double goodness

The day before leaving for my trip to Ohio, as if I didn’t have enough to do, I tried to recreate a meal we had while dining out recently.  A few weeks ago I mentioned eating the most amazing Dal Saag [lentils + spinach] at Taj Mahal, a local Indian restaurant.  Since then I have scoured the interwebs looking for a recipe.  I came across a few, but none sounded like they were going to give the result of what we had in the restaurant.  It was so buttery rich and creamy.  The recipes I found used butter or ghee, but not a lot and they didn’t call for all that much spinach.  This restaurant version was completely packed with spinach.

I ended up taking a few ideas from multiple recipes and just sort of winging it.  I was not too hopeful, but stood in the kitchen cooking away for about an hour, jotting down notes on a piece of paper, until it tasted right.

The result was not Dal Saag.  Or at least, not the same Dal Saag we had.  At all!

But it was Dal delicious.

I first I wasn’t even sure which type of lentil to use.  There were a few recipes that specified a legume with an Indian name, a few that called for yellow split peas, and maybe one that called for green lentils.

After a bit of tweeting for help, I decided to use green lentils.  Sometimes yellow split peas can become really mushy, and I did not want that to happen.

A lot of spices were used in this recipe.  I hope you don’t have to go on a wild goose chase to find them!  If you have a bulk spice section, that will be your best bet.  A few recipes called for curry leaves + fenugreek leaves, neither of which I could find.  But, I did find fenugreek, which I’ve never used before.  According to Wikipedia, it’s used as an herb + a spice and is used in many curries.  It smelled wonderfully flavorful.  I will definitely be using this in my Indian cooking more often!

Pictured below:

• fenugreek – yellow grain looking stuff
• mustard seeds – tan round seeds
• cumin – green/brown seeds

The recipe isn’t difficult, but requires a little bit of time.  The lentils have to be cooked first, which take 45min.  They can be cooked ahead of time and stored in the fridge for a few days as well. 

This meal is packed with flavor and loaded with protein [from the lentils!].  It’s also filled with spices like turmeric + ginger, that have been shown to have a long list of health benefits.

These photos were taken with bright white lights, in the kitchen, in total darkness.  Not terrible for cheap, artificial light. ;)

I was shocked this turned out to be a recipe-worthy meal and because it did, I just had to share!

Ashley’s Not Dal Saag [serves ~4]

• 3T butter [or olive oil]
• 1 1/4c uncooked green lentils [~3c cooked]
• 1 large bunch fresh spinach, washed + chopped
• 1t mustard seeds
• 1/2t turmeric
• 1/2t cumin seeds
• 1/2t ground cumin
• 1T fresh grated ginger
• 1 mild green chilies [small can ~3/4c]
• 1/2t salt
• 1/2t ground black pepper
• 1/4-1/2t garam masala
• 1t fenugreek
• 1/2T chili powder
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1c veggie stock

1. Rinse green lentils + cook according to package directions.  Drain + set aside.  Do this the 1-3 days before and store in the fridge, if you like.
2. In a large pan over medium heat, heat the butter.
3. Add in mustard seeds, fenugreek and cumin seeds, stirring for about 30sec-1min, or until fragrant.
4. Add in the cooked lentils, ground cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, garam masala [start with 1/4t], chili powder, and garlic.  Stir and reduce heat to med-low for about 3-5min.
5. Add in green chilies + chopped spinach.  Stir to combine and cook for another 3-5min, stirring once or twice.
6. Add in veggie stock, stirk, cover and let simmer [on med-low to low, depending] for about 30min, or until veggie stock is absorbed.  It should be nice + thick.  If it’s still wet, leave uncovered and let simmer until more liquid is absorbed.
7. Taste and add more garam masala, salt + pepper if needed.  I used about 1/2t garam masala, but it’s quite spicy, so add slowly.

*I cooked brown rice on the side and started it about 10min before this dish.

*I used a large bunch of fresh spinach, because it’s a lot sturdier + thicker than baby spinach you find in a tub.  If you can’t find fresh spinach, I would sub in about 6-8 handfuls/cups of baby spinach.  You can always add more as it’s cooking.

*The fenugreek holds a lot of flavor.  If you can’t find it, this dish will definitely be lacking a bit.  Add more spices as you see fit!  Taste along the way.

And if that didn’t fill you up enough, here’s a new breakfast recipe!

It’s a version of Kath’s delicious Dough Boy Smoothie. 

What I love about this recipe, besides the taste factor, is that all of the ingredients are combined the night before in your blender.  Then in the morning, you just blend away + pour in a bowl.  Little mess + ready in less than a minute.  Look at how thick this is before blending!!

This was filled with fresh organic strawberries + banana.  One of my very favorite flavor combinations!

Strawberry Banana “Dough Boy” Smoothie [adapted from KERF]

• 1/4c rolled oats
• 1/4c oat bran
• 2/3c unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2t vanilla extract
• 1T chia seeds
• 1/2 very ripe banana
• 6-8 large organic strawberries [fresh or frozen]

1. Add milk to your blender, and then all other ingredients.
2. Stir + cover with saran overnight or at least 1hr prior to eating.
3. Blend until smooth.  Add more liquid if desired.

The result?  An extremely thick, slightly sweet, fruity, creamy, satisfying bowl, of pure goodness.

Oh.

and then.

Top it with more banana.

And melted pnut butter + coconut butter.

Now I’m craving drippy peanut butter.  And strawberries.  Better get to bed so breakfast comes quick!

Night!

Ashley

pea dippin’

Monday morning craving?

A massive bowl of creamy, corny oats. 

Quicksand for the banana!

Topped with about 1T coconut butter, Love Grown Foods cocoa goodness, 1/2 banana, 1/2T chocolate chip cookie dough almond butter.  If you can believe it, I couldn’t quite finish this bowl!  Today was a busy + thoroughly exhausting day.  I didn’t eat lunch until 3pm and dinner wasn’t until 9:30!

I managed to squeeze in a mid-day workout and then ran a slew of errands.  Since I knew I would be out for awhile, I packed Vega Shake n’ Go, which I’m trying to use up.  I have the tropical flavor, and am not a fan, but it’s good in a pinch.

When I finally arrived home, this lunch [not my whole lunch] was put together in snap! 

It started with frozen peas, thawed under cold water.

And was quickly whipped into pea dip!  I saw this recipe on Kath’s blog recently and it sounded fabulous.  She made a lavender salt version with cilantro, but I didn't have either of those on hand.  And you know I’m not a cilantro fan!

This is a 5minute recipe.  You can use a blender, food processor, magic bullet and even a mini food processor.  You can also easily adapt it to suite your taste buds.  Here’s what I was feelin’… 

Pea Dip [I just like saying that] serves 1-2 adapted from Kath’s Lavender Pea Hummus

• 1c frozen, thawed peas
• 1 clove garlic
• 2T salt + pepper cashew butter [or tahini/almond butter/plain cashew butter/etc.]
• 1/4t salt
• black pepper to taste
• sprinkle of cayenne
• 2T apple cider vinegar [or lemon juice]
• 2c loosely packed spinach

1. Thaw peas in a colander.  [I ran cool water over them.]
2. Throw everything in your blenderizing machine of choice + blend away!  Blend until desired consistency is met.

The best thing about this recipe, is that it creates a lot of dip and it’s okay to eat the whole batch!!

I ate 1/4 of it with a spoon, 1/2 of it with lunch and saved the last 1/4 for tomorrow.  It’s a great veggie sandwich topper, or just for dipping veggies. 

Today, I brought back the rainbow chard.  It’s been awhile!

Veggie rollups??  Sure thing!  These were incredibly delicious.  Bread, what bread?  Didn’t miss it at all!  Okay, well sometimes. 

I stuffed 2 large chard leaves with 1/2 of the pea dip, carrots, tomato, ground flax, salt + pepper. 

Even better than I expected!!  Love all that crunch!

Better rest up for a full day of house action.  So many little things to do!!  We’re hoping to get the washer + dryer in the 3rd bedroom in a few days, which means we can finally start unpacking.  Getting closer!!

Ashley

a little zing

Lately, a lot of you have been mentioning/asking me 2 things.

1. How do I come up with the some of my food combinations?  For instance: tempeh/apple/pumpkin/pnut butter sandwich


2. I wish I liked salad as much as you.

To answer question #1 – 90% of the time, I am literally just throwing things together, based on whatever randomness is in our fridge.  I haven’t made a lot of full-on, recipe-following meals lately, because I haven’t had the time or energy.  However, I am still cooking.  I think about food a lot.  I think about my next meal almost right after the meal I just ate.  I start to brainstorm.

I really want a bagel for lunch.  That won’t hold me over too long, so I need to beef it up with something else.  I have a 1/4 block of tempeh leftover.  Tempeh and bread work.  If I just lightly toast the tempeh, I can combine it with other things in the fridge.  I want something crunchy.  I have apples.  Apples + cheese go perfectly on a sandwich or bagel.  Maybe apples and tempeh would too.  Tempeh doesn’t have much flavor, so maybe I’ll add some peanut butter.  Peanut butter + bagels + apples = success, so maybe tempeh would be good too.  Oh, wait, I have leftover pumpkin.  I might as well just add it in and see what happens.  It will add moisture to the sandwich, like mayo or mustard typically would.

So there you have it.  The thought process of putting my lunch together.  Exhilarating, I know.

Now let’s talk about comment #2. Salad haters.  I used to be one.  No shame!  First, you need to find which lettuce you like the best.  Right now I’m on a spinach kick, but about a year ago, I was really sick of it.  I also used to really like arugula, but got burnt out on it and don’t like it at all now.  Romaine is one of my favorites, as is raw kale.

After you pick you lettuce, you can’t just pour the dressing on.  I would understand why you hate salads, if you do this.  You need to fill the salad with other foods you love.

• chickpeas [roasted, perhaps?]


• sweet potato cubes


• black beans


• avocado


• fresh basil


• tomatoes


• mushrooms


• carrots


• pickles!!


• cucumbers


• croutons


• almonds


• nutritional yeast


• sesame seeds


• pepitas


• hummus


• etc.etc.etc.

Don’t like veggies?  What about putting fruit on your salad?

• spinach or arugula


• strawberries/apples/pears


• almonds/walnuts


• stinky blue cheese or gorgonzola

Sometimes I get bored with my salads too, which calls for some extra creativity.

I mean, this isn’t anything revolutionary, but it changed things up a bit + was very refreshing.

Do you ever add citrus to your salad?  If not, you must try.  Little clementine slices?  Yup!  Lemon in your dressing?  Sure thing.  Delicious + zingy.

Who doesn’t like a good zing?



Salad contents:

• spinach


• cherry tomatoes


• cucumber


• mushrooms


• clementine – the star of the show


• walnuts


• salt + pepper


• sprinkle of dried thyme

For the dressing, I wanted something citrusy + sweet.  I do not buy store bought dressings.  I just don’t like them!  I’ve tried way too many and have wasted way too much money in the process.  Plus, I like to control what ingredients are going into it.

In this mix:

• ~1.5T hemp oil [can use other high quality salad oil – walnut/almond/sunflower/etc]


• 1t local raw honey


• 1-2T fresh lemon juice


• s+p to taste


• sprinkling of fresh or dried thyme

Nothing exact here.  I just tasted along the way.



I will say, mushrooms + citrus aren’t the best combo, but other than that this was refreshing, crunchy, and fun.  Yes, I just called my salad fun.



Have you had any good salad combos lately??

…

And now, just a little snippet from Friday night with the bro + sis in law.

Natalie is just about 7 months along in her pregnancy + looking so lovely!  Her baby bump is the cutest.  I can’t wait to meet my niece!!!!

They headed up to Ft. Collins to hang out with us for the night.

Bashful Pat, requested we eat at Tasty Harmony.  The veggie/vegan/GF friendly restaurant.  Fine by me!!!  Chris + I love this restaurant.



Come July, they will be parents!!!



We scarfed down a vegan artichoke dip [SO good], faster than the speed of light, and anxiously awaited dinner.



Dork.



I went with the jackfruit tacos.  A new-to-me dish.  I typically get something different every time I go.

Two crispy taco shells filled with jackfruit and tempeh cooked in Mexican spices, topped with guacamole, salsa fresca , sour cream and shredded lettuce. Served with black beans and Spanish rice.

OH my.  Were these good!



Everyone else at the table got the Kentucky Fried Freedom.  The chard greens were delicious!!  You can’t see but there is a pile of mashed potatoes behind the “mock” chicken [house-made seitan, the best I’ve ever had] as well.  The most amazing vegan gravy ever.  YUM.

Battered and pan fried mock chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, black eye peas and garlicky greens.

And with that, we called it a night.  Chris + I were so exhausted that we were IN bed before midnight, which doesn’t even happen on the weekdays.  Time to get a-movin!  So much to do!

Ashley