Indonesian Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin is a common vegetable here, so I’ve learned how to make a variety of things with it. Actually not much variety – mostly soups that are a lot like this. Most of the time I use a packaged Thai curry paste instead of making a spice paste myself, but this recipe includes directions for an Indonesian style of spice paste. Thai and Indonesian foods have some similar flavors and both ways of making the soup taste delicious.

Pizza Crust

pesto bacon pizza

There is one place in town that makes pizza and I used to think it was good until I realized that it’s not that difficult (and much cheaper) to make pizza myself. The main problem with the restaurant’s pizza is that they use ketchup for pizza sauce and that’s just wrong! Their crust could use a little work too.

I use this amount of crust for 1 medium pizza, but it could be made into 2 smaller pizzas as well. I like the thick chewiness of this crust.

Snow Pea Stir-fry

I love snow peas – raw or cooked.  I also love the flavors that are on them in this stir-fry: garlic, sesame, and soy sauce.  When I made this and took the picture, I left the snow peas whole because I think they’re pretty that way. After eating it though, I think it’s a good idea to cut them into bite-sized pieces so they can fit on your spoon!

Gingery Moong Dahl

We eat a lot of dahl because it’s an easy form of protein.  Basically it’s Indian rice and beans.  James is really the dahl cook, so I have to give him most of the credit for this one.

Vegetarian Chili in a Pressure Cooker

I know I’ve said it before, but pressure cookers are awesome.  It blends the flavors together like a crock pot does, except a pressure cooker does it a lot faster.  This chili was delicious.  It really had that rich spicy taste that chili needs and it didn’t taste like a wimpy vegetarian version (some veggie chilies just taste like vegetable soup!)