Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Perfectly Portioned for One Indian Edition

by Meghann on January 28, 2009

Caitlin is the best! As if you guys did not already know that! Thanks to her, I now have a temporary camera to blog with and take photos on vacation. She has temporarily lent me her old Nikon and I am forever thankful. Thank You Caitlin!

Unfortunately I couldn’t pick up the camera until after dinner so you will have to bare with me with the photo-less snack and photobooth dinner.

Luckily, my snack with pretty generic, but still incredibly delish. I had a Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut Bar. I am seriously in love with these new Kashi bars, I could easily eat one every hour on the hour if given the opportunity.

Dinner tonight was inspired by my Indian experience on Sunday. I was determined to create some Indian dishes on my own and it just so happened what I create was perfect for one person, so I decided to call it a Perfectly Portioned for One meal. :)

After some research on Indian dished I decided to give a variation of this one a try. Of course I added my own flair and catered the ingredients to fit one person.

The trick behind my single serving Curry dish stems from these lovely Indian Eggplants I picked up from the Farmer’s Market last weekend.

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They are perfect for anyone cooking for one because once you cut into a regular sized eggplant you either have to cook it immediately so it won’t go bad. And lord knows none of us can eat whole eggplant on our own. With the smaller ones I can use just one or a couple at a time pre portioned out for just me.

In honor of this week’s BSI sponsored by the lovely Ms. Sarah from Tales of Expansion, I decided to give this Curry a little extra flavor by incorporating Dates in to the meal.

My only regret was not adding more dates to the meal. Holy Yum! The bites with dates in it just gave a little extra kick of flavor that melded the Sweet and Savory combo perfectly. Love it! And to think if dates weren’t the BSI I would never have thought to add them!

And with out further adieu here’s the recipe -

Perfectly Portioned for One Roasted Eggplant, Date, & Kale Curry

  • 3 Indian Eggplants
  • 1/3 of a Bunch of Kale
  • 1/2 large Tomato, cubed
  • 2 Pitted Dates, chopped
  • 1/2 small Onion, diced
  • Minced Garlic
  • Vegetable Stock
  • Garam Masala
  • Corriander
  • Curry Powder
  • Red Pepper Flakes
  • S&P
  1. Cut the tops off of the little eggplants off and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until the skin turns brown and bubbly
  2. While the eggplants are in the oven start to cook the onion on the stove top until translucent
  3. Add the Garlic, tomato, dates, kale and seasonings to the onion heat until kale is wilted and remove from heat.
  4. When the eggplants are done cut into cubes and add to food processor with the onion mixture
  5. Pulse food processor, and add vegetable stock until desired consistency is achieved

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I was not 100% happy with the measurement of spices, which is why I didn’t give the exact amount. I want to leave the spices up to discretion. Besides that I really enjoyed this recipe and would love to experiment with is again! I am really excited for my new experiments with Indian food.

I had the curry atop some Brown Rice and a piece of Whole Wheat Toast.

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Dessert was a trio of baked goods in my fridge at the moment.

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A Ricotta Chocolate Chip Cookie, Brownie and Ginger Snap Stick. Yeah my sweet tooth was a little crazy when I returned with the replacement camera! :)

Colorado Meet Up Update -

Any Colorado residents near the Denver area who would like to meet up, I will be having a dinner in Idaho Springs on Monday, Feb. 2 at 6:30. Location TBD. If you would like to join me and a few other readers then send me an e-mail at graduatemeghann@gmail.com and we’ll hash out the details. :)

{ 29 comments }

Look, a lunch post

by Meghann on January 28, 2009

Well, lookie here I actually found time for a lunch post today! You should feel special!

I still have an overflowing to-do list at work, but what’s 5 minutes of blogging out of my day?

I have started checking the weather and mountain reports for Breckenridge. Looks like they have been getting a good amount of snow the past couple of days, but looks like a bit of heat wave will be hitting the week I’m there.

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Look at all that sun! Luckily, I know that the weather forecast changes every hour. so I’m crossing my fingers some snow will creep back into that report!

Reader Melissa had asked if I would be doing a reader meet up while I am in Colorado. I have to say the thought has crossed my mind, but I’m not sure how many of you would be willing to travel to Breckenridge on a week night for a meet up. But if you are interested for a dinner or something shoot me an e-mail at graduatemeghann@gmail.com and I’ll see if I can work something out. I love meeting readers and would love to pick your brains or for you to pick mine!

This morning I snacked on my fave Tangerine and PB combo. Kudos to Jenn for falling in love with the combo as well!

Lunch was of course amazing!

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On the side I had the last of my Jalapeno Cheese Block, my leftover Veggie Salad and a small Kosher Dill Pickle.

Then for the main event I had a Boca Burger which I sandwiched between an Arnolds Thin (seriously loving these!) with some Spinach, Tomato and Honey Mustard.

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I told you it was a delish lunch!

I also grabbed about 5 of the Mini TJ Peanut Butter Cups Heather sent me. These little babies are amazing. The serving size is 27 for 210 calories! THANK YOU Heather for this AMAZING find! Its perfect when my sweet tooth is yelling at me for a quick fix.

I have BIG THANKS today for my Uncle Bill for donating to my TNT efforts today!! I always knew he was my favorite Uncle! Any other Uncles out there reading this and wants to be a fave then make a donation and I promise you’ll move to the top of the list as well! ;)

{ 23 comments }

Countdowns

January 28, 2009

Yay, its Wednesday!!! If you count today then only 3 more days of work before I’m hitting the ski slopes! Some other fun countdowns – My Birthday – 10 Days Blogging Bake Sale – 11 Days Valentine’s Day – 16 Days Gasparilla Half – 31 Days Britney Spears Concert – 38 Days WildMan Triathalon – more »

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