Three Meals, One Post

Well, I haven't been blogging as regularly as I'd like. I've made three meals since my last post. Every January, I seem to get into a funk. Mild depression, I'd say. I feel like eating crap-loads of unhealthy foods. I feel like staying in bed all day. I find myself not taking very good care of myself. It happens every year, and usually ends sometime in February. I need physical activity and fresh air. Both are hard to come by with January weather around here. If it's not freezing cold and snowing, it seems like it's rainy. Yuck.

Anyway, I have been cooking up some nice, healthy food. That always helps, but when I polish off a box of vanilla wafers (the kids talked me into that one) in one day, a healthy meal doesn't really matter. ;) At least they're gone now!

On Wednesday evening, I made a great Italian Rice and Vegetable Soup. That was from my trusty White Grass Cafe cookbook. That book has never let me down when I need a good soup recipe. It's just canned tomatoes, veggie broth, garlic, brown rice, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash and onion. Plus some thyme, oregano and basil. Really easy to make, and very tasty. I forgot to take a pic of it! You'll have to use your imaginations.

Thursday evening, I made Indian-Spiced Red Lentils. I copied that recipe from my mom's cookbook from America's Test Kitchen. I've heard so many people rave about that cookbook and say everything in it is just fantastic, but I was slightly disappointed in the lentils. They just didn't seem as flavorful as much of the other Indian foods I've made. Of course, it didn't contain the variety of spices that they did, either. It was really easy to make though. An onion sauteed with some garlic and fresh ginger, a little garam masala, water, coconut milk, tomatoes and lentils. I served it over jasmine rice. I would say it was good, but not great.



Tonight was pizza night again. The kids (yeah, right) need to have some pizza every few weeks, and honestly, it's so easy to make. This time, my dough was so stretchy and elastic. So easy to work with. I usually struggle with the stretching and shaping, usually having to patch a tear or two. Not this time! I had it stretched and perfectly round in less than a minute. It was definitely a nice surprise. It was really good, too. I can't seem to get it quite crisp enough on the bottom. I bake it at 500 degrees. I think if I preheated my baking stone, it would help crisp the bottom. Does anyone have any experience with that?

Anyway, I've been listening to Super Furry Animals (Ha! I just typed that as Supper Furry Animals!) Rings Around the World. What a fantastic album. I think all of y'all would like it. Also, today I listened to Chuck Ragan. Really good stuff. Sometimes folky, sometimes punk-ish, I love it. Then, I discovered that my little guy really likes Bad Religion. He was dancing around and pumping his fist like he was leading a mosh pit! It was great.