Day 59

And so it began like every other meal search I've done.  I have some ingredients.  I look up recipes with those ingredients. I find a recipe that looks good.  I don't follow the recipe exactly, because where is the fun in that?  Amazingly, there is food to eat at 5:30, and it is usually pretty good (if I say so myself).  This is my routine, and I do it quite often, usually starting around 3:30 in the afternoon.  Since I have gotten married I'm usually making dinner flying by the seat of my pants.  I thought I would be more like my mom and have a month of meals planned out in advance, but the creative side of me beat the logic side of me in this area.  I don't want to just make dinner; I want to CREATE dinner. I want the rush of uncertainty and the thrill of victory when dinner comes together. But I'm getting sidetracked.

As I was saying, it started out like every other meal search.  I had my ingredients and I went to the all-helpful internet and my favorite recipes sites to look for something wonderful to make with them.  But then something went drastically wrong.  I couldn't find any recipes for what I was looking for.  What? This cannot be.  I can always find recipes for what I want to make. But not this time.  All I wanted was a recipe with canned pumpkin and spinach.  And lentils. And curry.  And that wasn't a soup.  I know what I want, but I just can't find it. (Yes, we have moved to present tense.)  So, I'm going to tell you what I am going to do.  I am going to stop typing and go into my kitchen.  I am going to get my canned pumpkin, my spinach, my lentils, and my curry and make something fabulous for dinner.  I know there are some skeptics out there who don't think I can do it.  Just because there are no recipes out there doesn't mean that it can't be done, and I am going to prove it.  Stay tuned.

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Well, dinner is over and the results are in.  I did it.  I created a recipe out of pumpkin, lentils, spinach and curry and it was delicious.  If you would like to try it for yourself, I actually wrote the recipe down so that I can make it again. Please note that most of the measurements are approximations since I didn't actually measure anything except the lentils, so especially with the spices season to your taste. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spinach Curry

1-2 Tabl. olive oil

1 Tabl. curry powder ( I used a mixture of yellow and red)

1/2 onion, chopped

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed

1/2 cup lentils

3-4 cups water

1 Tabl. chicken bouillon

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 cup chopped red pepper

1 teas. basil

1/2 teas. garlic salt

1/2 teas. cinnamon

1/2 teas. paprika

1 cup canned pumpkin

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Add the curry powder and cook for about a minute.  Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the spinach and cook for a couple minutes more.  Add the lentils, water, and bouillon.  After about 5-10 minutes add the carrot, red pepper and seasonings.  Stir in the pumpkin.  Cook until the lentils are done and water is evaporated, about 20 minutes total from the time you added them. If the water evaporates before the lentils are finished cooking, add more water and cook until done.  Serve over rice.