Winner, winner, chickpea dinner!

Since my daughter started her AP Environmental Studies class this year, she has taken to 'schooling' us on all the things we are doing wrong for the planet. As you can imagine, this has been a lovely addition to having a teenage girl merely schooling us on how we are ruining HER life; now we are ruining EVERYONE'S lives, even people we have never even met, or who have not even been born yet. Our achievement apparently knows no bounds. In my defense, I feel I have to say that this onslaught of criticism does come from a girl who seems incapable of breaking down her Starbucks cup into the bits that go into the recycling bin, those that go into compost and those that are trash... but I digress.

One of her favorite current complaints is that meat, or rather the farming of that meat, is bad for the environment. Whilst I am not planning on giving up meat, I have found myself making the effort to cook more vegetarian meals. Whereas we used to eat vegetarian maybe two evenings per week, we now aim to eschew meat more than we indulge - i.e. go veggie at least four evenings per week. I know that vegan would be even better for the environment, since dairy farming is probably evil too, but I just can't, and here is my reason:

Nuff said.

This change in our diets, has led me discover a fair few new recipes which have entered our regular rotation, and also rekindled my desire to blog and rave about them, so here I am, with apologies for my absence of late.

The recipe below is based on a curry recipe I found in a favorite book by Judith Finlayson: The Vegetarian Slow Cooker. However, I found her recipe resulted in a dish that was a tad watery and not rich enough for my tastes, so I tweaked it and came up with this little gem. We enjoyed this thoroughly and I've even added the recipes below for the accompaniments we had alongside the curry. Apart from adding some naan bread on the table for the kids, the meal was also low carb, since there was no rice or other grain involved. Hopefully that will help further with reducing the post-Christmas-pooch situation we still have going on!

Chickpea and Spinach Curry
Serves 6

1 tbsp canola oil
3 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 TBSP ginger root, finely grated
1 TBSP ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
3 cups chopped Roma/plum tomatoes (no need to skin or de-seed)
3 15oz cans chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach
1/2 of 15oz can coconut milk
2 tsp cornstarch/cornflour
1/2 cup chopped green/spring onions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet and fry onions over medium heat until starting to brown.
2. Add garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper and continue to fry, stirring constantly, for a further minute.
3. Add balsamic vinegar and tomatoes and heat through until it starts to bubble.
4. Pour into the slow cooker stoneware, and mix in the chickpeas.
5. Cook on low for 7 hours.
6. Mix the cornstarch with the coconut milk to combine, and then stir that into the crockpot with the spinach. Cook for a further 20 minutes until thickened and bubbly.
7. Serve sprinkled with chopped green onions.



Roasted Spiced Carrots and Parsnips
Adapted from Taste of Home magazine

4 large carrots, cut into 1" pieces
3 large parsnips, cut into 1" chunks
3 TBSP canola/sunflower oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp chile powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
dash ground cloves
dash cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425F (220C).
2. Whisk together the oil, salt, coriander, cumin, pepper, chile powder, paprika, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cayenne.
3. Toss the carrots and parsnips with the oil mixture, then spread on to a rimmed baking sheet.
4. Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.



Roast Cauliflower with Turmeric and Cumin
adapted from Food & Wine magazine
serves 6

1 large head cauliflower, chopped into florets
1/3 cup canola/sunflower oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 TBSP toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)

1. Preheat oven to 425F (220 C).
2. Whisk together the oil, cumin, turmeric, cayenne and salt.
3. Toss the cauliflower with the oil mixture to coat, and then spread on to a large rimmed baking sheet.
4. Bake for one hour, tossing in the middle, by which time it should be tinged brown and tender.
5. Toss with the cilantro and the pine nuts and serve warm.