Hurry the Curry

I love the smell of curry.  There is an Indian family a couple of doors down and it smells like curry almost everyday.  I want to live there.

Potato and Pumpkin Curry w/ Brown Basmati Rice
1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice (or whatever rice you have at hand.  I used regular brown rice)
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
2 tbsps refined coconut oil
1 onion cut into 3/4 chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (all I had was the diced tomatoes with green chili.  I still used it and it was still very good)
1 cup low-sodium vegetable stock
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp cayenne (I used chili powder)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 lb red potatoes cut int o 3/4 inch chunks
3 cups 3/4 inch chunks pumpkin (ok I did cheat.  I used butternut squash because they were already cut into big chunks and whole foods.  sue me.)
1 1/2 tbsps lemon juice (I was a bit distracted and didn't add.  It was still so yummy)
1 tsps chopped fresh cilantro or italian parsley.

In a 2 quart saucepan over high heat, combine the rice, water, and 1/4 tsp of the salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 30 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let the rice stand, covered, at least 10 minutes.
While the rice is standing, make the curry.  Heat the coconut oil is a 10-12 skillet over medium high.
Side note:  I had to transfer everything towards the end to a pot because my skillet wasn't large enough.
Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute more.  Add the tomatoes, stock, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon, cloves and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Bring to a boil and add the potatoes and pumpkin.  Return to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the portato and pumpkin are tender, about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
Serve over rice sprinkled with cilantro.

I loved it.  It was a bit spicy for the kids.  For the littlest she had a tiny bit and just ate her brown rice.  The middle kid loved the potatoes and curry but wasn't thrilled with the squash.  Hubby.  sigh.  He is still not on board with eating healthy.  He eats a tiny bit and then just makes cereal.  Which is just fine with me.  I am putting myself first.  I really do feel the need to eat better for my health and teach my kids the same.  They might not be thrilled but understands what I am doing and why I am doing it.  Coming from a family living with heart diseases and diabetes, it is my duty to break away from it and live better and healthier.  I am not there yet.  Baby steps for sure.  I have thyroid disease and with it cholestrol is very high.  When I started eating better for me my good cholestrol was very high and the bad cholestrol was borderline.  My doctor was thrilled and said because of the good cholestrol being so high he feels the bad cholestrol is normal.  He did ask what kind of changes have I been making.  I told him eating no meat and more vegetables and switching from white bread/pasta/rice to brown bread/pasta/rice.  He told me not to stop and wish his patients with extremely high cholestrol, heart disease, type 2 diabetes would all follow suit. Being vegetarian is not easy.  It takes work and dedication and support.  PETA has a wonderful starter kit you can order free online and you can easily pick up many vegetarian or vegan cookbooks at your local library.  Many of the ingredients can be found in any supermarket or farmer's market you enter.

Please forgive any spelling errors.  I seem to have lost my spellcheck.....
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