Curry and More – a partially-homemade lunch or dinner

I like a hot meal for lunch. My current favorite is Curry and More. I just don’t get tired of it!  It’s delicious and, of course, very healthy.  And, since I rely on some packaged frozen food, it takes no time at all to pack lunches for the entire week – which I put into the freezer so I can grab one anytime.

BASIC INGREDIENTS – use each of these ingredients

• Tandoor Chef Dal Rajastani

• Available in the frozen food section of Whole Foods and other grocery stores.

• Tandoor Chef Chicken Curry

• Available in the frozen food section of Whole Foods and other grocery stores.

• Turmeric

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Monamifood Cilantro Sauce

OTHER INGREDIENTS – choose those that you like best

• Frozen organic spinach

• Monamifood Roasted cauliflower

• Frozen peas

• Monamifood Lemony Dal

• Baked sweet potato, cut into thick rounds

• Quinoa

• Cooked brown Basmati rice

Directions

Defrost the Dal Rajastani: Plop it out of the plastic tray it was frozen in and put it into a glass container; heat it in the microwave until it’s soft enough to spoon out.

To the defrosted Dal, add plenty of turmeric (don’t worry, keep adding and tasting until you get the right amount) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; mix well.

Spoon one-third of the Dal into each of three glass containers. (For example,  I use a container that’s 7 x 5 x 1.5 inches.)

Now defrost the Chicken Curry in the same manner as you defrosted the Dal. If you like, you can add some turmeric and black pepper to the Curry too!

Spoon one-third of the Curry into each of three glass containers.

Place one frozen Cilantro Sauce flavor cube into the glass container.

Then fill the rest of the container with your choice of ingredients from the “Other Ingredients” list above – lots of veggies and some quinoa, rice, or sweet potato, too.

Put a lid on each container and put them in the freezer. Now you have a healthy frozen meal — ready and waiting.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

CAULIFLOWER: Roasted Cauliflower

Why cauliflower?

Cauliflower is a cruciform vegetable, and as such it contains sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinols (13Cs) — powerful anticancer molecules capable of detoxifying various carcinogenic substances. Specifically, they can “prevent precancerous cells from developing into malignant tumors. They also promote the suicide of cancer cells and block angiogenesis.” (Anti Cancer, David Servan-Schreiber, page 121).

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER

I love roasted cauliflower and it’s so easy to make.

But does roasting cauliflower cause the production of carcinogens, like grilling meat does? Probably not, or at least not enough to matter, especially when a consuming a cancer-fighting food like cauliflower where on balance the anti-cancer forces win out big time. For research on this topic, see: cancer project.org.

And…other ways to cook cruciform vegetables have their downsides, too. Dr. Servan-Schreiber suggests that we should “Avoid boiling cabbage and broccoli. Boiling risks destroying sulforaphane and 13Cs.” (Anti Cancer, David Servan-Schreiber, page 121).

Accordingly, Servan-Screiber recommends that cruciform vegetables should be covered and steamed briefly or stir-fried rapidly with a little olive oil.

Still, when it comes to flavor, I like roasted cauliflower the best. And if you don’t roast it so much that it burns, it is certainly very good for you.

Ingredients

1 big or two small beautiful heads of cauliflower

¼ cup olive oil plus a little more for brushing the pan

Directions

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Cut the cauliflower into 4 sections. Then break it into florets.

Brush the pan with olive oil or use a 100% food grade silicone mat (Silpat mat, is a good brand). Place the florets on the oiled baking sheet.

Drizzle half of the olive oil over the florets. Using your hands, mix toss the florets around on the pan and then drizzle the other half of the olive oil over the florets. Spread the florets out so that they are not touching each other.

Place the pan on the uppermost shelf in the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until the underside of the cauliflower is light brown.

Then, using a pair of tongs flip the florets over as best you can.

Continue roasting the cauliflower for another 20 minutes, or until it’s lightly browned on two sides.

Remove the cauliflower from the oven and sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

It’s amazingly delicious!

Enjoy and be healthy!

Leni