Coconut Potato Curry with Basil and Cashews...Eat.Live.Be.

I cooked dinner at 3PM last week and none of you batted an eye when I told you.

That's why I love you.



My future husband, on the other hand?

This is one of those things we're going to fight about until we're 86. 

I mean, in all likelihood, he'll think it's cute and endearing at first.  I'll be his crazy little marathon-running food blogging wife who refuses to let him eat until she's taken 93 pictures of a bag of potatoes.

It'll be our little inside joke that dinner is always tepid and that we can't ever eat at the kitchen table because it's sacred photo-taking territory.  Until, that is, it becomes our little inside screaming match.

("Cute and endearing" only lasts so long.)



"Why do we eat like senior citizens?"

"Why is our grocery bill more than our rent?"

"Why can't you ever just cook anything normal?"

Man, I'm so mad at him.  And we haven't even met yet.  (That's not a good sign, is it?)

Maybe I'll just have to train him better.  Make him think that it's his idea that mid-afternoon is prime cooking time.

Brainwash him into falling so in love with curry that he demands we eat it every night.  I'm not averse to such trickery.

I'll start with this potato curry.  It has a creamy coconut cashew gravy that he'll contemplate drinking straight from the pan. A curry so addictive that he might not want to eat anything else ever again.

But then I'll have to remind him that I never make anything twice.

Do any of you have a good marriage counselor?  I think we're gonna need it.



To totally switch gears now, today at Eat.Live.Be. we're talking about our progress in the five months.  Have we met our goals?  Have we been successful?  Has anything changed?

This is a loaded question for me.

Am I the size that I want to be?  Did I manage to go shopping for new pants last week without having a complete meltdown in the middle of the store?  Um. No.

I'm getting there.  But still. No.

I think, though, that my attitude and my outlook are much improved from January.  I'm committed to having a good marathon training season.  I want to feel good, irregardless of how I look.  Now that I'm finally (mostly) uninjured, I want to stay that way.  And to do that I need to treat my body better.  It can do amazing things if I let it.  And by continuing the vicious cycle of criticizing it, feeling bad, and then eating tons of crap...I'm just not letting it.

For the past two months I've been much better at that.  At letting go after I eat something "bad" and not berating myself about it.  And I feel it in my bones that if I just stick with this, I'll end up back at the size that I want to be.  In the end, I'm the only one who stands in the way of getting what I want.  And I'm just not willing to let myself do that anymore.

How about you guys?  What has changed for you in the past five months?  Are you where you want to be, or at least on the road to getting there?

Check out the other Eat.Live.Be bloggers' posts to see how they're doing!

• Sarah Caron from Sarah’s Cucina Bella
• Cate from Sweetnicks
• Chris Arpante – Melecotte
• Patsy – Family, Friends and Food
• Claire – Cooking is Medicine
• Sarah Rogers – Sarah’s Sweet Creations
• Rivki from Healthy Eating for Ordinary People
• Claudia from Journey of an Italian Cook
• New Jersey Epicurean

Coconut Potato Curry with Basil and Cashews
Serves 3-4, adapted from What's For Lunch Honey?

500 g new potatoes, steamed for 10 minutes
1/3 cup cashews, soaked for 10-15 minutes and then chopped
1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen
2 cups cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 can light coconut milk
1 tbsp olive oil
Handful of basil, chopped
Salt and pepper

1. In a large pan, heat the oil and cumin seeds.  When they begin to sizzle, add the cashews and allow to gently roast.  Add the steamed potatoes and toss to coat.

2. Add 1/2 cup water with the tomato paste and incorporate.  Add in the cherry tomatoes and simmer for 5-8 minutes.

3. Add all the spices.  Stir well to coat the potatoes.  Mash any of the tomatoes that are cooked through.

4. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.  Add the coconut milk and peas.  Simmer until the sauce begins to thicken.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add chopped basil.

I am submitting this to Chaya's Meatless Mondays and Rebecca Jean's Maniac Meatless Mondays.