Chili?

Walking home tonight in the cold, I thought I smelled chili (I later figured out it was curry). Either way, my mind was made up. I had some dry red lentils, and bought some big butter? beans and black beans. I'm pretty sure chili doesn't exist in Japan, so I really am winging it.

I used:
2/3 C dry red lentils
1 3/4 C water
(Double the water portion of dried lentils plus some for good measure. You don't want it sticking to the pan, youc an always cook it down).

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.

Then I added:
Probably 1 C chopped onion
Hand full of chopped tomatoes
pre-cooked black and big beans of some sort
1 tsp of garlic puree
1 Tbsp soy sauce (for salt)
2 Tbsp ketchup (I really needed tomato sauce)
1 C pre-cooked macaroni*

spices to taste:
cayenne
dried chilis
chipolte tabasco sauce
garlic tabasco sauce
thyme, parsley, oregano, basil

So simmer all your veggies and beans and spices and what not for about 5 minutes.
Don't burn your tongue scarfing it down!


I know it doesn't really look like chili, (it would if I had tomato sauce), but I work with what I got! As you can see, I bought a pointsetta tonight. Really fits the theme of "It's getting cold and I want to be warm with warm food"

*I may get some flack for putting pasta in chili. The "old country" theory is you put stuff, like pasta, in your food to stretch it out, so you get more without using more of the main ingredients. You pick up techniques from your family when you're learning to cook! REPREZENT.
(At least it's not ON spaghetti. Macaroni is the only acceptable pasta to use.)

Thai Tofu

Maybe I haven't been properly introduced to Thai food, but I'm not a fan of it. However, I did try some Thai Sweet Chili Sauce and was won over. So then began the process to search out anything to put this luscious sauce on.

I used:
1/2 block of firm tofu, turn off into chunks, pan-fried in 1 Tbsp of grapeseed oil
Diced onion
Diced green pepper
Chunks of zucchini
2 Tbsp Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Fry tofu until golden brown and slightly crispy. Add veggies til soft. Add 1 Tbsp of chili sauce to simmer in for a minute.

Serve with a side of brown rice (3/4 C). Pour the other tablespoon of sauce over the top. Chow down!



519 Calories. 43 Carbs. 29g fat, 28g protein.
(to half the fat content, leave out oil, and subtract 120 calories)
I know that looks like a lot but thats a dinner (or lunch) that won't leave you wanting a snack!

Dinner for two

Have something nice to celebrate, or just want a nice dinner?


Mushroom Stroganoff*, Himalayan Curried Soup*, fresh bread and salad with hummus. And of course, 1993 sparkling wine. mmm!




*I knicked the base idea and edited these from Dr. McDougall's site.

I think the soup was my favorite part. I usually hate rice in soupy bases, but my-oh-my it was real good! Beans would have been good in this too.

Edits
Mushroom Stroganoff:
Macaroni, 3 unknown types of mushrooms I got in the sale bin. Needed more cornstarch. No cayenne or wine.

Curried Soup:
no coriander or celery. Used up all sorts of veggies. Zucchini, carrots, broccoli, green pepper, etc.

French Toast!

Thick slices of good bread. Let sit unwrapped in the fridge overnight.

Mix faux milk, cinnamon, and vanilla extract in a wide bowl. Lightly dip bread in both sides quickly. Do not soak!

Place in a frying pan on LOW heat! Cannot rush these things! It cooks the center and lightly browns the sides. When the bottom looks a nice pretty golden brown, flip, and repeat!

Enjoy with REAL maple syrup (if you can't get it locally made, make the sacrifice and fork over the wad of cash. It's worth it!)

Easy Veggie Spaghetti

This dish is great because its dirt cheap. Generic pasta and veggies in the discount section makes it taste oh so much better and fresher!

Today I used about 65 grams of spaghetti pasta, broken in half. I think that may be half of the one serving "spaghetti hole" calculator.

sauteed:
zucchini
onion
green pepper
frozen carrot, peas, corn mix.
mushrooms (at the end)

I also steamed some greens at the very end. (I don't know what these are, they were a gift.. maybe radish sprouts?)

COOK your choice of pasta

BLEND for sauce:
big tomato
random chunks of: zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, onion, green pepper
salt
italian herbs

The sauce turned out sort of runny, so just add more veggies. you could even make it green sauce!

After draining the pasta, I added it back in the pan with the sauce to heat it up, and cook it down a bit to make it thicker. I added some freshly chopped tomatoes too.


COMBINE and CONSUME!!!






Everything except the pasta and frozen veg mix was FRESH. wow, so good.

(oh poo, my neighbor just stopped by and gave me carrots! that would have been so wonderful in this!)