Monday's Lazy International Menu

Winter is sucking my kitchen energy dry.  It feels like spring is so deeply covered in ice, we may never see it again.  There's a mini glacier where my veggie beds are.  So, this past week was focused on easy foods from warmer climates.

Sunday - Mexico - Slow Cooker Chipotle Short Ribs with kale salad, guacamole and spicy rice.  The recipe includes instructions for a cabbage slaw - skip it.  The recipe also says boneless short ribs, which is silly, more expensive and hard to find.  Use bone-in, and by the time you're done cooking, the meat falls off the bone anyway.  Served with a light salad and guacamole, this is a wonderfully fragrant and delicious meal.  The smokey peppers will intoxicate you while it's cooking.

Monday - India - Sweet and Sour Dahl with Roasted Butternut Squash, Basmati and coconut yogurt.  This is another from the great cookbook with the irritating title.  This is a tamarind recipe, and I find that is a flavour that you either love or hate.  We love it.  The original recipe calls for roasted eggplant, but, eggplant isn't really my bag unless stewed.

Tuesday - Jamaica - Chicken Curry.  From the book above, this one doesn't quite work for me 'skinny'.  I love the allspice flavour, but broth instead of coconut milk is not inspiring.  I went full fat, not 'light', and it was delicious.

Wednesday - Italy - Sicilian Fish Stew.  Bright and spicy, this one, from that same book, is naturally skinny.  Plus, any recipe that has a healthy splash of wine is alright in my book.

Thursday - Multinational - otherwise known as leftovers.
Friday - German escapism to Ireland - otherwise known as, heading to the pub to get away from the wieners because lord knows, we all need to get out of the house sometimes!



Seems like a distant memory!

Saturday - Nova Scotian - we had our book club potluck meeting.  And since the book for this meeting took place in rural NS, we decided to go with classic recipes: Shepard's pie (lentil and sweet potato as the main ingredients), deviled eggs (filled with whipped avocado, not yolks), beet salad (with lovely quinoa), and a veggie soup.  (As always, there was way too much food!).  I made a strawberry rhubarb pie. I froze the hulled strawberries and slice rhubarb straight from my garden last summer.  I know have a recipe that makes a perfect gluten-free pie crust every time...no weird texture issues.  We were all stuffed and had plenty to say about the book (which we all loved).