Good morning!
Happy Father’s Day to my 3 awesome DADS- Brian (dad), John (stepdad), and Ken (father-in-law) and all the wonderful father’s out there!
Secondly, thank you for all your sweet comments about the market! :biggrin:
As I mentioned in my Farmer’s Market recap last night, I bought some new spices from a wonderful local business called Arvinda’s.
I had a chance to speak with the amazing business owners and they are just the sweetest people you will ever meet! It was so fun learning about the different spices. You can tell they have such a great passion for their business. They have a really great story about how they started the business here and they are in many stores and also have an online store. I think we are going to become great friends! I also met a lovely lady who was telling me about her daughter’s recent transition to a vegan diet so I gave her my website and she seemed quite thrilled (she was unsure what to make her daughter for meals when she comes to visit). :biggrin: I love meeting new people, it was so much fun!
Back to the spices…
I cannot even explain to you how amazing these spices smell. We were all ooo-ing and aww-ing at their stand! It made me soooooo hungry! :lol:
Last night I cracked open this baby for dinner!
I would say this Curry Masala was an upgrade from what I was using…
LOL!!! Can you believe that is what I was using?! NO NAME curry. I know, it is unspeakable. I have no idea what ever made me buy no name curry. I can’t even begin to describe the difference in taste and aroma.
My spices in general are SO lacking…
It looks like I have a lot, but don’t be fooled. They all are dried out and unusable for the most part! None of them taste very good either. :ermm:
Inside each Arvinda’s tin, there is a recipe! Awesome idea. I decided to adapt the Classic Chicken Curry and used lentils instead. [Click recipe to enlarge if necessary].
It was so easy I told Eric I could do it with my eyes closed!
I started with cooking the lentils…
While those cooked I made the curry sauce. First you add some EVOO and caramelize the chopped onion (takes about 10 minutes on low-medium). Then add 1/2 cup of canned or chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Add in 1.5 tbsp of the Curry Masala…
and stir well until a thick paste forms.
Mmmmm. Smells sooooooooooooo good. You will drool.
Rinse lentils when cooked.
Add about 1/2 cup of water to the curry paste and stir. Now add in 1.5-2 cups of lentils and stir well.
Voila! A super easy, super high-protein vegan curry dish at your service.
Sprinkle the lentil curry with Garam Masala and you are ready to roll.
It was soooo spicy my mouth was on fire! But I loved every second of it.
Let’s just say my sinuses are clear! :biggrin:
We had it with some bread and Earth Balance on the side.
[recycled photo as I forgot to take a picture!]
After dinner, we headed out for a sunset walk…
Post-curry stretch!
Relax…..
Breathe.
On the agenda today is a little work and a little play. I had a full 7.5 hours sleep last night, so I will not be bailing on my workout today…promise!! :biggrin: I will be back later to talk about the rest of my training plan for the try-a-tri and sprint triathlon.
Today’s questions- Do you have a spice collection in your kitchen? What are your favourites or must-haves? Any tips for helping someone start up a spice collection?
Have a great Father’s Day!
Oh my goodness! This dish looks amazing!
That photo of you cooking the lentils is great!
Fun to see you got to use the market products right away- congrats on the successful day!
That lentil curry sounds great – I just bought garam masala the other week, so I’m excited to have a new dish to try it in :-)
I’m huge on spices. My favorites used to be rosemary and dill, but since going vegan I’ve been obsessed with cumin. No idea why!
Wow, I bet you will never go back to the old style curry again right. That dish looks so vibrant and tasty! You and Eric are too cute for words!
haha I’ve been using no-name curry too…should I upgrade??
My must-have spices are: Coriander, cinnamon, chili powder, and cumin!
Oh, and congrats at the market! :D
Hi There!
I didn’t get a chance to say congratulations on your success at the farmer’s market! GO YOU!
Aww thanks!
I cannot survive without Herbes de Provence. I seriously put it in EVERYTHING, but my favorite is chopping up some zucchini and summer squash, drizzling some olive oil on the top, then liberally sprinkling it with HDP. It just makes everything taste warmer and Christmas-y :).
OH! I forgot to add that I ROAST the zucchini and summer squash, I don’t eat it raw :P
I have lots of spices – and recently found about 30 vintage-like spice jars at Goodwill for $6! I also grow my own herbs. I don’t have a lot of space, so my kitchen window is filling up very quickly!
Those jars sound amazing!
I have some spices, all from the bulk section at my local grocery store. I’m sure I could save up and try to buy some that aren’t cheap, but my grocery bills are through the roof already! But my favorites are chives and cumin, I add them to a lot of things!
Angela, that lentil curry looks amazing! It looks like great food to take to a picnic or party. And how adorable is the packaging for the spices?
I probably use cilantro, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, rosemary, thyme, dill, and old bay the most. Sometimes I’ll take an empty jar and fill it with a mixture of spices to make a rub or seasoning too.
That curry dish sounds and looks great lady! I do have quite a few spices, especially garam masala, cinnamon, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cayenne, and thyme.
I wish I had some tips but unfortunately some of my spices are outdated and I know you shouldn’t keep them too long!
Since I moved back home for the summer, my mom and I combined our spice collection. It’s super thorough now :)
When I make curries I always use less of the curry powder/spicy stuff than the recipe tells me to. It always comes out spicy, but I can eat it with out pausing for milk after every bite.
I love spices and I have slowly been updating my spice shelves to newer spices because I do believe that the longer you keep them the unflavorful they become. I love cumin, cayenne, paprika, crushed basil and cinnamon the most.
Nice day to just chill but get that workout in of course!
Morning!! :)
So I was in the same boat, I just bought good old Superstore spices… then www.spicesinc.om contacted me and I was converted… They are AMAZING!! every single spice they sent me changed all my recipes! hahah I will never buy cheap ones again!! :)
Have a great Sunday!
Angela,
Just recently discovered your blog – it’s amazing! I’ve been telling everyone I know about it. I’ve really fallen in love with VOO and Green Monsters. My fiance and I have been vegan for about 6 months and you’ve given us some great ideas to make things more fun. Thank you! Keep it up!
As for spices, Mike (the fiance) and I are spice obsessed. We are very fortunate because we live a short 1 1/2 block walk from a wonderful place called the Spice House. Going in person is joyous – I get lost in there for hours, literally. They have an amazing online store as well. Check it out:
http://www.thespicehouse.com/?gclid=CJKQt7WRr6ICFQoNDQod4zLr4Q
A few of my “can’t live withouts”:
– Saigon Cassia cinnamon
– Pure Orange Extract (combine cinnamon and a touch of this extract for AMAZING Vegan french toast)
– Hungarian Sweet Paprika
– Hyde Park Seasoning
– Aleppo Pepper
– Fancy Garlic Salt
– Thai Red Curry Seasoning
– Grey Sea Salt, French
– Roasted Cacao Nibs
– Ginger Nibs
and any of their HUGE assortment of dried Chile peppers (try Pasilla and Morita). Mike makes home made garlic chile paste for when we make Thai or Asian food. So good! Sooooo spicy!
– Megan
Wow thank you!!!!! =)
That curry looks and sounds delicious! I have a spice collection – about 50 jars, but like you, half of them are no good (and are no name!!). I want to start again :P
Ooh I love Marsala :) I can’t wait to try this recipe!! Indian food always clears out my sinuses too. We have about a million spices but only use a few.
I love spices and I have cute little spice jars that I had imported from Europe, expensive but perfect. I am also growing fresh herbs right now. I think spices make the meal.
I’d say that our kitchen is VERY lacking in spices. Our cinnamon was only purchased a month ago… and we’d never had it in the house before then! I think our mostly Asian family has stuff like chili oil, soy sauce, etc. My mom loves fresh basil, though :D
Wei-Wei
I have been looking for some good curry spices everywhere! I buy No Name spices too, I have to admit! The simple lentil curry recipe looks great – I’ve made something similar with chickpeas in the past.
I just caved and bought some green curry paste for a recipe b/c my fiance *hates* it when I use plain old curry powder in stuff. (The recipe is going to be spinach noodles in a coconut milk curry with basil and tofu- inspired by 101 cookbooks.)
I tend to have a bunch of spices I don’t use b/c I prefer to get fresh spices- especially basil, dill (so much better fresh), garlic, and oregano. I think dried sage, paprika, bay, and rosemary are good spices to have on hand. I also tend to season a lot of things (especially good on Kale) with hot sauce,black pepper, and lemon juice.
Oh! The kind of black pepper you have to grind yourself is key. I’ve stopped using a lot of spices just b/c the taste of freshly ground black pepper is so amazing. :)
I agree about fresh ground pepper. I use it on everything, Eric too!