Dinners thus far

[conuly]

Breakfasts tend to be a rotation of eggs + carb so I'm not listing those, and lunches are often leftovers, so likewise, but I thought I'd list our dinners thus far. (Technically, I post my meal plan each and every week, but I shove it behind a lock so only I can see it. Plus, I rarely follow it exactly.)

Sunday: I had one onion left (only one!!!! aaaahhhh!) so I fried that up with a few slightly wrinkled bell peppers and some cloves of garlic and then tossed it all with the last of a box of whole wheat pasta, some basil leaves, and a little bit of parmesean I had hiding in the back of the fridge. Total cost: nothing, I already had this stuff.

Monday: I bought more onions, then cooked up lentils with bell peppers (no onions) and a side of rice + quinoa, matchstick beets and onions cooked in coconut milk (which turns out to be an amazing way to cook beets - the coconut milk all absorbs and you get this great richness and wonderful mouthfeel), and oven roasted cauliflower that was about to turn bad. (Edit: Oh, and raita - I hadn't realized I had a cucumber, and I know it wasn't going to last much longer!) Cost: I bought onions. Noticed we're almost out of canned tomatoes. We haven't been out of canned tomatoes in years.

Today: I decided to fry up the chicken breast so it wouldn't turn on me, and then I forgot to go to the supermarket so there was nothing left to do but make peanut chicken stew. (Eva had plain chicken and rice, at her request, but I made her have her special meal after the boys left with their mom.) Turns out we were out of peanut butter, so I paid an exorbitant amount for a jar of Skippy at the corner store. Did you know the second and third ingredients are corn syrup solids and sugar? Yuck. Never doing that again. At least you couldn't taste it in the stew. Cost: $4 for peanut butter with corn syrup. Also, Ana caught me frying up chicken skin and demanded half, and I'm calling that a loss for me. Also also I didn't make breakfast because I overslept, so I prioritized making coffee instead.

Comments

[chasing_silver]

Peanut chicken stew sounds delicious!

[conuly]

It is, but Eva doesn't like it.

Could be worse. Used to be that Eva and Ana didn't like it.

[archangelbeth]

...beets in coconut milk... Huuuuh!

[conuly]

https://eatwellenjoylife.com/sri-lankan-coconut-beet-curry/

I used a can of coconut milk, I subbed onions for the shallots, and this time I did it from memory and so completely forgot the fenugreek and mustard seeds, but it still tasted great. (It also tasted great last time, when I remembered them.)

[darkoshi]

That does sound good. I've bookmarked the recipe.

[marahmarie]

Bookmarked it, too. Wondering if I can sub powdered spices for the fenugreek, cumin and mustard? In which case I'd just need to get fenugreek and some fresh beets.

[conuly]

You certainly can't sub powdered mustard for whole, sorry. It would completely change the taste profile of the dish. Better to leave it out entirely.

You might be able to sub powdered cumin and fenugreek (though I've never seen powdered fenugreek and it may be easier to not bother looking) but it won't taste quite the same.

[marahmarie]

Well, that just sucks. Thanks for the heads-up. I always have powdered yellow mustard/cumin/etc. on hand after I stopped buying seeds over how they can cause diverticulitis. Fenugreek is something I've never even tried!

Fenugreek powder

[marahmarie]

https://www.google.com/search?&q=fenugreek+powder

Exists, but from a flavor perspective, not sure if it's worth trying.

[conuly]

The powdered cumin won't taste exactly the same, I'll be upfront, but it should be close enough. If you have a spice grinder (we use a specially designated coffee grinder) you can make fenugreek seeds into powder. But if you don't already have fenugreek on hand I'm not sure it's worth buying just for this recipe - it really did work very well with only the cumin!

[marahmarie]

I'm intrigued as the first Google result described it as a cross in flavor between maple and celery (which led me to wonder why don't I just use maple and celery, but I have no maple syrup, either), and I love making curries (my curry jar's Supersize Me! size for a reason) so I wouldn't mind trying it, though I'd be willing in the meantime to make this recipe without it, since a lot of recipes can stand for either substitutions or doing without certain items. Thanks for the info! :)

[conuly]

I think Google must be drunk.

[marahmarie]

They'd have to be drunk to buy that first result, in other words?

Don't know if you found the page on your own but if not: https://www.google.com/search?&q=what+does+fenugreek+taste+like

I link to the search, not the first result because Google did obviously buy it. And the quote from that site says fenugreek is "often described as a cross between celery and maple".

CELERY AND MAPLE, YO

Huh!

[rebeccmeister]

I never knew this was a real thing.

There was one time, when I had a really bad head cold, and S had just been hit by a car while riding his bike, when the only organic vegetable I could obtain from the grocery store near his house was beets. So I tried making an Indian-style beet curry with coconut milk. It was...okay. More than anything we were grateful to have something to eat.

But now I want to try this.

Re: Fenugreek powder

[grammarwoman]

Heh - when I was breastfeeding my kid and worried about my milk supply, it was suggested that I take fenugreek supplements to boost my supply. I wound up exuding the aroma of curried maple syrup. It was...odd.

[wolby]

I am *definitely* trying this, thanks!

[conuly]

It smells vaguely maple-y - but not enough that I'd want to pour it on my pancakes! - but where they get celery from I dont' know.

[greghousesgf]

would anyone on here be at all interested in a link to an excellent spice shop that does mail order?

[conuly]

Hit me with it.

[greghousesgf]

https://oaktownspiceshop.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI98H_8oig3gIVSpyzCh0lwwRqEAAYASAAEgKHEPD_BwE

[archangelbeth]

Oooo, sounds neat! *also makes bookmarkity*

[conuly]

Thanks

Re: Fenugreek powder

[marahmarie]

Oh wow, there's something to that then, huh? Interesting! :)

[marahmarie]

Thanks for the link! Wish there was a shop like that (specifically: that one, as it looks just wonderful) near us.

[darkoshi]

It sounds like a good description to me. It has a slight sweet smell like maple, and a slight bitter taste reminiscent of celery.

Re: Fenugreek powder

[darkoshi]

Yep, I had the same problem, though with me it happened after eating fenugreek greens rather than the seeds

https://darkoshi.dreamwidth.org/504881.html

I agree, the flavor of the seeds isn't special enough to go out of your way to get them.

Re: Fenugreek powder

[marahmarie]

Huh, well. Thanks for letting me know!