Lunch does not grow on trees, part 2

Note #1: Check out all the amazing BSI: Dates Submissions here. The winner will be announced tonight!

Note #2: Heather and Mark are giving away free almond butter at HangryPants!! Go check out the contest here.

Note #3: Biz at Biggest Diabetic Loser is giving away the 30 Day Shred DVD. Enter here.

Note #4: Thanks to Victoria at The Idle Loaf for posting this coupon for free rice crackers!

Onto lunch …

I love how joining the blogworld has motivated me to be even more creative with the food I make. My lunches for this week were inspired by Meghann’s BSI Submission. The idea of incorporating dates into a savory dish — and especially into an Indian curry — intrigued me, so I followed Meghann’s basic procedure for the Kale & Date Curry, adjusting for the ingredients I had available and un-perfect-portioning her recipe so I’d have enough for the whole week. My curry included kale, red cabbage (steamed ahead of time), tomato sauce, onion and garlic (sauteed first in canola oil), chicken and vegetable broths, seven jumbo Medjool dates, 1 cup dry lentils (cooked ahead of time), homemade garam masala seasoning, tons of curry powder, coriander, cinnamon, freshly grated ginger, one grated Fuji apple, and maybe that’s it?

I simmered everything for a looooooooooooong time until it was very tender and then took my immersion blender to the mixture:

This made a little over six cups of curry:

For lunch purposes, I’m using 3/4 cup curry atop a bed of 1/4 cup brown basmati rice. You can sort of see the layering effect here:

As I mentioned last night, I ate a lot of this curry as I was cooking it to get the spices just the way I wanted them, so I know how delicious lunch is going to be. I can’t wait!

Here’s the rest of the lunch spread in order of planned consumption from top to bottom and left to right:

giant orange for mid-morning snack, date + kale curry for lunch, greek yogurt with apples/bananas/cinnamon/ginger for lunch dessert, broccoli trees with roasted red pepper hummus for afternoon snack, apple with a tbsp each of pb and raisins for evening snack/dinner in class, Quaker True Delights bar for evening snack/dinner dessert in class

As you’ve seen in recent weeks, my food plans have a way of evolving based on the food I encounter throughout the day, so this food plan is only tentative. If other food that I need to eat appears in front of me, I’ll just keep this lunch for tomorrow. But I hope I get to eat it today because it’s all so yummy!! I’ll be back later (I hope) to report on how things panned out and to announce the winner of this week’s BSI: Dates contest!!!