Spicy daal with potato

Came home late and tired, smelled something wonderful as I walked in the door.  It was curry I smelled, and all was good. We were talking about eating more protein.  I had read somewhere that eating protein will make you feel more full, and really we eat way too much cheese. Nothing wrong with cheese, but there is a limit. Or there should be. Anyway, branching out from meat, cheese, and eggs meant legumes, beans and nuts. So let's try lentils. Turns out they are 3rd highest protein by weight, after only soy beans and hemp. Oh boy.

Lentil daal w/potato and naan

The recipe (from finecooking.com; isn't the one I used, but is almost identical) turned out to be fairly spicy, which I like. Not so good for the SSO, but this night he ate dinner at Gramma and Grampa's so no big whoop. My own curry recipes often turn out spicy but lack depth, but this time was different. SO had used my fav new kitchen gadget (spice grinder) to grind up some fresh cumin - I'm convinced that made the difference. Fresh herbs and spices are just awesome. Paired the daal with some naan bread from the local asian super store (a minute in the toaster got it tasting more or less authentic), and some yogurt for SO to tame the heat a bit. Great for left-overs.

Next time: a bit less heat, and less thick

Me: 8/10
SO: 7/10
SSO: n/a, but would be 1/10 if we made him try it (although he would like the naan)

Beet Greens and baked chicken legs

Borrowed picture alert: I forgot to take a snap
so I found this one, which looks nicer anyway.

Who'd have thought it.  Turns out beet greens are yummy. Somehow I never got around to eating these my whole life. The greens were always like carrot tops, something to cut off and throw out (recycle now...).  My SO found this recipe (food.com), it's actually for roll-ups, although I made it more like our old favourite "Lazy-man's cabbage rolls". Instead of rolling up rice in the leaves, just sort of munge it all together.

Had this with the beets themselves, which I just love. Beets are so great, and it turns out they are high in vitamin c, folates, and potassium. I forgot how long it takes to cook these things, was a good 50 minutes boiling on the stove.

As for the chicken, it comes courtesy of our local fav butcher. What a great place - good prices and great quality. Anyway, dipped them in some Shake 'n Bake Original (seriously) and threw them on the bakeware tray.

Next time: use less sour cream, and don't overcook the chicken.


Me: 8/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: 3/10