I had a major culinary success last night with the Split Pea Curry. It was so tasty I honestly struggled not to have a second bowl right away. I was a bit hungry. To be fair, I was a bit hungry. And hunger always does make food taste better. Still, I was pleased as punch over the recipe that I tweaked a bit here and there.
Now, I was a bit skeptical, but I did soak the split peas for 3 hours before cooking them. Split peas and lentils do not need soaking, but the recipe author stated that would reduce cooking time and it did. However, that means two pots and two pots to clean. Still ... mighty tasty.
While the split peas were cooking, I worked on the rest. This is where all my tweaks were. Here, you can see the carrots and potatoes cooking in the coconut milk (the curry mixture). I sautéed the onions and garlic, added the seasoning, then added the potatoes and carrots, and finally the coconut milk. It was the seasonings and method I changed most.
Here is the curry mixture with the split peas added. Mmmmm.....
Here it is in the bowl ... albeit briefly in there. The curry approach makes the dish slightly sweet. Basically, it was like eating a hug. I might add a bit more heat next time. Maybe ... maybe not. Oh, my! It was soooooooooooo very good! Just what I was aiming for in a new way to cook split peas.
The recipe calls for red potatoes. The first curry recipe I made, Vietnamese Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes, made me think that you could use sweet potatoes with this as well. I also spotted several split pea curry recipes online served over rice. So, if you are a rice fan, that is one way you could serve it. Me, I just chowed down on my bowl. Happily so.
Well, the flaxseed came today. As did a second NutriBullet. I am still trying to figure out what to do about the latter, although I was not charged for it. Anyway, so I had a fruit smoothie with protein powder, flaxseed, and chia seed. Hmm. To me, it certainly tasted healthy. I have unflavored yogurt and flavored. I will stick with the less-economical flavored yogurt going forward. I cannot imagine drinking veggies in a smoothie, but if I did, I think carrots would be what I could tolerate. I thought I would focus on fruits and fiber to start. After all, I do not want to find myself drinking a kale smoothie.
With the flaxseed came the blue cornmeal, so I want to start working on my bran muffins. Okay, that might not make sense, but what it does mean is that all of my bags of stuff are here and are now arranged on the shelves in the basement. Before those muffins, however, I need to work my cupboard. I sort of shoved one bag of each new item willy nilly. Okay, I actually put the flaxseed in the refrigerator and have the chia seed in a mason jar. Eventually, when I open the wheat germ, it also needs to go in the refrigerator. The rest, once opened, will probably be in mason jars. But that means some judicious reorganization of my cupboard.
To fit in the NutriBullet accessories, I reorganized my one deep drawer and moved a few extraneous items down to a bin in the basement ... as in extra straws, plastic forks and spoons (I cannot have metal in my mouth), and the straws and lids from all the freezer cups I keep breaking. I probably ought to just recycle those, but I put them away for now.
At the moment, the NutriBullet is on the counter, which is not conducive to my minimalist visual rest in the kitchen. I want to see if there is a way to reorganize the cookware in the upper cabinets to accommodate the NutriBullet. The thing is a very powerful workhorse, and I can already see how it makes short work of the whole smoothie thing.
Other than both reorganize and recognize the need for additional reorganization, I worked out the calories for the Split Pea Curry (251) and the berry smoothie (266) so that I could enter them into my Fitbit. I updated my medical expenses spreadsheet and carted more filing to the basement, but only put it in my bin, not the cabinet. To add steps today, I watered all the plants on the front porch. I cut down all the cardboard of all the boxes this "healthier" eating brought to my house and took it out to the recycling bin. [The thing is quite stuffed.] I put out more of the Bayer Advance Tree and Shrub systemic. I put the weed control my mother sent me into a container in the garage, after first scattering the granules in the thyme bed that is crawling with my neighbor's weeds. And I started to prune the silver dogwood bush, but I got too shaky to do a proper job.
I also walked around the front porch and the back yard looking for a place to put these ... a belated birthday present. [Note to the world: If you are going to send me critter stuff for my outdoor pleasure, I don't care if you remember the actual date of my birthday or not.] They are slightly GREEN (the sun is skewing the coloring), and it occurred to me that since Firewood Man accidentally broke the hummingbird miniature pot that was on the table on the back porch, I would put the birds there. That way they can keep my company whilst I am sitting in the GREEN rocking chair awaiting Amos to complete his business. I think the birds are quite adorable.
I miss my cockatiels.
SIGH.
No railing baluster repair today. No power washing either. I suppose all of my productivity was my way of managing my disappointment. I am utterly failing in the patience department even though I completely understand Tim's priorities and the things that have driven the long delay on finishing the back stair railing.
Now ... I'm off to find me a fiber-fill, but still tasty bran muffin recipe.
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