Can't concentrate. There is a fly (A FLY! In February?) buzzing around my head. Buzzing.....buzzing.... mocking me, making me crazy! Will try to continue typing but urge to kill is very high.
I've been trying to be more consistent about making more of our meals at home; breakfast, lunch, but in particular dinner, because I am starting to see firsthand how easy it can be to fall into that vicious trap of convenience/fast food consuming. I need to remember to slow down and make it a point to make time for the important things like home cooked meals and family meal time. Fly still mocking me, working my last nerve. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Scream. grrrr!
I don't want to fall into one of those traps where mealtime becomes that thing you grab in-between shuffling your kid from one play group to another, from one activity to the next. I almost let that happen this past summer. Well, not with Ellie, I made all of her own food but I did it with Tom and myself and I am fighting the urge to let that happen with the girl now that she has made the transition from baby food to our food. During the summer and well into the fall, the urge to be outside everyday doing things with Ellie was constant, I would even say nonstop. I HAD to take her to the park, I HAD to take her for walks, I HAD to get her in play groups, I was a little over the top I think. I made myself too neurotic about being out all the time and became too busy too cook. Tom and I ate take-away for far too many meals and then, because we were out ALL day I spent most of my nights rushing to meet Tom so that he could take the baby home while I went to work, and as a result, take-away again and too many meals spent apart. This is not what I want for my family, so I'm working very hard to fix that, especially now that the weather will be turning soon. I'm trying to limit some of the play activites we attend, trying to find the right groove for the girl that balances fun time and family time, AND also allows me time to prepare those meals I long to make and share with them. I’m trying to be better and more organized about planning meals ahead, although I’ll probably still go to the shops everyday, that’s just a part of my daily routine and I can’t help but not want to change that. As for the baking, I'd like to keep that up too, but we can't just eat cake all the time, we'd be buzzing around the apt. like this damn fly!
I feel good, I'm ready, I think this plan should work, it’s up to me I know, but if I can be diligent about it then it just might happen. Cooking has gotten a little easier to do now that the girl baby is more independent. I bring a bag of toys into the kitchen, hiding some so she can find them and I also let her wander and explore the lower kitchen cabinets. She loves standing in front of the open fridge and so I let her for a few lingering seconds while I place things on the counters, on more that one occasion I’ve found a toy or two in there, hee. I've become very good at holding the child on my hip while stirring the pot and once I even chopped a carrot while holding her! So with all those thoughts swirling in my head I decided that rather than fall into the eating out trap again this weekend, I would make more effort to cook dinner for at least 2 of the three weekend nights. Friday night was Saag Gosht from a really wonderful cookbook “The Food of India” by Priya Wickramasinghe and Carol Selva Rajah.
This meal turned out even better than expected, it was an easy to follow recipe, and I had most of the ingredients on hand (although I had to substitute the thick yoghurt with sour cream, but it worked!) AND, it was done in no time, well, ok, under 3 hours--it had to simmer for 2 hours on the stove but how hard is that? Oh yeah, I did opt for the frozen spinach because I had some on hand and it also seemed easier and it was FINE. I served the meal with basmati rice that I had cooked with 2 teaspoons of ghee, a few saffron threads and about a half cup of peas. Simple, flavorful, and filling, it was dinner for all three of us for 2 nights and we sat down together to eat it. Oh yeah!
I made the conversions from metric to U.S. and added them in parenthesis. can you feel the love?
From “The Food of India” by Priya Wickramasinghe and Carol Selva Rajah.
This is a richly flavoured, traditional dish from the northern part of India. It is cooked until the sauce is very thick. It can be served with either rice or breads. If you can't buy fresh spinach, you can use defrosted, drained frozen spinach instead.
Place a small frying pan over low heat and dry-roast the coriander seeds until aromatic. Remove them and dry-roast the cumin seeds. Grind the roasted seeds to a fine powder using a spice grinder or pestle and mortar.
Heat the oil in a Karhai or casserole over low heat and fry a few pieces of meat at a time until browned. Remove from the pan. Add more oil to the pan, if necessary, and fry the onion, cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, black peppercorns, and bay leaves until the onion is slightly browned. Add the cumin and coriander, garam masala, turmeric, and paprika and fry for 30 seconds. Add the meat, ginger, garlic, yoghurt, and water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 1-1/2-2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. at this stage, most of the water should have evaporated, if it hasn't, remove the lid, increase the heat and fry until the moisture has evaporated. Season with salt to taste.
cook the spinach briefly in a little simmering water until it is just wilted, then refresh in cold water. Drain thoroughly, then finely chop. Squeeze out any extra water by putting the spinach between tow plates and pushing them together,
Add the spinach to the lamb and cook for 3 minutes, ir until the spinach and lamb are well mixed and any extra liquid has evaporated.
Serves 6
Written by Deb on February 20, 2005 02:15 AMA MurrayHill 5 Creation ©2002-06 The contents of this website and all images are © D. Byer unless indicated otherwise. All rights reserved. Please do not use images and/or content without permission and credit to this site. For more information contact: mh5deb(at)gmail(dot)com