Wednesday, February 4, 2015

NaBloPoMo: Make...Dinner?


Today's NaBloPoMo prompt is, "What is your favourite thing to make for dinner?"

Years ago, after learning how to make this from one of my sisters, lasagna with meat used to be my favourite, albeit it was time-consuming to make. Then I stopped buying non-organic meat, thus stopped making it. (I know I could have made vegetarian lasagna, but for some reason never did!)

The look of shredded beef is so unappealing both in look and in smell, especially when cooking! Does it make you feel squeamish inside like it seems to for me?

Stir-fried rice with veggies and/or sometimes with added cooked eggs like you see in Chinese rice dishes became my preferred dinner years later.

The past few years however, I combined the use of two of my favourite appliances (which I blogged about on November 21, 2014, during the previous NaBloPoMo challenge): my crock pot and rice cooker, both small and cute. The crock pot was meant primarily to save time and the rice cooker for an expected outcome of perfectly cooked rice (as opposed to me overcooking it, i.e., think burnt!).

I think my favourite became organic beef made into a stew over or rather, mixed in with rice, sometimes with loads of veggies, other times not. (The photo above that I took features cilantro which I used to hate, now love, as well as rice that just happens to have lentils and split peas in it.

Truly, I could experiment with the crock pot to make simple or creative dishes, though I haven't just yet. Perhaps my next preferred dinner will become the result! ;)

What is your preferred dinner? And do you happen to know of a simple - a few ingredients - and healthy crock pot dish? If so, please consider letting me know.

This post is linked to both #NaBloPoMo and also #WordyWednesday, written in part as a word prompt from B-A-R (Blog-A-Rhythm) member, writer and blogger, Aditi Kaushiva for Wordy Wednesday. ;)

10 comments:

  1. I am a vegetarian, so stir fried rice with veggies sounds very good to me. But for lunch rather than dinner. For dinner, I prefer wheat chapati with some simply-cooked Indian veggies. Or maybe just a wheat-bread sandwich with green tea or jasmine tea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm, yes, I wondered if the photo and certain words would offend vegetarians... Chapati with veggies sounds good too. Curious what are (typical) Indian veggies? And what would you put on your sandwich? ;) <3

    ReplyDelete
  3. I liked the idea of a crock pot and slow cooking. I am sure you can make all sorts of food in it. Don't you use red meat at all? and chicken? I love chicken- it is so versatile. I have never used a crock pot just heard of it. I use a pressure cooker most of the time. It is quite fast. To answer your sandwich question a mix of spinach cooked with little corn and a slice of tomato or tomato puree will taste great.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, a crock pot is a wonderful invention! I do occasionally eat meat and chicken, though organic and/or free range. Interesting-sounding sandwich Inderpreet! ;) <3

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stir fried veggies with rice sounds good for dinner Elly. But like Beloo, here in India most of us like our wheat chappatis/Rotis with Indian style veggies in gravy (there are several recipes online for these since there are numerous varieties of them).
    If you like rice and lentils you should try my fav dinner option 'khichdi' a simple dish made out of rice, lentils and can be spiced up with some veggies thrown in. Will share the recipe separately if you're interested.
    BTW I'm enjoying your food-centric blog posts more than your other posts since I'm a foodie to the core :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well I suppose rice isn't really part of a traditional Indian dish is it? What is the difference between a chappati and a roti - will have to check that out! Sure you can send me the recipe if you wish. And I think most of us, if not all of us are 'foodies' at heart. I mean who doesn't love food?! ;)<3

    ReplyDelete
  7. In our house we take mixed cuisine.My hubby, DIL and me are veggies.My son and grand daughters love non veg dishes.It is an interesting mix up of rice and roti.
    Loved your post.

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOL Usha! You mean you are vegetarian! ;) It must be interesting to cook for vegetarians and non-vegetarians at the same time, let alone eat at the same table! <3

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chappatis are roasted with a little oil/ ghee (clarified butter) and are thicker than Rotis which are thinner and not necessarily greased with fat. Rice is very much a part of traditional Indian cuisine. In fact South Indians only eat rice as opposed to wheat which is a staple for West and North Indians. We have quite a bit of versatility here :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, thanks for correcting and educating me Vinodini. Great to know the difference and that rice is a part of some Indian's traditional meals. :) <3

    ReplyDelete