Home Cooked

So I am trying to talk my girlfriend into writing a cookbook or at least sharing her methods and recipes online. We grocery shop one day a week and the next day she spends the entire day prepping and cooking all of the meals we will eat throughout the week. This means that our weekly meals usually have a theme since the ingredients used are bought in bulk and will be similar. It saves money, time, and is healthier than eating out when you can't decide what is for dinner. I feel so lucky to be spoiled like this so I want to share with you all of the wonderful things I get to eat.


This week I am going to show you a few Indian style dishes. Let's start with cheese.

This is paneer in the making (wrapped in the cloth that is hanging). So she wanted to make palak paneer for this week but sometimes finding ethnic ingredients in the grocery stores up here in Minnesota can be a challenge. Her solution? Just make the paneer.

She made more than she needed for the palak so we also enjoyed it crumbled on this delicious lentil stew that was available for various meals throughout the week. Paired with a hunk of homemade bread of  course (this bread was made by our daughter) and sprinkled with a few roasted pumpkin seeds. There was also homemade naan to pair with a couple of the meals.

For lack of photos I will jump to the end of the week leftovers meal. Salmon over yellow rice with the last of the palak paneer and eggplant vindaloo. I love these spice filled aromatic dishes. They make you feel warm and happy all over and are perfect fall and winter dishes. They take a while to cook but like I said she does it all in one day so they are just on hand when you need them and you can wip together a quick, delicious, inexpensive meal after (or during) a long day.

This I have to share because it was my favorite part of the whole week. I love onions and this is an onion chutney. It is tomatoey and spicy and a great condiment on everything. As you can see I did not remember to get a picture of it until the end of the week after I had already eaten most of it. Yes, I do mean I because, while the other two did get some, I hoarded most of it.

There is another incredible onion condiment that I love that I will share in a future post. Until then remember to eat well and enjoy your food!

Home Cooked

So I am trying to talk my girlfriend into writing a cookbook or at least sharing her methods and recipes online. We grocery shop one day a week and the next day she spends the entire day prepping and cooking all of the meals we will eat throughout the week. This means that our weekly meals usually have a theme since the ingredients used are bought in bulk and will be similar. It saves money, time, and is healthier than eating out when you can't decide what is for dinner. I feel so lucky to be spoiled like this so I want to share with you all of the wonderful things I get to eat.

Last week I promised to share a couple Mediterranean dishes so...

  This is a chickpea patty (felafel) over yellow rice with a yogurt sauce similar to tzatziki, and hiding behind that is an incredible Mediterranean style broccoli salad with walnuts, kalamata olives, feta, and of course an amazing homemade dressing that has homemade tahini in it. (Remember the vita-mix?)

Of course throughout this week we had hummous, roasted red pepper hummous, and baba ganoush on hand for snacks, lunches, appetizers. Yes, everything here is made from scratch. Even the tahini started as sesame seeds. What better to go with these great dips than...

 homemade pita chips! Did you think she could get any more awesome? Well she did. She not only seasoned and baked the pita into these deliciously crunchy treats but she made the frickin pita bread!

Jealous yet? There is more to come. I will try to remember to continue taking pictures too. Sometimes my stomach takes over my brain and I am nearly finished eating before it occurs to me that I am trying to share this awesomeness.

Home Cooked

So I am trying to talk my girlfriend into writing a cookbook or at least sharing her methods and recipes online. We grocery shop one day a week and the next day she spends the entire day prepping and cooking all of the meals we will eat throughout the week. This means that our weekly meals usually have a theme since the ingredients used are bought in bulk and will be similar. It saves money, time, and is healthier than eating out when you can't decide what is for dinner. I feel so lucky to be spoiled like this so I want to share with you all of the wonderful things I get to eat.

I will start this round with breakfast.

This is homemade cereal! It is so delicious. Toasted oats and nuts and - my favorite - pumpkin seeds. Probably some other seeds too because there are a bunch in our kitchen but I don't make it. I pour almond coconut milk over it, and of course there is coffee.

If there is no time for cereal then there is also the option of homemade granola bars. These have the oats, nuts, and seeds too with the added chewiness of dried fruits.

 

This is a green smoothie waiting to happen. This one has kiwi, grapes, and spinach but there are bags of these in the freezer with different combinations of fruits and greens. The vita-mix is her secret weapon. She makes tahini, peanut butter, flour, green smoothies - all kinds of stuff with this thing. 

Mmm.. sweet and healthy.

Next time I will share a couple Mediterranean dishes. Until then you should show her a little encouragement in the comments so she knows how awesome she is.