To celebrate Spring (and a massive apartment cleaning effort), my roommates and I had a few people over on Sunday for dinner. I made an eclectic main course of Chicken Tikka Masala with Cheddar Bacon Biscuits. Yes, I know it makes no sense together, but they are both great foods. I also cheated a bit with both. My recipe for the chicken uses the slow-cooker, which was perfect for a Sunday afternoon. The only problem that I ran across was that my local grocery store did not carry garam marsala spice blend (the recipe did come with a quite complicated substitution spice plan). I decided to take a chance on a jar of tikka masala marinade. In the end, it might have made the sauce a bit too rich, but overall, it turned out pretty delicious. The cucumbers on top really made this dish feel like spring.

For the biscuits, I completely cheated and used Jiff mix, following Rachel Ray’s recipe. I just didn’t have the time to make them from scratch. But, it is fun to play around with recipes and make them your own. Here, I made the biscuits much like my cookies- more “stuff” than dough. I did not use just 2 pieces of bacon, I think I must have made at least half a package. I wasn’t stingy with the shredded cheddar either! All in all, I very lovely holiday weekend quick dinner party. We had spinach dip and deviled eggs followed by my main course. There was also plenty of Lambrusco and Mimosas to go around. I am ready for Spring!