MEMMM (I should really move this to Tuesday)

Last night, I made a yummy red curry. It's not an expensive dish, really, but I had to go with the local, organic chicken, so it emptied my wallet. But it was worth it, really, as it'll feed me for a few days. Ms. Emily was feeling a little under the weather last night, but she showed up for the tasting, anyway.

To make the curry you'll need the following:

• 1 chopped organic red pepper
• 1 chopped organic carrot
• 1 cubed sweet potato
• about 8 organic shitake mushrooms
• 1 can organic coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons red curry paste
• 4 or 5 cloves organic garlic, minced
• one bunch organic basil
• 2" long piece of organic ginger, grated
• 2 chicken breasts (or substitute tofu)
• canola oil

Cook the garlic in some canola oil until slightly browned. Add chicken or tofu. Add ginger and fish sauce. Cook for a while and add a can of coconut milk and some water (1/8 the amount of coconut milk). Bring to a near-boil and add curry paste, carrots and sweet potato. Simmer for about a half-hour and add mushrooms and peppers. Simmer for another 10 minutes and add basil. Serve over a bed of rice.


I add hot sauce, as well. Something hot w/o a lot of flavor works best.

After eating, it's nice to relax with a study session. Unfortunately, in my apartment, studying is hard to do as many tiny creatures demand my attention.

MEMMM (again, posted on Tuesday)

J's Tasty Tahini Dressing

Sometimes we get the urge to eat healthy at the SDS household. It usually happens after long bouts of pizza-eating when we realize that our digestive systems are on strike because of our diets. We recently tried to do a raw diet, which we are no longer doing (because it's horribly torturous and, I believe, pointless). Anyway, some good came out of the raw diet: we learned how to make really tasty salads. Okay, J learned how to make really tasty salads while I lounged about the house. Anyway, J made salad dressing last night and it was freakin' delicious. I don't know the exact amounts, but he mixed the following:

1 clove organic garlic
one nub of organic ginger, peeled
organic olive oil
organic lemon juice
organic brown rice vinegar
organic tahini
organic vine tomato

We poured the dressing over a salad containing the following:

organic mesculin mix
organic carrots
organic red pepper
organic cucumber
organic avocado
organic red quinoa

We also bought a mango to put in the salad, but it wasn't ripe enough. I thought the salad was delicious but Emily, who turns her nose up at anything with vegetables in it, wasn't so impressed. While she gives the meal a 3 out of 10, I give it a 9.

MEMMM: Organic Ginger Drink

J recently made one of the tastiest drinks ever and I'd like to share it with you. First, you'll need the following:

• 1 large piece of organic ginger root
• 1 bottle of organic lemon juice
• organic honey

Begin by grating the ginger. Grate the entire root. While you're grating, let about 1.5 gallons of water boil. Add the grated ginger to the just boiled water, along with about a cup of honey. Mix well and let cool (this may take about an hour). Once cooled, strain the mixture, catching the liquid in a pitcher or large jar. You can keep the grated ginger for making seitan or broth...or just toss it. Add about one cup of lemon juice. Add more honey/water/lemon juice to taste.

This stuff is delicious, easy to make and pretty cheap. One batch makes a LOT of drink. It's very very gingery, so if you don't like the hot taste of ginger, then this isn't for you!

Miss Emily didn't want to be a part of this post. She's busy keeping J company, as he appears to be down for the count with an impending flu. However, she asked that I post some eye candy. For your viewing pleasure:

Miss Emily's Munchie Madness Monday (Posted on a Tuesday...)

Julia has made a resolution to eat food that is organic or local and I'm going to kick off MEMMM with one of my favorite local meals.

My favorite meal of any weekend day is breakfast. There's nothing quite like the taste of a warm, runny egg yolk or a maple syrup drenched piece of whole grain pancake. Of course, I often forget that eggs, bacon, sausage, grapefruit, orange juice, waffles, pancakes and the like aren't solely breakfast foods and it's rare that I really take the time to eat a nice breakfast.

So, as was customary in my home as a child, I sometimes have breakfast for dinner. And not just any breakfast, but a locally-grown/raised and organic breakfast. J and I had breakfast for lunch the other day and here's what we made:

• Whole grain blueberry pancakes-locally made pancake mix and local, organic blueberries and local syrup
• Over-medium fried eggs-local, free-range eggs
• Maple sausage-local, "all natural" sausages

Miss Emily, who has proven to love tasty human snacks such as Smartfood popcorn, took a peculiar interest in J's sausage links. As a test, we fed her a tiny piece and she just wouldn't leave us alone afterward! She was so persistent that J finally gave in and offered her an entire link.

She was a rabid little thing...

Overall, Emily gives this meal a 7 out of 10. While it could be healthier, it's local farm friendly and tastes great!