top five friday.

#1 - i'll just get this one out of the way...dry shampoo. i know, i know. i sound like a broken record after yesterday's post, but it really has changed my life. thank you all so much for your feedback! i'm going to have great hair in no time. my cousin also recommended the conair infiniti wand for curling my hair as well, so i went and bought it last night. it was right before bed, so i wasn't trying real hard to make the curls look nice or anything, but for not trying, it worked pretty dang good. i've been looking up reviews for it all day and everyone that's reviewed it has loved it! you should check it out. oh, and look at this video. she does a pretty good tutorial on it.

#2 - the weather here in sunny california. {i'm pretty sure i've said this on top 5 before, but oh well. get over it} i went to the 'the natural cafe' for lunch yesterday and there was a sign on the door telling people to keep it closed because the air conditioning was on. in february. i don't think i've ever had the air conditioning on in february. by the end of the day, my office warms up enough that i actually start to sweat. {that's really not saying much though because i sweat really easily. tmi? sorry.} my point is that it's sure warmed up here and i am loving it! thank you air force for sending us to such a wonderful place during the winter.

#3 - a few weeks ago, i was having a bit of a crisis in not having a good book to read. i got a lot of recommendations and have actually made a reading list out of them. thanks guys. the one i'm currently reading though is one that was suggested by my sister-in-law: the clockwork angel.

i haven't been able to put it down. i read it at work, i read it before bed, i read it as soon as i wake up. it's ridiculous. you'd think i'd be finished after all that reading. maybe i'm just slow. it's a good one though. i highly recommend it, so far.

#4 - zachary and i are trying something out this week. we had stake conference at church on sunday and our stake president gave an incredible talk. i was surprised with how forward he was with uncomfortable topics! it was awesome. anyway, he encouraged us to take the 'nothing' out of our lives and put in more of the things that really matter. ie. reading your scriptures, spending time together as a family, doing service for others, etc. zachary and i thought about what kind of 'nothings' take up a lot of our time and we determined that we sit in front of the t.v. way more than is necessary. we're both at work all day, so when we come home, all we want to do is plop ourselves down on the couch and unwind. it's not all bad really. it gives us some good cuddling time and we get some really good laughs from 'new girl' and 'modern family'. we decided to do an experiment though and try to go an entire week without watching an ounce of television. we started on tuesday and so far it hasn't been too bad. is it hard knowing there are new episodes of 'how i met your mother', 'the biggest loser', and 'suburgatory' sitting in my dvr? yes. but i can't begin to tell you how crazy it is to see how much more time i have to get things done. {in other words, the house is somewhat clean for once} i've been impressed by the results and if things keep going the way they are, this could be the beginning to an end of cable t.v. in the averett household. {ok, that was a lie. probably just a major cutback}

#5 - chicken tikka masala and naan.

guys...oh. my. heck. this is hands down, my favorite meal of all time. just talking about it makes me salivate. our friends introduced us to it a couple months ago and they so kindly gave us their favorite recipe last weekend. and because i love you all so much, i'm going to share it with you too!

the original recipe can be found at allrecipes.com. it was super heavy on the salt and we didn't use a barbecue, so i've kind of tailored this recipe to what we did:

ingredients:

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup heavy cream

directions:

1. in a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. heat a large frying pan on medium heat.
3. pour the marinated chicken {marinade and all} in the frying pan and cook the chicken until no longer pink inside.
4. transfer chicken to a strainer and drain all marinade; set aside.
5. melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt.
6. stir in tomato sauce and cream. simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.
7. add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes.

now for the naan. naan is an indian flatbread and goes perfectly with chicken tikka masala. the recipe we used is from allrecipes.com as well. again, we didn't use a grill, so i've changed it to what we did:

ingredients:

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

directions:

1. 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.
2. 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 {i usually get 12-14 balls out of it}. cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3. during the second rising, preheat griddle to medium high heat.
4. roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. lightly grease griddle. place dough on grill, 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 grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

you have got to try it. it's incredible. it takes some time though. not a lot of work, just time. so since tomorrow is saturday and you have the day off {unlike some of us. boo}, make this for dinner because i promise you will not regret it. welcome to heaven my friends.

what are you loving this week?

-sarah