Mostly food....

My Dad visited Uganda a few weeks ago and sent a package full of goodies to share with us. You can see the "Knitter Critters" here at Kenana Knitters. Pictured are the two we got. Thanks for thinking of us, Dad!

We watched a movie on Sunday. Not a kiddie movie either! We had three friends, including our pastor, tell us to watch "Food, Inc.". It's in the new releases section. We had a pretty good idea that it would be disturbing to see where our food at the grocery store comes from, but it was more than disturbing. It was repulsive. I've been telling people all week that they need to watch this movie and most look at me confused, like "why would I question where my food came from?" But a couple (you know who you are) have said, "I don't want to know." So, choose for yourself. There are practical ideas at the end of the movie to give us direction, so I give it thumbs up, even if I was pretty grossed by the fecal matter in the beef...oops, have I shared too much? Sorry! As long as I don't tell you about the nasty filler full of ammonia that they have to mix into the beef to kill the ecoli caused by the poopoo. I definitely won't tell you about that.

Speaking about food...I wanted to share my list I made for myself of healthy meals, in case you need some ideas for meal planning. I'll be adding to it as time goes and I know that many of my recipes are weird to most people, but just in case it's helpful to somebody, here it goes:
Healthy Meal List

• Tacos
• Salad
• Chicken Korma
• Jambalaya
• Chili
• Tuna Steaks
• Beef Barley Stew
• Curried Lentil Soup*
• Orange Chicken
• Chicken and Rice Soup
• Pad Thai Noodles made easy with ready made Pad Thai Sauce from the store
  

My meal plan this two week period had soups for the weekends (so I don't have to cook on Sunday), one big meal on Monday with leftovers Tuesday, an easy meal on Wednesday with leftovers on Thursday and "take-away" on Friday. I've never scheduled eating out before, but I so want to have a night to look forward to to eat out (though we'll probably order Chinese and bring it home). After watching Food, Inc. you may only want to eat out at Chipotle restaurants.

Since it's awesome and I've been holding out on you all, I'm sharing my mom's amazing
*Curried Lentil Soup Recipe:
2-3 T olive oil
1 c. onions, chopped
3 large carrots, shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz. can chopped tomatoes
3/4c. whole lentils
3/4c. red split lentils
3-4 c. chicken broth

2t. cumin powder
2t. curry powder
1 t. coriander powder
1.5 t. sea salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan over medium heat, saute the onion and the carrot in the oil until very limp and slightly brown (15-20 min). [This is positively the most dreamy smell ever!] Add mixture to slow cooker with rest of ingredients or put in a big pot with rest of ingredients, cover and boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes. If you like it soupier, add more broth, Ben likes it super thick and this was the first time I think he's ever not needed crackers for a soup! If you like your curry spicy hot, add cayenne or garam masala powder to taste and serve with plain yoghurt to cool it down. Thanks for this amazing recipe, mom! It's in our regular rotation of recipes now.

Have an a amazing day!!!