Just a quick one!

We've been snowed in at home. Actually the roads aren't too bad...it's the driveway (such as it is) that's the problem. Will we be able to get from the garage to the road or into the garage after we're home? Can't assume anything.

The puppies are growing. We're keeping 3 so they're in crates in the kitchen working on housetraining. If we can ever get started we'll be taking them to obedience training soon. They're so smart...I expect they'll learn faster than we do. LOL

Stay warm and dry!

Still no oven, but boy do I have food!

My oven has bit the dust. We're debating between replacing it with a newer one we have at our place (came with a food truck we bought). It's relatively new, compared to ours, and hardly ever used (according to the previous owner). Theoretically it should be fine. It would also give me 4 working burners, whereas now I have only 2. For now I'm using my bread machine. I use it for dough to save time but bake in a bread pan so I get the shape I prefer. However, It's a good back up for a non functioning oven as well. I've switched to entirely whole wheat bread. The last couple of been unusable. But I was using hard red wheat flour and that's very dense. Today I'm trying white wheat, which should be lighter and easier. We'll see...

This week I picked up our first share from a CSA. I made spinach stew last night (recipe coming later) to serve over brown rice. It was yummy. The Little Prince ate his with no complaining, though he's requested fatayer with spinach. But that require baking so not happening soon.

I also have golden beets, green leaf lettuce, arugula, carrots, sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, and squash. Yum!

A yummy recipe revisited

A few years ago I shared a recipe here for Mjadra, which is a thick lentils and rice dish that is eaten by dipping pita bread. Now that we're moving more toward the Nourishing Traditions way of cooking (at home, at least), I've adapted the recipe.

The original is this:
1 cup lentils (rinsed)
4 cups water
1/2 cup rice (rinsed)
1 onion, chopped
oil
salt and pepper and cumin to taste

Boil lentils in water for 20 minutes. Saute onions in oil; add to lentils with residue, rice and seasonings; cover and boil on medium for another 20 minutes. When done, you should have enough liquid left that once you've pureed it it's still very moist. Dry is OK, but then you have Mdadra. ;)

Now, for my new way of making it.

Soak the lentils and brown rice for at least 7 hours in 4 cups of water. Actually 4 cups minus 2 Tbsp, which you'll replace with 2 Tbsp. of whey. I get my whey from draining yogurt to make labneh. Then boil over medium for 20 minutes.

In place of oil I use bacon grease, but you could use coconut oil too. I prefer uncured bacon because the flavor is incomparable. I add the onions and residue to the lentils and rice along with the seasonings. I've started to replace the cumin with plenty of curry. Cumin is one of the spices in curry, but I find all the other spices, along with having terrific health benefits, make this dish fantastic.

Mjadra is a relatively plain dish. Delicious, but nothing fancy. However, I find that by using bacon grease and curry (sounds like an odd combination, I know) not only am I making it more NT, but the combination of flavors makes it hard to stop eating. I really need to start doubling it.