Family Favorite Recipe - Crock-Pot Veggie Curry

Yum! Here's what we had for dinner last night. We just love curry. I must admit that I went many, many years thinking that I did like it, but it's because I was totally going on its smell from an old McCormick jar of curry spice. Oh, I was so wrong! All of those wasted years that I could have been eating curry! lol I had my first curry at an Indian restaurant in Lincoln. It was our anniversary and we decided to be adventurous and eat a type of food that we hadn't ever had before. I am so glad we did that, because now we are both totally hooked on curries and Indian food. It is so wonderful!

Here is a great and super easy recipe for vegetable curry. It comes from a great book called, "Fresh from the Vegetarian slow Cooker" by Robin Robertson. The only addition that I have made to this recipe is adding the sliced zucchini. Next time, I might add some broccoli florets instead of the zucchini, just to give that a try. Enjoy!

Crock Pot Vegetable Curry-

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 large carrots, sliced on a diagonal
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons good-quality curry powder (I use Spice Islands)
1 teaspoon gruond coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
8 ounces green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (I just use frozen choppd green beans)
15.5 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (sometimes I use these, sometimes I don't!)
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
2 cupes vegetable stock
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
salt

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the carrots and onion, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, curry powder, coriander, and cayenne, stirring to coat.

2. Transfer the vegetable mixture to a 3 1/2-4 quart slow cooker. Add the potatoes, green beans, chickpeas, tomatoes. Pour the stock into your empty skillet and scrape off all of that spicy goodness from the bottom of the pan. You don't want to waste that good flavor! Pour the stock into the crock pot. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

3. Just before serving, stir in the peas and coconut milk and season with salt to taste.

Serve over hot cooked rice! YUM!!!!!

Leftovers are awesome the next day.....I'm eating a big bowl of it right now!

God Bless,
di

recycled jeans tote

I turned a pair of Abby's old jeans that were too short into capri pants a week or so ago and I just couldn't throw away the cut-off ends of her jeans. I knew that I could make SOMETHING from them. lol Then it came to me when I saw them sitting on my counter.

A little tote bag!!!!! So after a little bit digging in my basket of fabric scraps, some sewing here and there, I ended up with this:


I was going to let Gracie play with it, but it turned out a lot cuter than I thought it would! I might have to borrow it from her sometimes! lol This was a super easy project, I didn't measure a thing, and pretty much went with whatever came to my mind. I have one more leg section to play with and turn into a tote. I can't wait to get started on it to see what I end up with when I'm done!

God Bless!
di

sharing my small successes

Over at the Faith & Family Live! blog they post a thread each week to share the small success that you have had each week. Here is a quote from the site: "It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph." I have been meaning to do this for awhile, but am just now getting to where I can start sharing my small successes here each week.

1. We have made it through the week with the stomach flu traveling around from person to person. I had it first, then Abby and then my husband, Joe. So far, no one else has gotten it yet and there are 3 children left that could come down with it. I know this seems like a silly success, but is it ever hard one everyone when the flu is going through our house!

2. I finally purchased the book, Divine Office for Dodo's: A Step-by-Step to Praying the Liturgy of the Hours by Madeline Pecora Nugent. I have had this book on my wish list at Amazon for well over a year. I was at our local Catholic bookstore the other day and was so thrilled to see a whole stack of them on the shelf! I am planning on buying my first volume of the Liturgy of the Hours this weekend.

3. Today is a special day for us. It is Abby's 13th birthday! She is definitely one of my successes in life. She is growing up to be such a beautiful & caring young lady. I am so proud of her!

God Bless,
di

happy birthday to me

This digital kit went on sale at Weeds and Wildflowers Designs and I just couldn't resist. I have been eying it for months and had to take advantage of it going on sale half price! It's a great kit called, The Happy Garden Collection. It has lots and lots of fun stuff in it! I was so excited to get it that I had to play with it last night and finished this digital layout!

God Bless!
di

treasure the happy times....

Here's a layout that I was able to do today while sitting on the floor with Gracie. She was watching her favorite shows and I was recovering from the flu! It's all digital and everything is from Weeds & Wildflowers Designs. :-)

God Bless!
di

ick.

Well, I was hoping to get things going here again and now we have the stomach flu running around through our house. As of today, I had it Monday, my middle daughter had it Monday night/Tuesday, and now my husband has it tonight, Wednesday. That leaves my oldest daughter, my son and my little one. *sigh* This just isn't a good week! I did get my Project 365 caught up and you can see all of those layouts at my other blog, days go by. I also made a little purse from recycled jeans that I want to share real soon. I just need to get to the quilt store for some green felt to make leaves so that I can finish it up and share!

So that's life in a nutshell.......more as soon as things calm down!

God Bless!
di

wow.

What a month it has been. Now that things are starting to settle down, I am hoping to be able to spend more time posting here at my blog....... I have lots planned and I hope to share it here.

God Bless!
di