Lighter Meals & Indian Food Attempts
I haven’t done a snapshot of daily eats here in awhile, and since What I Ate Wednesday typically takes over the food blog world on Wednesdays, I thought it was time for an update. My meals have been looking fairly typical, although I usually try to make my meals a little more veggie-heavy, since this time of year typically brings extra snack, drinks, and treats that I wouldn’t want to pass up. Rather than banning myself from the cookie jar, I’ve been filling up on fruits and vegetables, and indulging in cookies (or champagne) when the opportunity arises.
So here’s what meals are looking like, lately:
Breakfast
I usually start the day off with a bowl of Greek yogurt and frozen blueberries or blackberries. Frozen berries are so much cheaper this time of year, and I sort of like the way they make the yogurt super, super cold. I would normally add granola on top, but like I said, I’m saving extras for treats!
Lunch
I haven’t been great at packing my lunch lately, but that’s been partly intentional. We have such a great salad bar at work that I usually get a big salad and either a cup of soup, some fruit on the side, or soy crisps to munch on later. I always get kale if the cafeteria has it, and I usually top it with a grain of some sort to make it a little more filling. This was kale salad with barley.
Dinner
If I’m trying to go for a veggie-heavy dinner, then I’ll try something like spaghetti squash, or a vegetable based soup, but on Friday night I decided to get a little more creative. I had a really random craving for Indian food, and I decided I was time I start trying learning about those spices. I had to go to the store and load up my spice rack with things like garam masala, but it was totally worth it!
Since I truly know nothing about Indian cooking, I followed a recipe for Channa Masala very closely. I tried not to improvise, since I knew it could get pretty spicy if I wasn’t careful! I used this recipe from Eat, Live, Run and it was absolutely delicious. Alex said it was the best Indian food he’d ever had, and I swear I could start eating it every week. We ate the chickpea dish with basmati rice and naan, so it ended up being a very filing meal. I’ll be adding this recipe to the usual rotation.
Dessert
On a typical night I’d finish off dinner with a glass or red wine, but these days it seems like cookies are often involved as well. Like one of these peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies…
I posted that recipe on Monday, if you want to make them!
My eats have been weird because I’m going out of town. I defrosted some lentil soup and have been living off egg scrambles!
Haha, it’s the “use everything in the fridge” type of a week, right?
I’ve always been interested in experimenting with Indian recipes but haven’t done it near as much as I would have hoped. Your dinner looks delicious.
That kale salad looks great! I haven’t tried enough Indian food, but what I have had I like. I’m just too scared to make it myself for fear of messing it up!
I have seriously never tried Indian food. Im such a wimp when it comes to trying new things! Ive always wanted to though, its just that Im so not good with spicy and Ive heard Indian food can be quite lethal!
Haha it definitely can be SUPER spicy, but you should make this recipe and just leave out the jalapeno! I bet it wouldn’t be too spicy then 🙂
Liz: Being of indian heritage, first, lets starts from congratulating you. Why? Here’s why – Most Indian food items are hard to make and take a lot of prep work (unless you’re using the powder or ready made curry) Second, welcome to the Indian experience. Its truely a wonderful one. No wonder, most indians are veggie lovers because there are just too many delicious options to eat !! Keep it going!
If you need any assistance in an indian recipe, Youtube has several “live” videos as well.
Thank you so much, Zohan!! I appreciate the kind words 🙂 I’ll definitely be trying out more Indian style dishes!
The extra snacks and treats that come out around this time of the year? Yuuuup. Those have definitely been on my plate 😆 I blame all the baking I’ve had to do, but my sweet tooth has been seeing more than enough action lately. Thankfully there’s only a couple weeks left to go 😉
Love the look of your channa masala! I’m sure it was delicious!
Since I just came back from London, Vishnu (poor guy) and I have been eating lots of fruits and veggies!
Your trip to London looked amazing!
I need to try the channa masala…looks delicous! Have a great day, Liz!
Your photos are always so stunning. If you don’t mind me asking, what camera do you use? =)
I’ve been all about eating random type of egg scrambles.
oh i agree with Jessie! i want to reach through the computer for a bite!
He Jessie! I use a Canon T2i Rebel 🙂 It’s a great DSLR, and it’s fairly easy to use! 🙂
i really enjoy indian food (the seldom times we go out to an indian restaurant) but have never tried making any dishes at home!