Happy Advent

1^st December 2017

If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.

Food in my house was good yesterday, sausage, egg, mushrooms, tomatoes on toast for a good solid brekkie, salmon with a parmesan crust, corn on cob and courgette for dinner and cottage pie for my tea thanks to my sister making it for me – yay.  Even the washing up fairies came whilst I was out and did that for me too.   That made me very happy!

I’m going to try and do a bit of cooking today, if I remember to get sweet potato and eggs, I think I’ll have another bash at that curried lentil bake, I might get a butternut squash and attempt doing on with that instead of the sweet potato because that would reduce the whole thing to 4sp and that would be mega good!   Yeah hopefully I’ll have time as I need to go do some buffet shopping for our area meeting too.

It’s the start of Christmas month, 1^st December you can open your first square of your advent calendar, I’ve got mom one but I’ve resisted, there’s too much damn temptation around this time of year!  I was attacked by a packet of Pringles Wednesday night, I got away after half the tube had made it’s way down my neck, then damn me if it didn’t reappear last night and the last inch of the tube finished me off!  No more of them coming in the house for ‘mom’, if she can’t eat them as soon as they arrive, she ain’t having em, I can’t resist.

A few of you have been asking for Harj’s lentil curry recipe, so here it is;

Harj’s Lentil Curry- 5sp total

1 small cup red lentils, mung yellow lentils & chana dal (pulses)

2 tsp turmeric 

Boiling water - I used 2 kettle fulls

Base - 2-3 onions 

Garlic - I used 1 frozen block 

Ginger - 1-2 blocks 

3x green chilli’s add more if you like it spicier

1tbs olive oil (5sp)

1-2tsp cumin seeds 

Tomatoes - either tinned which need to be purée or passata.  (she uses about half a can)

1tsp garam masala 

Coriander (optional)

Method:

Wash all lentils in saucepan with warm water - drain water and add boiling water. Add salt & turmeric, bring to the boil be careful not let it boil over then turn gas down and simmer, cover saucepan but didn’t cover completely otherwise dhal will boil over - leave to simmer stirring occasionally until it start to thicken and looks like soup consistency. This can take up to 30-45mins to get right consistency. 

Base - chop onions add to separate saucepan and add olive oil.  Cook for 5 mins and add garlic, ginger and chopped chili, if onions start sticking to saucepan keep adding water. You need to cook onions until they are more or less purée, then add tomatoes. Cook onions/tomatoes until they look like a paste then add to the lentils which should now have cooked and look like soup. Also add 1tsp of garam masala and coriander if required.

Right keeping it short today, I have so much to do all of a sudden, my kitchen floors being tiled tomorrow – woo hoo – once that’s done the kitchen man can finally finish my last unit and then I should have my kitchen for Christmas!   That’s the best pressie ever.

Here’s to a fab Friday, you only get one First of December each year, make it count BeYOUtiful.