Monday: Recipe Day with Curried Rice and Greens!

Vegan Goodness:

Today we ate:

Breakfast: Smoothies for all and toast with Earth Balance butter for mom and LP. Mom also enjoyed a bowl of rice crispies with strawberries
Mom picked up a chocolate chip scone at Whole Foods for a quick mid-morning snack.
Lunch: Lentil soup with some additional cous cous and a side of bread and butter for LP and leftover morrocon chickpeas and cous cous for mom. Dad had some chips and salsa.
Mom and dad had some mint chip ice cream while LP was napping. Shhh . . . .don’t tell LP!
Dinner: Dad’s delicious noodle and bok choy stir-fry with other yummy veggies from our CSA box!

Money Matters:
During the month of June we have a bigger budget than we will in July. This is partially because I am still working, and there are costs that come with that (transportation, classroom materials, meeting co-workers for weekly Friday breakfast, etc.) So, rather than be completely limited by our “Year of Family” budget, we are simply trying to be more aware of our spending this month, and trying to cut down on “extras.”

Today we spent the following:

$21.23 for groceries at Whole Foods (stocking up on a tempeh sale and soymilk)
$82.91 on one more big Home Depot trip for summer. We got some mats to put under LP’s swing set (which is currently on concrete – yikes!) and some final gardening supplies.
$97.78 for a huge Costco stock-up. We are well prepared to hunker down with a newborn!

Monday Munchies: Recipe of the Week

In a quest to use up some radish greens and also make a dish to go with some baked tofu, I recently made Curried Rice with Greens. I came up with this recipe the way I mostly “come up” with recipes these days. I searched the internet and my cookbooks for what I generally wanted (a curried rice recipe) and then used some of the ideas from these various recipes to make my own. What we ended up with was a super-versatile rice dish that you could add almost anything you want to! Add in whichever veggies you love the most, and feel free to crumble some tofu in as well! I serve it with lemon baked tofu from Cadry’s Kitchen, and they go really, really well together!

Curried Rice with Greens

Ingredients:

1 TB olive oil

1/2 a large white onion (or 1 small onion) chopped

1 1/2 cups of long grain brown rice

1 TB curry power (medium if you are just getting started with curry powder, or a combo of medium and hot if you are more adventurous!)

1/4 tsp of coriander

3 1/2 cup of water with 1 vegetable bullion cube. (This roughly translates to 2 cups of veggie broth and 1 1/2 cups of water, but feel free to adjust this based on veggie broth or bullion availability or preference)

2 cups of greens (I have used radish greens and arugula. This would also be fantastic with spinach or chard and even kale!) chopped and washed.

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup of peas or edamame (NOT in the pod! Just the beans!)

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Saute the onion for about 5 minutes (this is a good time to start prepping your greens and other veggies!)

2. When the onion is translucent, add in the rice and turn the heat up to medium-high. Stir and cook the rice for about 3 minutes. Then, add the curry powder and coriander and stir and cook for about 1 more minute.

3. Add in the water and bullion cube and stir to mix in the spices. Cover and bring the pot up to a boil.

4. When the water is boiling, turn the heat down to low and cover. You will be cooking the rice for 35-40 minutes.

5. While the rice is cooking, prep the other veggies, do some dishes, bake some tofu or watch your kid ride his bike. Then, when 35 minutes have passed, check the rice for doneness by eating a couple kernels. If they are done or mostly done, stir in the greens. Cover and let the greens steam for 3-10 minutes (3 minutes for delicate greens, like radish greens, 10 for heartier greens like kale or collards). Then, stir in the other veggies and raisins and cover for 5-10 more minutes – or until ready to serve.

6. Serve the rice with slivered almonds on top – and hopefully paired with some yummy tofu!