crockpot chicken curry, cucumber salad, stuffed date appetizer

My boss brought dates to the office. I ate one and it was good, but I couldn't help thinking that it would be better stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon.  What does that have to do with curry? Well...

I posted this to my facebook

And received these responses...

Feeling thus affirmed in my desire to eat bacon-wrapped dates for dinner, I decided to do it soon. Then my mom called to say that she and my dad wanted to come visit on Saturday. And so, I hatched a daring plot to make a full dinner with bacon-wrapped dates as only an appetizer. The result:

Dates, stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in bacon

Ingredients

• Some dates
• Chevre with herbs (you could use any goat cheese, and you could use plain goat cheese and add the herbs yourself)
• Pre-cooked bacon (you could use uncooked bacon, you would just need to be more finicky about your cooking times than I was)

Select as many dates as you want to make. Use a knife to make a slit in the top of each and pull out the pits. Stuff with a generous spoonful of cheese. Wrap each date with half a strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on a cookie sheet and bacon on 450 for about 5 minutes or until bacon is crispy but not burned. Serve hot

 

Crock pot curry (adapted from a Real Simple recipe)

This is really easy to make and inexpensive, but the secret is having a good Indian spice blend. I used vindaloo that I bought here. The original recipe called for garam masala. I'm not sure if they often have this type of spice in the regular grocery store (I haven't looked).

Ingredients

• 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons vindaloo or other Indian spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and dash of pepper
• 3 good-sized boneless chicken breasts. Mine were frozen and worked great
• 1/2 cup cream or coconut milk

Dump all ingredients except the cream into crock pot. Cook on low for about 8 hours. Add cream before serving

Cucumber salad

Chop up one small cucumber. Add a couple tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro. Toss in 1 tablespoon lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. 



Serve the curry over rice, or naan with the salad on the side (the flavors blend nicely together). The bacon-wrapped dates are more of an anomaly but still good.