This week we finally got our heater fixed! I have been awash in glorious warmth and thankfulness. That didn’t stop me from making a giant pot of soup while it’s still cold out. 

We made a few new recipes this week. we had fun playing around and changing a few to suit our needs and tastes better. We had a particularly delicious Taco Tuesday with an adaptation of these black bean tacos that a fellow vegetarian friend sent me. The recipe is great because it is simple and fast but it was a little too basic for us so we added garlic and onion and served them with a generous dollop of freshly made salsa. (They could also very easily go vegan if you skip the cheese or sub vegan cheese!) My husband took over the majority of the prep and especially the frying on that recipe which I appreciated since I have been fighting some crazy sinuses.

Onions and peppers and garlic, oh my!

My sweet husband also helped me with some of the chopping and prep of our favorite recipe this week, which we made yesterday. He was making our son dinner already since little guy has a bit of a tomato allergy so he couldn’t have any soup and since hubby was making pasta and in the kitchen anyway, he asked if I could keep watching our son while he chopped and then we could switch off. If I’m being honest, the me from a year ago probably would have refused him and made all of our lives more difficult because I wouldn’t have felt like it “counted” unless I made every step of the recipe myself. I’m glad I’m not me from a year ago, because the situation we had instead worked out perfectly. I felt like I was on my own personal cooking show when I came into the

kitchen with everything prepped and I got to do the fun part of hearing the vegetables sizzle when they hit the bottom of the soup pan with some hot olive oil. I got to watch as the soup changed and more complex aromas rose out of the pot. I had the joy of watching my husband come back in, his eyes widening just a little, and tasting before asking how much longer it had to simmer.

This soup was such a winner. The only changes I made to the original recipe came out of an accident- I bought full fat coconut milk instead of light so to compensate for how much that mellowed out some of the spice I used both curry paste and curry powder. It was so delicious and the combo of chickpeas and lentils was satisfying. Be sure to add plenty of lime juice and have some cilantro on hand to top your bowl! And if you have the opportunity to have a sous chef help you prep in anyway- take them up on the offer. Accepting help can make your meal that much more delicious. Now if only I could get better at doing that outside the kitchen!

(Our dinner vs. little guy’s dinner… he didn’t know what he was missing out but I may try to brainstorm something to substitute for the tomato based ingredients so he can try it next time!)