Green Curry in a hurry

The kids are coming over for lunch. W bought a jar of Trader Joe's green curry and plain paratas. Our d-i-love Melissa dropped off Major Grey chicken curry at the end of the week. Those three items provide my inspiration for Sunday's lunch for 8.

I cook by smell, so after the jar of green curry is open, I pause to sniff the contents. Potatoes. That's what that curry says to me. Potatoes. I snag a few, scrub them, and cut them into 1/2" cubes. I'll need onions, and there's a big half cooling in the conservatory. While I'm out there, I spot a yam. Chop, dice, slice. After I saute the onions in 3 tbsp Asian corn oil, I turn up the heat to medium high, adding the potatoes and yams, and stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.

Before I add the curry, I think to myself, "This doesn't look like much food!" Ok, what shall I add? I open a new package of Mae Ploy green curry paste and a can of coconut milk. After I fry the curry paste in (Another!) 2 tbsp. of oil, I gradually add coconut milk. Rummaging through my kitchen pantry, I haul out three cans: sliced mushrooms, whole bamboo shoot tips, and sliced water chestnuts. Can opener, please. In they go, with the curry paste and coconut milk. Once they've cooked about 5 minutes, I add back the potatoes and yams. I mix in 2 tbsp of soy sauce and the TJ green curry. Cover it, quick. It simmers 10 minutes while we grill the paratas on the stovetop, and heat the Major Grey curry in another pot.

There's almost nothing left, just enough vegan green curry, for lunch Monday. Wish I'd taken pictures of the table feast. I forgot, and was too busy cooking and chatting with family to snap the meal in process. Instead, I take a photo of Monday's lunch leftovers, colored by veges on the side.

Rating: 5/5
Taste: savory and complex curry with a bit of bite, a fantastic combination of creamy and crunchy (water chestnuts, just-one potatoes, bamboo shoots). It hit the spot for me!
Prep time: 25 minutes (including finding ingredients)
Tea: Irish black, with 1/2 tsp. chai spices, and as much sweetened condensed milk as anyone cared to pour for themselves. Oh yum! peppery and sweet.
Calories: who knows. Rich, rich, rich indulgence.

1 beet and 1/2 bag of brussed sprouts = ?

My mom steams a beet, cuts it in half, and tosses it into a bowl. She finds a half bag of Brussel sprouts. "We have to eat these." And, "What should we make for lunch?"

Mom's here to take care of our daughter while my husband was on a business trip. He's back, but in the meantime, she's had more food adventures here than in a long while.

I look in the cupboard. We have no cashews, but we have dried, flaked, unsweetened coconut. (Vitamix with water for coconut milk.)

Open the fridge. Peanut butter. I like where this is going. I ladle a heaping tablespoon full, into the blender. I add a 1/2 tsp. minced garlic.

Steamed veges. Meanwhile Mom's boiling carrots. OK.

She laments the cabbage smell: "I should have put in a half lemon with the Brussel sprouts. That takes away the smell during cooking."

"Sure, get me a lemon," I say. Mom cuts a lemon in half. I scoop the juicy flesh into the blender. Add a half teaspoon of Trader Joe 21 seasoning, Jamaican curry spice, and smoked paprika.

We need to make two batches by now. Puree all. A beautiful crimson red-orange (green disappears) starts to emerge from the blades of the Vitamix upward. You never get this colour from a tin! It needs 1/2 c. water. Then it blends beautifully!

"It looks beautiful in every bowl!" our daughter exclaims. She's right. I snag her Iphone camera for a shot. The color is too bright to believe, if you're not at the table.

It needs salt, but with heavy rye bread, toasted, and smoked farmer sausage, it is yummy!

Rating: 4/5
Flavor: savory, peanut-buttery, creamy, hearty
Calories: 450 with 1/2 slice toasted bread. (Sausage extra.)
Time to prepare: 10 minutes
Tea: none - no time. I have to get back to my desk.

Strange salad

I'm in the mood for a salad.

I was waiting for a phone call all morning so didn't have breakfast. That means lunch needs substance. I have spelt berries (wheat) and a half cube of curry flavoring. 1/2 c. of berries to 3 1/2 c. water? Might work. I crumble in the edge of a vegan bouillon cube. The mix boils for 10 minutes.

 

Then I add some sprouted dry grains and cook another 10 minutes. While I'm waiting, I sort and wash the greens and put them in a big mixing bowl.

After 20 minutes, the water is almost gone, so I find some broccoli florets and toss them in to steam. Soon the grains and bean are brown and the broccoli is bright green. I dump the whole thing over the cleaned lettuce and stir. Ah, I need a little packet of wasabi peas for zip.

 

It's pretty and tastes okay. Like nothing my mother ever made, though. I can't think of anything I'd add or take away, so that's a good sign.

Rating: 3/5

Taste: the mild Asian curry goes surprisingly well with spelt and beans

Calories: 400. A little grain goes a long way; I have at least half left over for next time.

Time to prepare: 25 minutes

Tea: Timothy's Earl Grey (bag)

Plain and simple

Scottish oatmeal. Ah, a breakfast to warm the heart and tummy.

1 c. stone-cut oats
3 c. water *(option: sub up to 1 c. water with "milk," but watch that it doesn't boil over)

After it boils, turn down the heat and stir.

Go away for a half hour. Stir again. Turn off the heat.

Let it sit or serve it. I forget about it for 1/2 hour. When I come back, it's soft and fabulous.

Add it to my favorite bowl (from Anthropologie) topped by a sprinkle of brown sugar and a puddle of soy milk. The bird painting barely peeks over breakfast. Practically perfect.

Rating: 5/5 You can't eat much better than this
Taste: hearty, hot.
Calories: 500
Time to prepare: 25-30 minutes
Tea: Jasmine black leaves. Rinsed, then steeped in a Christmas pot.

Just can't wait!

I'm so hungry at 11 am (no breakfast yet) that I toss together a great sandwich:
heated 30 sec in microwave: leftover tofu from a Bahn Mi at YehYeh's

tuck tofu into olive pannini bread slit in half, and microwave 10 sec.
open sandwich, add some bitter mesculine leaves with a dribble of O&V salad dressing.

Fabulous. Before I know it, it's almost gone!

Rating: 4/5
Taste: warm, filling, savory
Calories: 500
Preparation time: 2 min.
Tea: green Novi bag. Ok

Lovely fingerlings with raisins

W brings home some fingerling potatoes. The bag boasts a pesto recipe that has cheese. No no. I'm vegan, remember? I build the potatoes in salted water for 14 minutes after slicing the biggest ones in half lengthwise.

Meanwhile, I combine a tsp. of olive oil, a few dices of onion, and a knife-tip of minced garlic in a saucepan. The fragrance starts to fill the room as they saute... about 5 minutes on medium until the onion is translucent.

I've got some carrots, oranges, and raisins from a previous meal, so I add that to the onion mix and warm it for about 3 minutes.

I love my old Chinese strainer, that makes it easy to fish out potatoes when they're cooked. The steam rises off the hot potatoes.

Put everything together, stir, and serve. (No special plate today, just an everyday Royal Doulton Designs Parquet.)

The purple, red, and yellow potato skins burst open with every bite. The orange peel adds a hint of bitter along with tart and sour. The raisins and carrots add sweetness. Garlic, oranges, potatoes, onions. Who knew?

Rating: 4/5.
Taste: sweet, hearty, savory without being heavy.
Time to prepare: 15 minutes
Calories: 400 or less. The potatoes: 125; oil and onion, 175, carrots, oranges, raisins, maybe 100
Tea: black

The breakfast of Swiss champions

So I'm not Swiss.

And I'm not a champion of anything.

But Muesli is a staple that is quick, easy to fix, requires no cooking, and tastes so delicious that it's hard to beat.

Ingredients for the base: 
1/2 dried fruit, seeds, and nuts
1/2 rolled grains 
Add your own small grains or supplements,  like wheat grass powder, "horse yeast' (whatever it is that my dad buys), chia seeds, etc.


Mix the base with equal parts of fresh, chopped fruit. Wet to a consistency you like, using milk, juice, tea, and/or yogurt... stir and yum. 

My own morning feast came together like this: toss a few handfuls of rolled oats, rye, barley, and tricale into a big mixing bowl.

Add raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds), raw almonds, raw sunflower seeds, chia seeds, dried raw coconut, dried cherries..

Put everything in a big mixing bowl, and choose a plate. This morning, it was an oldie but goodie we bought in Chinatown while living in Vancouver 25 years ago.

Mix, then put 1/2-1 c. of muesli mix into a cereal bowl with chopped fresh fruit (an apple from our own trees). Trust me, you don't need much of the mix: it expands and provides a lot of nutrition that will stick with you until lunch!

Then add soy yogurt. (I made my own overnight with live culture peach yogurt from Trader Joes and soy milk from Costco.)

 

I poured Vita-Mix-ed OJ (Costco orange plus a bit of water) over top, wrung out the teabag over the mix, and oh yum, yum. Breakfast is served.

Rating: 4/5. Depending on additives of fruit and liquids, this can taste different every time.
Taste: crunch, mix of flavors, good blend of sweet (fruit and coconut) and savory (grains and nuts) and sour (juice, yogurt, and dried cherries). Plus it sticks to the ribs: you will be full until lunch.
Time to prepare: 3-5 minutes in the morning. 3 minutes to toss ingredients together, or under a minute if you keep a mix on your countertop; 2 minutes to chop fruit, add juice, milk or yogurt, etc.
Calories: 550: 80 OJ, 350 3/4 c. grains and nuts?; 50 (3 oz yogurt); 70 small apple.
Tea: some plain old floor sweepings disguised in a tea bag (Typhoo?)