Eggplant Curry

Almost every time I have more than one or two people over for dinner, I seem to gravitate towards making an indian themed spread. It's juts instinctually what I think of and plan for.

It might be because I always have the pantry staples on hand and the dishes use the same basic ingredients. Yet you can easily make three or more different dishes without difficulty. I live that seasonal vegetables can be used to create complimentary dishes with different flavors, so that it's a little bit different everytime.

I usually always serve my chickpea curry, but tonight I think I'll change it up and make three dishes that are new to my repertoire. I have an AMAZING recipe that I still tweaking that so closely resembles butter chicken in flavor that I'll be "testing"tonight. I should be sharing it sometime this month.

They had amazing eggplant at the market a few weeks back and I just had the instant craving for eggplant curry. This dish is decadent, yet completely fat-free and low sodium if you keep the added salt on the no or low side. The carrots bring the perfect level of sweetness to counteract the slight bitter taste eggplant can sometimes have.

You can easily change up the supporting cast of vegetables in this recipe, I just recommend having a sweeter vegetable in the mix.

Eggplant Curry

Ingredients:

- 2 medium eggplants, peeled and diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, sliced and halved
- 2 medium red peppers, diced
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 2 clove garlic
- 1.5 tbsp fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp fresh turmeric
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 tbsp cardamon
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- Fresh cracked pepper
- 1 lemon, juiced

Combine the ginger, garlic, turmeric and tomatoes in a blender and blend until smooth.

In a deep pan, water sauté the onions until translucent. Add the carrots, peppers and eggplant and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the spices and stir for about 1 min. 

Now add in the tomato mixture and bring to a slow simmer. Cook until all vegetables are cooked through. Mix in the lemon juice.

Serve over rice or quinoa.

Enjoy!

Apple Pie Oatmeal

Breakfast around here always involves fruit, which is why not many traditional breakfasty and sweet recipes make it to this blog. But I am working to change that since all of us have sweet tooths and I want to start including many more fruit-centric recipes.

This Apple Pie Oatmeal reminds me of being a kid, but 1000% times better since we used to eat the instant sachets of oatmeal before school and had the more wholesome stuff on the weekends with brown sugar.

The apples are easily prepared in advance so if you do want to have this for breakfast you can whip it all up in no time (we have it for dinner since eating fruit all day works the best for me).

I used Royal Gala apples since they are my favorite. I've read that they aren't the best choice for this kind of recipe but I'm not really one to follow rules. They kept their shape and the texture was my cup of tea. I think softer apples are usually chosen to make pies.

Although it's all green and sunny in these pictures, this recipe is perfect for those cold winter days. Nothing like a little warm comforting oatmeal with toast to brighten up a dreary cloudy day. Is it weird that I find oatmeal to be one of the most comforting foods?

I guess comfort food to me is warm, nourishing and familiar, for the most part. Really, I think that all food is comforting in it's own way and I like to stick to the healthier stuff. Associating healthy and nutritious foods to comfort make being healthy delicious and satisfying.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

 Ingredients:

- 4 medium apples, diced

- 3/4 cup sugar

- Cinnamon to taste

- 1.5 cups quick oats

Start off making the apple caramel. In a medium pot, combine apples with the sugar and cinnamon and a splash of water. One medium-high heat, cook until syrupy and the apples have softened up. This can be made beforehand and stored in the fridge until needed.

When ready to eat, cook oatmeal according to instructions and add in half the apple caramel. Use the rest to top or just throw it all in.

Enjoy!