Aloo Gobi

I am glad to say: today was a good day, even though I got off to a rough start. After spending the weekend procrastinating work on a paper due Thursday, I slept terribly last night, filled with anxiety that I wouldn't finish in time and the professor, whom I deeply admire, would hate me. I woke up and was in such a foul mood that I skipped morning yoga and made myself a vanilla latte instead. After Nayereh graciously agreed to give me a ride to school, I resolved to be positive and force my way into a good day. That resolve was quickly squashed when I got to French class and the professor handed back our quizzes. After a couple of A-'s and B+'s I stopped being worried about French quizzes. This landed me a big fat D- and a morning of sadness.

The afternoon, however, was looking up. I got complemented on my new boots, managed my way through a discussion in Victorian Britain without actually having read the novel that the discussion was based upon (you might find this shameful, I find it resourceful), and enjoyed a chai latte from Starbucks (which I actually find way too spicy) while working on the paper that caused me a night of sleepless misery. When I got home, I was so pleased that I did my morning yoga and made this delicious recipe with ingredients I had lying around that were going bad (Did you know potatoes can go bad? I know, I didn't either!). After looking up several recipes online on all sorts of sources, I am pleased to say I made up my own, and it goes a little something like this:

Aloo Gobi
serves 3-4

2 medium sized potatoes, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup peas
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 package LightLife Chick'n Strips (or alternately 1-2 breast of chicken, sliced thinly)

Boil the potato in water for about 15 minutes, or until just barely tender. Remove from heat and drain. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the spices and cook for about 30 seconds, then add the onion, cauliflower and potatoes. Allow the veggies to cook for 3 to 5 more minutes, then add the lemon juice and vegetable stock. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes, or until cauliflower is done cooking. In a seperate pan, sauté the chick'n strips for 3-5 minutes (obviously longer if using real chicken) in olive oil and curry powder. Add the cooked chick'n strips and the peas to the cauliflower mixture, and simmer together on low for another 5 minutes.

I sprinkled fresh basil over the top but I wished that I had fresh cilantro, as that would have been even better. Nevertheless, this was delicious and very easy. It's nice do these types of no-fuss recipes to cap off a good day.