From Our Kitchen: Vegetarian Chickpea Curry with Coconut Rice

Y'all. Our dinner last night was so good! I know it may be hard to trust a pregnant lady on something like food, what with our reputation for constant hunger, eating of weird things, and so on, but you will just have to trust me when I say that you should absolutely make this at your earliest opportunity.

It's no secret that I am a big fan of most Asian foods, and I absolutely love curry. Almost every curry recipe I have ever made at home has been vegetarian, but I just think that the flavors and colors are all so wonderful that I have a hard time deviating. This recipe might just take the medal for being my new favorite curry, and can we please just talk about sugar snap peas for a moment? Sugar snap peas are not something I would normally buy. I mean, they just seem a little boring to me, and I am not the biggest fan of peas anyway. But douse some of those bad boys in some curry and holy crap I could probably eat my weight in them (except not really right now because, you know, shrinking stomach capacity and all).

What You'll Need:

Coconut Rice

• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1 cup water (or coconut water, but I didn't have any)
• 1/4 tsp salt

Curry

• 1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 leeks, cleaned and trimmed (white parts only)
• 1 red pepper, sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp red curry paste
• 3/4 bag of frozen sugar snap peas
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 can garbanzo beans

What You'll Do:

1. Begin by getting your rice started. Bring liquids to a boil. Add rice and salt. Cover and cook for 45 minutes (or just follow the instructions on your particular rice subbing out the coconut milk for part of your liquid).
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add coconut oil.
3. Once the oil has melted, add leeks and red pepper. Cook about 5 minutes.
4. Add garlic and curry paste, and stir to coat.
5. Add peas and coconut milk. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
6. Add chickpeas and cook another 5 minutes.
7. Add salt and/or red pepper to taste.
8. Serve curry over rice.
9. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is

From Our Kitchen: Vegan Pesto Pasta

We have been trying some new things in the kitchen this month, and while all of them have not been the greatest of successes, we were both pretty happy with this little dish. It is the perfect dinner dish for Meatless Mondays (or any meatless night you would like to have), and is also completely vegan and gluten-free. I think we have managed to cover most of the lifestyle and dietary considerations with this one, and bonus for it being very tasty! You can easily swap this up to be non-vegan (add some Parmesan to the pesto), non-vegetarian (add some chicken or shrimp), and/or non-gluten-free (use real pasta). Any way you make it, I am sure you will be happy with the end result.

What You'll Need:

• 4 medium to large-sized zucchini
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1 container cherry tomatoes
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, stems removed
• 1/2 cup, plus about 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 4 - 5 cloves garlic
• salt and black pepper

What You'll Do:

1. It's good to go ahead and prep everything because once you start cooking, this comes together very quickly.
2. To make pesto, toss spinach, basil, 1/2 cup olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, and salt to taste in a food processor. Process until smooth sauce is formed, scraping down sides as needed. Set aside.
3. Using a potato peeler or julienne peeler, peel zucchini into "zoodles". If you have never done this before this is a good video showing technique. I use a potato peeler and my noodles are just wide and flat vs thin. When you hit seeds in your peeling process, it is time to move on to a new section of zucchini. Easy peasy. After you have made your zoodles, set them aside.
4. Snap ends off asparagus, and then cut into thirds. Set aside.
5. Cut cherry tomatoes into quarters. Set aside.
6. Hit 2 tbsp olive oil in large saucepan.
7. Add asparagus and cracked black pepper, and cook about 4 - 5 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes, and cook another two minutes. Add zoodles, a bit of salt, and another splash of olive oil. Cook, mixing all together for a final two minutes (zoodles should be soft but not mushy).
8. Add pesto to taste (I recommend starting with a little bit, and adding more as your taste buds prefer).
9. Enjoy!

From Our Kitchen: Spaghetti Squash Marinara

Spaghetti squash has been something I have been wanting to cook for a good while now, but, until this past week, I could not find it in the store! I was delighted to find on in my local produce section this past weekend, and was eager to try out a recipe. When I cut into the squash, I discovered it reminded me of a pumpkin (perhaps why I could not find it in the store before now?). I was really excited about this, and was so happy with how it turned out! I felt like I had a huge bowl of pasta, but really I had a huge bowl of veggies. Plus, 1/2 cup of spaghetti squash has like 21 calories - amazing! I served our spaghetti squash with leftover marinara sauce from our Sunday pizza making, and also prepared some chicken parmesan to go with it. You could serve it with any sauce really - olive oil with salt, pepper, and parmesan, or a garlic sauce, or really whatever floats your boat! All in all it was delicious! Also, I should note, I was very surprised by how much "spaghetti" one squash yields. It is definitely enough for about 6 servings, if not more.

What You'll Need:

• Spaghetti squash
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Marinara sauce, or sauce of your choosing

What You'll Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut spaghetti squash in half
   
   
   
   
   
3. Remove seeds
   
   
   
4. Place squash open side down on baking sheet, and roast for about 45 minutes
   
   
   
5. Remove squash from oven, and allow to cool completely (about 15 minutes)
6. Completely shred the insides of the squash with a fork (as soon as you begin to shred a part of it, you will see how totally easy this is)
   
   
   
7. Scrape all of the "noodles" into a large bowl
   
   
   
8. Lightly drizzle with olive oil, season with salt & pepper
9. Serve with sauce of your choosing
10. Enjoy!

From Our Kitchen: Quinoa Fried Rice

Can I just tell you one more time that we really love Asian food? Would you be okay with that? Okay, good, glad we got that out of the way because we do really love Asian food! Fried rice is one of those amazing vices on the menus at most Chinese and Japanese hibachi restaurants. You know you probably shouldn't love it, but, alas, love it you do. I found this recipe on the Pinterest (seriously - who among you does not just love the Pinterest?), and knew this love of fried rice combined with a newishfound love of quinoa would be a potent combination for our taste buds on one fine day. I made a few minor adjustments to the recipe, and was absolutely amazed at how much it tasted like the real, restaurant version thing! Oh quinoa, you beautiful, versatile, little grain, you!

What You'll Need:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1/4 small onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped and peeled
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 1/2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
• 2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3/4 tsp sesame oil

What You'll Do:

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions. After cooking, fluff with fork, and store in fridge (up to overnight).
2. Mix teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a small bowl; set aside.
3. Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan over high heat. Add onion and carrot. Cook about 7 minutes, or until onion and carrot are softened.
4. Add garlic and ginger. Cook another 2 minutes.
5. Add in the rest of the olive oil and quinoa. Stir fry about 2 minutes.
6. Add sauce and stir-fry until mixed well, about 2 minutes.
7. In a separate pan, scramble your two eggs. Add to the stir-fry.
8. Toss in the peas until warmed through.
9. Serve alone, or as a side to your favorite asian main dish!

From Our Kitchen: Thai Red Curry Lentils

As you may have figured out by now, we really, really love Asian and Indian food (although, Indian is definitely a new found love!). Thai food, especially, has definitely been one of my very favorites for many years now - probably since the days of Cha De Thai in Boone (any other Boonites out there remember that little gem?). I stumbled across this recipe when making my grocery list for the week, and trying to find a good vegetarian Thai dish. I made some modifications, and volia! - a new dish to add to the rotation! We tend to like things spicier than most, and this was nowhere near spicy enough for us, even with the addition of the red pepper flakes, so I just caution you to judge your taste preferences wisely!

What You'll Need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons (or more) minced garlic (I use more because we really like garlic!)
• 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 1-13.5 oz can coconut milk
• 1 cup lentils
• 2 - 3 cups water
• 1 zucchini, cut into half moons
• 1-10z can baby corn, drained
• Salt, to taste
• Red Pepper (crushed or flakes), to taste

What You'll Do:

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until onion is translucent.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add curry paste, and cook another minute.
   
   
   
3. Add coconut milk, water, lentils, salt, and red pepper. Stir to combine.
   
   
   
4. Cook 30 minutes, adding additional water as needed.
5. Add zucchini and baby corn. Stir to combine.
   
   
   
6. Cook additional 10 - 15 minutes, or until lentils are soft.
7. Serve over brown rice or quinoa.