce heat, add spinach and cover. Allow spinach to wilt for 2-4 minutes. Serve immediately and enjoy your spicy Indian-style chickpeas with spinach!

If you enjoyed this, you can find a whole heap more vegetarian gluten and dairy-free recipes available to add to your collection.

August 27th, 2010 | Tags: chana masala, dairy free recipe, diabetes, diabetic, diabetic cookbook, dietary requirements, gluten free recipe, indian food, spicy chickpeas, vegan recipe, vegetarian food | Category: healthy recipes, vegetarian recipes | Comments (1)

As the weather gets warmer, I’m already looking forward to summer travels. Last summer I spent many a week on the road and after it was all done wrote a mega-blog regarding all I had learned along the way. This is the final post from the series, and I hope I’ve gotten you thinking about upcoming events for this year!

Don’t drink too much in the Mile High City. A trip to Denver in June proved that God has a twisted sense of humor: The Denver area is known as “the Napa Valley of beer,” but if you’re a visitor you’ll likely feel tipsy after a couple of samples, thanks to the high elevation. Still, I toured (and sampled at) some of the most successful breweries in Colorado, including New Belgium in Fort Collins, and the original Coors (now Miller-Coors) in Golden. New Belgium is noteworthy not only for its impressive growth and environmental friendliness (the brewery is run entirely on wind power) but its company ethic: Employees receive a bike and share ownership in the company after one year of employment. Smaller breweries and brewpubs also proved to churn out amazing beers on a smaller scale, like at Denver’s Great Divide Brewing Co. and Wynkoop Brewing Company (the largest brewpub in the country). High-altitude limitations aside, the Denver area is a treasure trove for beer lovers. Of course, I couldn’t leave Denver without trying some pizza, too, so I sampled the nicely seared pies (love that char!) at Marco’s Coal-Fired pizza in downtown Denver (see April 2010’s “pizza Press” for more on this pizzeria). I’ve said it before: Beer and pizza—perfect together!
Support your local microbrews. The four-day Oregon Brewers Festival is held annually in Portland, and I decided to attend this year in the name of fun and research. Despite its name, this event showcases beers from all over the United States, proving that pretty much any area of the country offers great craft brews—so why not seek out local beers for your menu or your own drinking pleasure? The amazing range of styles represented at the festival ran the gamut from dry-hopped IPAs to chocolate and espresso stouts to fruity wheat beers, and every type has its fans. (Also watch out for the sour-beer trend that seems to be picking up steam across the country.) Luckily, I was stationed across the street from the festival at the swank Hotel Fifty, so I was able to attend the festival on the less-busy weekdays and simply saunter home after the extensive tastings. In addition, the Portland area has the greatest concentration of breweries in the world, and Oregonians take great pride in their local beers; many residents even practice homebrewing. Accordingly, even after two days at the festival, I still found myself racing to convenience stores, brewpubs and restaurants to try as many local varieties as possible!
pizza, of course, was prominently featured at the festival, as Rogue Ales kept crowds fed with the popular beer-crust pizza. Elsewhere in Portland, I tried Neapolitan-style wood-fired pizza at the high-end hotel eatery Nel Centro; after a quick ride to Seattle, I ate at Pegasus pizza and Pasta on Alki Beach, then the next day grabbed a couple of wide New York-style slices at Piecora’s in the Capitol Hill area—right before my “real” lunch! Forget Jell-O; in my life, there’s always room for pizza.
Have you visited any great pizzerias, cities or events lately—or are you planning to? Share your experiences; comment below!

Got beer? The Oregon Brewers Festival (www.oregonbrewfest.com/) takes place this year on July 22 to 25; Denver’s mammouth Great American Beer Festival (www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/) will happen on September 16 to 18. For a list of worldwide beer festivals, visit www.beerfestivals.org.

May 20th, 2010 | Tags: beer, beer blog, Beer Lovers, Breweries, brewery, Brewing Co, Brewpub, Brewpubs, Environmental Friendliness, Microbrews, pizza, pizzerias, summer travels | Category: pizza recipe | Leave a comment

As the weather gets warmer, I’m already looking forward to summer travels. Last summer I spent many a week on the road and after it was all done wrote a mega-blog regarding all I had learned along the way. I will post these observations in parts over the next few days to get everyone thinking about upcoming events for this year!

Go Midwest, young man. You wouldn’t think that experimental pizza toppings were de rigueur in the middle of the country—Indiana, to be precise—but I was pleasantly surprised at the alternative toppings I found at so many pizzerias in Indianapolis (for the full story on all of the pizzerias we visited, check out our November 2009 issue, where you’ll find our column “Slice of the City” on Indy). One pie we tried, the Mexican-inspired 7 Layer at Jockamo Upper Crust pizza, had bean dip instead of marinara and cheddar in place of mozzarella, and was served with a side of sour cream in lieu of traditional dipping sauce. Delicious! Indianapolis pizzerias show that you can—and should—think outside the box when it comes to toppings.
Though nothing is better (to me) than classic “plain” cheese pizza, I’d encourage every pizzeria to experiment with toppings. You can also work seasonally to try unique combinations: Stop by the farmer’s market and get inspired; put a pizza with these fresh ingredients on special. Promote the local angle—in these times, eating local isn’t some luxury reserved for granola-crunching hippies or elite socialites, but a practical and proven way to put money back into the local economy. You’ll support your local farmers, and customers will support you.
Practice the art of resilience. The annual Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans is, as you’d expect, one of the most entertaining events of the year (look for our write-up of the event, as well as a “Slice of the City” on New Orleans, in the March 2010 issue). The aroma of fresh mint and the unmistakable clatter of ice in shakers permeate the air as master mixologists focus on crafting fresh, culinary and classic cocktails (all of which are currently in vogue, but should never go out of style). I wasn’t sure how they’d top themselves after last year, but this event just keeps getting bigger and better. Sipping on handcrafted cocktails from dozens of the best mixologists in the world and rubbing elbows with true legends in the cocktail industry is only part of the fun—you also get to witness the beauty of the French Quarter and relax in some of the most distinctive locales in the city (for example, this year, events were held at the amazing Mardi Gras World and the Presbytere, with its exhibits of exquisite Mardi Gras costumes).
Besides, New Orleans can provide inspiration for all of us right now. You’d think a city that has been as battered as this one might lose hope, but residents here are amazingly resilient. We met with pizzeria owners who lost an entire location in Katrina, yet had the courage to rebuild on the same spot and now cater to local families in the area, who respond with amazing loyalty. This will to survive and thrive even among seemingly insurmountable challenges is one that we can all learn from. In the current economy, we could use a little more “nothing gets me down” swagger. As a business owner, you’re a leader in your community, so set a good example and have faith that the tides will turn.

Are the tides at your business already turning around postrecession? Leave a comment below or drop me a line at tracy@pmq.com.

Tales of the Cocktail (www.talesofthecocktail.com) takes place this year on July 21 to 25–after which you can hop aboard PMQ’s first summertime pizza Cruise (pizzacruise.com”>www.pizzacruise.com), which sails to Canada from New York on July 26 to 31.

May 20th, 2010 | Category: pizza recipe | Leave a comment

As the weather gets warmer, I’m already looking forward to summer travels. Last summer I spent many a week on the road and after it was all done wrote a mega-blog regarding all I had learned along the way. I will post these observations in parts over the next few days to get everyone thinking about upcoming events for this year!

Recession? What recession? I refuse to let doom-and-gloom reports of economic woe deter me from summer traveling, especially when those trips can provide great learning experiences. After living out of a suitcase for what seemed like most of the summer, here’s what I’ve gathered:

A down economy demands innovation. Okay, this one’s obvious, but it seemed especially pronounced this year at Chicago’s NRA Show in May. This year’s show and attendance was down markedly from last year’s—which, on the positive side, better allowed attendees to talk with exhibitors and get to know about products in which they were interested. However, Chicago’s annual show is a must-attend regardless of our economic state of affairs. Nowhere else will you see so many innovative products, witness burgeoning trends, attend such varied seminars…and ingest so many calories for no good reason other than the fact that the food is in front of you. We picked some of the most interesting products from the show floor, which is still formidable in size, and published the results in the September 2009 issue—check out our findings!
One trend that has persisted over the last few years is the effort to go green. You can spot this everywhere at the NRA Show, from in-house water purification (to eliminate bottled water) to recycled-material pizza boxes. In fact, Sam Facchini from Metro pizza, with whom we dined at the famous Pizzeria Due, and who is currently working on opening a new location in the Las Vegas area, told us that by making some green choices, he could actually borrow more from the SBA for his latest venture. Before you associate going green with added expense and hassle, make sure you research the business benefits of these practices.
Finally, one of my favorite parts of the NRA Show is the International Wine, Spirits & Beer event. I’m a beverage fanatic in general (I’ll never say no to soda or tea samples on the show floor), and this section is great for finding out what’s new in the alcoholic sector. Some of my favorites here were: Apple Pie Liqueur, which tastes just like the classic all-American comfort dessert, brainchild of a tavern owner in Wisconsin; Paris-based Vino Cacao, which makes delicious chocolate-flavored wines in Ivoire and Noir—i.e., white and red; and “the world’s first Acai spirit,” VeeV, which is amazingly mixable and manufactured by the only certified carbon-neutral sprits company in the world (back to that green trend again!).
Of course, no trip to Chicago would be complete without a slew of pizza, and we tried it all, from gourmet thin crust to old-school deep dish. For a list of the many Chicago-area pizzerias I visited with editor-in-chief Liz Barrett, see “pizza Press” in the September 2009 issue.

What’s your favorite Chicago-area pizzeria? Let me know by adding a comment below or emailing me at tracy@pmq.com!

For more information on the NRA Show, go to http://show.restaurant.org/NRA10/public/enter.aspx.

May 20th, 2010 | Category: pizza recipe | Comments (2)