Simple Coconut Curry with Rice

A couple months back, my hubby watched the documentary “Forks over Knives,” which discusses a plant-based, whole-foods diet and the benefits therein. He decided to give it a try for the month of February, having his blood work checked at the beginning and end of the month. Since I’m nursing, I decided to just roll with it when I could and continue my normal diet other times. However, I soon realized that the meals he was cooking were amazing and delicious and I had to be involved! I didn’t change over completely but we started to dabble with vegetarian and vegan recipes from cookbooks that Ruth loaned me from her vegetarian days.

Soon, I was scouring the internets for new recipes with which to experiment. It was a lot of fun! I really love curries and found 2 recipes via Pinterest that I blended together for an excellent coconut curry. The first recipe, from Can You Stay For Dinner, was the primary sauce inspiration, then I just added some ideas from the second recipe, via The Good Food Bully.

For the Sauce:

1 cup coconut milk

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

2 clove garlic, minced

1-2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger (depending on your ginger preference)

1/2 teaspoon Sriracha hot chili sauce (optional)

2 teaspoons cornstarch, to thicken

Mix all ingredients, except cornstarch, in saucepan and bring to simmer. The sauce will thicken on it’s own a bit. If it needs a little more thickness, just before you’re ready to serve add the cornstarch and simmer for a minute (to eliminate lumps, mix cornstarch with a small bit of cold water until smooth, then add to the simmering sauce).

For the body of the dish:

Veggies you love (I used bell pepper, onion, cauliflower, broccoli, snow peas, and carrots.)

Peanut or Olive oil, for sauteeing

1 can Chickpeas (aka Garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

2-3 cups Cooked Rice (whatever kind you like. We use brown or basmati)

Chop up the veggies and saute in a bit of oil until tender. You can start with the onions and carrots first if you like more tenderness on those. When the veggies are nearly tender, add the chickpeas and heat thoroughly.

Serve the curry in a bowl, rice on bottom…

then veggies…

topped with sauce.

That’s it! Super simple and sooo yummy.

We decided that with vegan cooking, a good sauce is key. I love vegetables, but plain steamed veggies for every meal would definitely get boring…so a yummy sauce can keep things interesting. I hope you love this curry as much as I do.

New shirts for Cam

There’s nothing like a trip to the Salvation Army Family Store that scores you some awesome repurposeable shirts! So Cam got 3 new long-sleeves for “winter”….cause, yeah, we don’t really have winter in Texas but he’ll get some use out of them.
 
The guitar dragon and Ramones shirts were made using Simplicity pattern #2318. It’s actually a pajama pattern, but I really liked the contrast shoulder and it worked great for a mix’n’match knit shirt.
The hooded Johnny Socko shirt (which just so happens to be an old shirt of mine from high school….ahhh, memories) was made using Lil Blue Boo’s hooded shirt pattern. It’s a classic pattern that Ruth and I love…I’m sure we’ll continue to make a closet load of them.
 
The sleeves on the Simplicity patterned shirts are way too long but I'll fix that later. Cam doesn't mind and he still looks super cute ;) 

Orange Shoes

My son is in love with the color orange and when his last pair of shoes were so worn that you could see the big toes I knew I need to find some replacements. His only request was that they be orange. I wanted something he could put on completely by himself. He has some velcro shoes but the tongues always seems to end up smooshed into the toes. I found these at Target and Ash immediately rejected them until I told him I would paint them orange.

I love how they came out. He was right they are way better in orange.