Chicken Tikka Masala with Cauliflower Mash

This recipe was delicious, the kids and the fussy husband even liked it! They even asked for seconds!
It worked out really well as I was having one of those days where you really can't be bothered, you know the kind; drop the kids at school in your PJs and go back to bed when you get home, maybe venture out for a toilet break and a quick snack.

All I had to do was quickly mix up the marinade which only took a minute, throw in the chicken, cover the bowl and pop it in the fridge. I did this while making school lunches.

After I had picked the kids up I was still missing my mojo, I had originally planned on cooking this on the stove, browning the chicken on the grill, making the sauce in the pan but I figured I would wing it and see how it went throwing it in the oven and walking away - well it worked!

Ingredients
1kg Chicken Drumsticks (or thigh if you prefer)
2 Tablespoons Tikka masala paste
1 Tin Coconut Cream
2 Cups Chicken Stock
1 Handful Baby Spinach
6 Tablespoons Greek Yoghurt (we used coconut milk yoghurt to avoid dairy, cashew yoghurt would also work well for this)

Mash
Cauliflower
Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper
Coconut Cream

Method:
Begin by marinating the chicken. Mix greek yoghurt with the tikka masala paste and add your chicken. Marinate for at least 2 hours (overnight is better)
Place chicken in an ovenproof dish and cook on 200c for 10 minutes until browned a little, add the stock and cook until chicken is cooked through (roughly 40 minutes)
Remove from the oven and add coconut cream (except for 3 tbsp which will be used in the mash) and spinach leaves, the heat from the sauce will slightly wilt the leaves.

In the meantime steam a head of cauliflower and place into a blender with garlic powder, salt and pepper and 3 tbsp coconut cream reserved from the chicken. Blend until smooth.

Serve with steamed veggies.

Lunchboxes

Who thinks of lunch boxes right at the end of the year? Me! That's who, normally I don't, usually I'll be in holiday mode and not wanting to know until a week before school term and I start panicking.
This year I will be overseas most of the holidays so I need to get prepared. A whole month childfree, I'm not sure how I'll handle that!

I have discovered the wonderful thing that is Afterpay, this could be either really good or seriously bad! At the moment it is working in my favour as I have managed to get my daughter an amazing graduation dress with accessories and next week I will be doing the lunchbox order.

My twins are repeating kindergarten next year due to their development delays and kinder have amazing rules when it comes to food, nothing but water to drink, no chocolate, chips, not even fruit roll ups which have so much sugar and preservatives. The rules work really well for our lifestyle. I was scrolling the internet while my daughter was in an appointment and came across the Little Bento World website, these lunchboxes are PERFECT! They also sell cool little egg moulds, sandwich cutters, everything right up our alley! So I have made a list and it works out really affordable with Afterpay $60 a fortnight, 4 payments and a tonne of stuff!

Seriously how cool do they look? They also come in a range of colours so the kids all get their own colour to save arguing over who's lunchbox is who's.

My amazing find then got my brain ticking about all the fantastic things I can fill these babies with!

So I pulled up my trusty Lunchbox ideas eBook

Given the weather will still be nice at the beginning of the school year these Passionfruit Bliss Balls sound perfect!

Watch this space as I plan on posting everyday for the first month of the school year with all the awesome things the kids will be taking in their lunchboxes.