Lentil Curry

My family loves just about any dish served over rice, as you'll be able to see from a large majority of the recipes I post here. This one is a favorite of mine because I adore curry and lentils too! Lentil + curry... it just makes sense! It is very addicting and much tastier than you could ever imagine by looking at it so do yourself a favor and make it. Your welcome!

Lentil Curry

Rinse 2 cups of lentils and then soak them in cold water for 20 minutes. Then cook until soft. (About 40-60 minutes.) Strain and set aside.

1 large onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger root, minced

Saute the above in a couple of tablespoons of healthy oil (EVOO, grapeseed or coconut) until the onions are soft and translucent.

Add:

2 Tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt
1 28 oz can Muir Glen Fire roasted diced tomatoes

Allow to simmer for 5 minutes and add lentils. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Add pre-cooked sausages if desired. Serve over jasmine rice.

Cucumber Basil Smoothie

Blender Magic.

2 handfuls of Basil leaves
1/2 large cucumber or 1 whole smallish cucumber
1 mango
1 cup green grapes
1/2 cup orange juice
Ice

Blend until smooth and add enough ice to make it the desired consistency and temperature.

Spicy Beef Pineapple Curry

I started out making Melanie's Coconut Pineapple Chicken Curry. It is delicious and I've eaten it made by Melanie herself. However, I decided to tweak a few things to fit our family's tastes and to match what I had on hand. Turns out that I changed enough of the recipe around it became something different, warranting its own recipe.

1 lb stew beef pieces
salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons curry powder
One batch of almond milk leftover puree* or 1/4 cup of nut flour
1/2 cup of flour (I used sorghum flour)
1 Tablespoon Turmeric
cayenne to taste
Coconut oil for pan frying

1 onion chopped (chop small if you have children who aren't fans)
1 green pepper chopped (same as above applies)
4-7 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon minced ginger

1 can of coconut milk
1 small package of frozen corn (optional, add whichever vegetables sound good to you)
1 small package of frozen peas (optional)
1/2 fresh pineapple, chopped (save the rest in the freezer for smoothies.)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 Tblsp corn starch


Mix spices and flours in a large container. Add meat and shake to coat the pieces evenly. Brown the coated meat in coconut oil on medium high. Remove from pan. Cook onion, pepper, garlic and ginger until browned. Return meat to pan. Add remaining ingredients except cornstarch. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. Add some water to cornstarch and add to mixture to thicken.

Serve with brown rice.


*I make almond milk with my Vitamix. I use one cup of almonds and 4 cups of water. After it's blended, I strain the solids out to leave the milk. I then dehydrate the solids and granulate to use as a breading.

Tangy Mushrooms

1 container of fresh mushrooms, cleaned and left whole
2 cups beef or chicken stock
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 cup orange juice



Put clean mushrooms in a saucepan, add other ingredients and bring to a boil. Continue to simmer with the lid off until liquid has reduced, thickened slightly and has become tangy and slightly sweet. Fifteen to twenty minutes?

Fruit Juice Jell.o

Made this with the kids today. Delicious! I wasn't expecting it to be so good! I only had a couple small bites, since I'm off sugar right now, even natural sugar like honey.

Creole with Chicken, Sausage or Shrimp

It's "Fat Tuesday" and to celebrate, we're having Creole. I lived in Louisiana for a few years as a kid and have returned several times for vacation and Gregg and I even went to New Orleans for our honeymoon. I really love the culture there. The music, the food, the people, the architecture, the food. My favorite Creole and Cajun foods are the spicy dishes. Gregg prefers the sweet though a nice pot of red beans and rice would satisfy him BEFORE the double serving of bread pudding. (He'll skip the crawfish every time though.)

Creole is a favorite spicy dish of mine. It can be made with chicken or shrimp as well. Tonight I was just really in the mood for some andouille. Now if I could only figure out how to make bread pudding with no gluten and no sugar. Shouldn't be TOO difficult, right?



Chicken/Shrimp/Sausage Creole

1 medium onion, chopped
1 chopped green bell pepper
2 ribs of celery, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen organic fire roasted tomatoes)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp thyme
Cayenne pepper to taste (I like mine spicy!)
Sea salt
Plenty of fresh ground red pepper
2 bay leaves
1 pound of boned and skinned chicken breast, cooked and chopped OR one pound of cooked shrimp, OR one pound of andouille sausage. (I like Sausage by Amy brand andouille. Just enough spice without all the nitrates.)

Sauté first 4 ingredients in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes and the next 6 ingredients. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Remove half of the tomato mixture from the pan and process it in the blender until smooth. Add it back to pan and stir in chicken, sausage or shrimp and cook for 5-10 more minutes on medium heat. Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve over hot cooked brown rice.

Spicy Strawberry Mango Syrup

My daughter wanted crepes this morning. I decided I wanted something a little sweet to go in them. So I got creative.

Ingredients:

1 lb of strawberries, diced (minus what your four-year-old steals while you cut them)

1 mango, peeled and diced

Juice of one orange

3 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp black pepper

dash of sea salt

2 Tblsp corn starch (or other thickener)

Put strawberries and mango in a saucepan with just enough water to come to the same level. Bring to a boil. Add vinegar and orange juice, pepper and salt and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get too dry and stick to the pan. Stir frequently.

Continue to boil until it is reduced by about half. Combine corn starch with about a 1/2 cup of water. Stir to create a slurry and add to the pan. Stir and bring back to a boil for just a minute, until thick. Remove from heat and let cool.

It's just a little spicy on its own. You could add more or less pepper as you see fit. I also think a little bit more tanginess would be nice. I might try to add some orange zest and a little more balsamic vinegar next time.

We ate ours with some gluten-free dairy free crepes topped with coconut cream that my friend Mary introduced me to. She got the recipe from this blog.

Hannah said, "Mom, I can't lie. I'm a happy girl!"