Curried Chickpeas-vegetarian dinner

This is one of my FAVORITE recipes.  It originally came from Sunset magazine (which by the way offers great healthy recipes on a regular basis).  This is meatless yet filling and can be modified for those who do not like spicy food.  I leave the heat out until the end that way the kids eat it as well.

Curried Chickpeas and Tomatoes
(modified from Garbanzo Tomato Curry)
-makes 6-8 servings

1 onion, chopped (yellow works best-stronger flavor)
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp grapeseed oil (or olive or canola)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 Tbsp mustard seed
1/2 Tbsp whole cumin seed
2 cans chick peas (also labeled garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 32oz can diced or petite diced tomatoes (undrained)
Cayenne powder to taste
Hot sauce to taste (Franks or Tabasco)
Chopped Cilantro
Plain yogurt
Cooked Jasmine or Basmati rice (about 1/2 C per serving)

In a large pan heat oil over medium heat.  Add onions, ginger and garlic until onion just begins to brown, about 6 minutes.  Add curry powder, mustard and cumin seeds and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add chickpeas and tomatoes (with juice).  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered stirring occasionally to blend flavors, about 5 minutes.  If the mixture is thicker than desired, stir in a little water to thin.

Serve in shallow bowls with rice.  Spoon 1/4-1/2 C yogurt next to the chickpeas.  Top with cilantro and cayenne or hot sauce to taste.

Oh...My...SUGAR!!

Everyone knows soda isn't great for you.  We try to limit how much our kids get.  My husband and I used to drink it, but could count on one hand the times we have had it in the past 3 years.  It is typically reserved for a special treat if the kids ask for it.  And even then, I try to go with root beer or something that I view as not quite so bad (I don't know why, I'm sure it has just as much sugar as others)  About a week ago, my son had a party at school and chose Mt. Dew to bring with.  No, it was not my proudest parenting moment.  I had just read an article about how many tsps were in a gram of sugar the day before.  It works out to 4g = 1 tsp sugar.  So doing the calculations, here is how much sugar is in a 16 oz bottle of Mt. Dew (which is technically 2.5 servings, but who measures that out, so I'm going on the assumption that this is what one person drinks.

Almost 1/2 CUP!!!!  I think I will be limiting even more-YUCK!
Let's hear it for water :-)

Poached eggs and veggie 'hash'

I have been wanting egg poaching pods for quite a while.  I have not tried poaching an egg before in the traditional method, but my husband has, not getting the results we wanted.  Poached eggs should have the nice firm whites with runny yolks.  When we were on the cleanse, he made a poached egg hash, that turned out more like a hard yolk egg on sweet potato hash.

I bought some poaching pods this past weekend and tried them out this morning.  They worked PERFECTLY.  Firm white with a yolk that ran off into my hash.  It was wonderful!

Here are what the pods look like.  They have a tag when you purchase them with directions on how to poach eggs and make other things like Flan.  SUPER easy.

My recipe for the hash is as follows.

Sweet Potato Veggie Hash with Poached Egg
-makes 2 servings
2 large eggs (poached according to pod directions-needs 4 minutes to cook so it is a good idea to start 1/2 way through the cooking time of the veggies)
1/3 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
4 stalks asparagus, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 C fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small onion, diced
Coconut Oil

Place 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil in a pan on medium heat.  Once melted, add sweet potatoes.  Cook over medium heat until slightly browned, stirring often.  Add asparagus after about 3 minutes.  Cook 2 minutes, stirring often.  Add in onion and zucchini.  Cook until onion is opaque and soft.  Add in spinach and stir/cook until wilted.  Place on plate.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste (you won't need much at all)  Top with poached egg.