What's for dinner?

I'm lucky to have a husband who a) does a lot of the cooking in our home, and b) is not a picky eater. At all. I can prepare, or only stock ingredients for, vegetarian meals without any complaints. The man is fine with just a salad or soup for dinner and I love him for it.

I've gone through phases since I really learned how to cook (let's say graduate school) where I cook very healthy meals. Currently, I stock our refrigerator and pantry with tons of fresh vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, spinach, kale, collards, and mushrooms), hearty grains (quinoa, brown rice), and protein packed beans (white, black, chickpeas, and lentils). I was inspired to revamp my stocked pantry from Heidi's blog (101 Cookbooks) and her two excellent cookbooks Super Natural Everyday and Super Natural Cooking. I love Heidi's recipes and her philosophy of finding and using seasonal food that's in its most basic (least processed) form.

What I've come to discover, though, is that there are two camps of "healthy" eating. There are the "least processed, most natural" folks like Heidi (and my trainer friend, Jenna, who has a group on Facebook called "Real People Eat Food" - Check her out!). Their main focus is eating foods that have the least ingredients and processing possible (including advocating for organic produce). When you buy and eat an apple, the only ingredient is, well, apple. However, if you buy applesauce from the store, there could be any number of additional ingredients and preservatives. My basic rule of thumb when applying their philosophy is looking at the ingredient list and finding the products with the shortest list and most understandable ingredients. My bag of almonds say "Ingredients: Almonds."

Here's the interesting thing about this camp, they're not necessarily low fat, low cholesterol or low calorie. They do not like the processing involved to make I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, skim milk or egg substitutions. So, they advocate for cooking with butter, whole milk, and farm fresh eggs. Which leaves me wondering, is it healthier? I am fortunate that I am not overweight and I do not suffer from high cholesterol, but for people who do what ideas should they embrace?

In the end, I do my best to balance healthy, fresh foods, convenience, and I try not to do anything too extreme. I'm always leery of a diet that involves only eating one thing or completely cutting out something from your diet.

So, you've stayed with me through my musings. Would you like to know what I made for dinner?

This recipe was inspired by this "Cooking with Curry" article I found using my Whole Foods app. I thought the Tempeh Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans recipe looked tasty although I lacked all of the ingredients in the title! Ha. Here's my adaptation:

Chicken Red Curry with Broccoli, Cauliflower, Mushrooms, Red Pepper, and Spinach
(I like to think that you could substitute the chicken with any protein, or exclude it and just throw whatever veggies you have wilting in the fridge that need to be used!)

Serves 4 to 6

Cook the rice and chicken while prepping your other ingredients and it will come together quickly. 

Ingredients

1 cup long-grain brown rice
2 cups water
1 (8-ounce) package tempeh
1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (I used 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
1 tablespoon ground curry powder (Mine was red curry powder)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 broccoli head, cut into florets

1 cauliflower head, cut into florets

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

1 cup baby bella mushrooms, sliced

2 big handfuls of fresh spinach leaves (It wilts down a lot so don't be concerned!)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided (I didn't have any cilantro)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (regular salt would also be fine, but use less than 1/4 teaspoon)

Method

Bring rice and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer until liquid is completely absorbed and rice is just tender, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare chicken breasts. I cooked three with the plan to use the rest to top salads and other meals in the next few days. Use a mallet to hammer the chicken breasts to be more even if you have one available. Warm 1 tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add chicken breasts and cook for approximately 5 minutes. Flip and repeat until cooked through and juices run clear. 

Bring 1/2 cup broth to a simmer in a large deep skillet (I used my dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger and cook 5 minutes or until onion is translucent and tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in curry and cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add coconut milk and remaining 1 cup broth. Add broccoli, cauliflower, and bell peppers. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in mushrooms and spinach, cover for 5 minutes until spinach has wilted. Salt and pepper to taste. To serve, spoon curry over rice.