dal

The Small Mister eats lentils.  Our favorite Indian restaurant always has a daily dal which is lentils with seasonings.  I really like it with the turmeric rice they serve.  It is good with the naan too. 

Now, I do have to admit that Small Mister is not the only reason to cook lentils, though knowing he is eating is lovely.  I have been having more problems with inflammation recently.  Two arthritic conditions is just not fun.  I stopped eating poultry except on Thanksgiving and very occasionally otherwise.  I have started to react to beef.  I get flares of pain and more inflammation.  Fish and vegetarian dishes are working for me currently.  Lentils are also anti-inflammatory. 

We will be eating more dal.  When i get the spices, we will also being trying Ethiopian wot at home too.  It is also lentil based.

I tried a recipe from Wolfgang Puck and was quite pleased.  I had to make due a bit because I was out of things but the dal was very yummy.  I have ginger now so next time I am giving that a go in the dal.  The Indian restaurant we like also uses anise in theirs.  Another spice to pick up and give it a try.

daily dal

Note:  You may see variations on this as I try different spices and maybe even vegetables with it.

2 cups autumn lentils (they are mix Whole Food carries that we like) or red lentils

4 cups water

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 to 1 cup finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 morita peppers, ground in a spice mill

2 tablespoons Garam Masala

1 tablespoon salt or start with less and go by taste

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup good Italian tomato paste ( I was out of tomatoes)

The night before, wash the lentils until they are clean.  Pick out any rocks if you find them.  Let them soak in water that covers them.  The next day, pour off the water and put the lentils in a slow cooker.  Cover with four cups of water and put on low.

In the evening, about a half hour before you wish to eat, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion.  When the onion starts to brown add the garlic.  Stir.  When the garlic and onion are browning nicely, add the morita pepper, garam masala, salt, pepper, and sugar.  Mix well.  Take the skillet off the heat and add everything to the slow cooker with the lentils.  Mix well.

Mix in the tomato paste.  Let cook a bit more to let the flavors meld.  I would say about a half hour.  Or the time it takes to cook some rice or saag paneer.

Very yummy.  It freezes well too so the large pot goes a long way. This will be for dinner soon again!

national peanut butter cookie day

Last week, during our stretch break at work (Yes, exactly what it sounds like.  A break where there is trainer led stretching for ten minutes), I found out it was National Peanut Butter Cookie Day.  It made me laugh.  I came home and told my Beloved.  He asked very sweetly if he could have peanut butter cookies. 

Peanut butter cookies are not high on my list of favorites.  He enjoys them but I think there are a few others he likes better.  They are the easiest cookie to make gluten free.  I find the hardest thing is if you are silly enough like me to bake them on a cast iron pizza pan, is keeping on eye on them so they do not burn!

peanut butter cookies

Note:  If you use a more pasteurized then I did, you can actually roll them into balls later and put the cross hash in them.  Even maybe roll them in some granulated sugar.  These not so much.

1 cup old fashioned peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream the peanut butter and brown sugar in a bowl.  Mix in one egg.  Stir very well.

Drop by spoonfuls on baking sheets covered with Silpats or parchment paper. 

Bake for 15 minutes.  If you need to do a second baking, watch the cookies closely so they do not burn.

So simple.  So yummy.

calm

Small Mister is off with his Daddy and I have a chance to work on the quilt without a small boy sitting on my feet.  He is helping me treadle.  When my spinning wheel gets pulled out, he yells "spinning wheel!" and also helps me treadle.  But that one he can sit on my lap.  It is really much easier to not having the small boy helping with the treadle but the joy level does go down.  I find the quilting very meditative but I have three dress wandering through my head that I wish to make.  It will all happen.

I did spend time in the garden this morning until I started to hurt.  I had to ask my Beloved to help with the cleanup.  I have more flowers this year which makes me happy.  I gave away a squash yesterday and we had greens from the garden the day before.  We may not eat as much this year but I am enjoying the flowers so.  I am trying many more zinnias this year.  I like the colors.  I still have cosmos and blanket flowers.  A yellow flower that I cannot spell.  Salvia and amaranth are popping up all over.  My Beloved puts the amaranth leaves in his smoothie. 

The flowers just make me smile.  I missed having so many last year. 

I hope I did not overdo today so I can do more tomorrow.

a new bag for me

I noticed that when I look for bags for shopping there seem to be less of them.  And the ones that I find are seeming to be more worn.  We use them all the time and they always seem to have more then one task.  While I was looking for fabric in my stash for our friend, I found fabric I decided to use for me.

A new bag.  I did not have enough for pockets but it will work well for library books and groceries.  I can see it getting snitch from me by others because of the colors.

These are colors my family loves.  I find that everyone wishes to use the items these colors first.  But that is okay.  It will get used.  I guess I should really make a few more.  I will over time.

sleeping pirate king

I got the quilt I am working on all laid out:  back, batting, and top.

I started the safety pin basting.

And the my Beloved helped me and it went much faster.  We talked a lot and got caught up.  We have a hard time remembering everything we wish to tell each other.

The last step was to get it rolled up so I can machine quilt it.  I have a project, or maybe two, to finish and then it is time to quilt.  I have a feeling it is what I will be doing this weekend on my machine.  I will not have any help for the quilting this weekend

All this was possible because the Pirate King Malarkey was asleep on a chair while we were working.  I kept expecting him to wake up!