Chickpea and vegetable curry with quinoa

I hope everyone is doing well!

Today I want to share with you the first Indian/ Southeastern Asian recipe ever cooked in our home. I don't really like Southeastern Asian food. I think the flavor of their food is really strong and I like simple flavors in my food. Anyway, my husband loves Indian food, so I thought to give it a try, at least just for him. After trying this rather simple recipe, I was hooked. I couldn't stop smelling at the sauce and I was texting my husband pictures and telling him how good this sauce smelled. Needless to say he loved it too.

So, here you go! The recipe was taken from the link here.

Chickpea and vegetable curry with quinoa

Ingredients

• 1 can coconut milk (13.5 fl oz or 400 mL)
• 1 can chick peas (15 oz)
• 2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon or more brown sugar
• 1 quarter lemon squeezed or more
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 1 bunch spinach, cleaned (I didn't have any spinach when I made this recipe. We rarely are without spinach, but this happen to be that day.)
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• salt to taste
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water

Instructions

1. Heat coconut milk in a large pan until it boils and reduce heat to simmer. Add next 7 ingredients to the coconut milk: chickpeas, red curry paste, tomato paste, brown sugar, lemon juice, chili powder, basil. Mix everything together until even consistency.
2. Add spinach, chopped green onions and sliced mushrooms to the coconut milk mixture, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a separate pan, combine 2 cups of water and 1 cup of quinoa. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook until all liquid is absorbed and quinoa is cooked and fluffy.
Note: If you like your curry a bit runny, add a little bit of water in the end to reach the desired consistency. If reheating the next day, you will likely have to add a touch of water to the curry as it will thicken overnight in the refrigerator.
4. To serve, place a scoop of quinoa into the middle of each plate. Top with chickpea curry.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, they don't do justice to the food. This recipe was a bomb. Let me know if you try it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana

He is finally back home!!!!

Most of you didn't know that I have spent the past 6 weeks without my husband. He had a work training and had to be away from me and Perla. Missed him? Immensely!! This was the first time, since we have been married, that we have been away from each other for so long. I am grateful for friends and family who have been close to us to help us make this time more bearable.

Sadly, this month was our third anniversary, and we weren't together to celebrate it. But here is to a lifetime and eternity together!!!! CHEERS!!!!

Well, enough said about me and him. Something else I have realized during this time I was without my husband is that I have gained a lot of sympathy for singles, single moms, and moms whose husbands are in the Army and away from home.
I feel sympathy for singles because they haven't found the person they want to share their life with. That person is a special one, he or she loves you more than any other person in this world, understands you better than anyone, cares for you and trusts you with all his or her life (Don't get me wrong, parents are very special too, but in a different way from a wife or a husband). I feel privileged to have found that person.( Keep in mind he didn't fall from the sky, God put us in each others paths, but we had to do the rest ;-))
I feel sympathy for single moms. I look at myself and I get to stay home with my baby and do the things I love the most, taking care of my family, and raising my child. A single mom has to be the man and the woman in the house, she has to be the husband and the wife, the mother and the father, and that is a lot of responsibility.
I feel sympathy for the wives of the solders. Not only are their husbands away from them, but they live with the fear that something bad may happen to their husbands.

All these thoughts made me be more grateful for my husband and the life we have. We shouldn't take our spouses for granted. God has given them to us, He has entrusted them to us, we need to show Him that we value His gift to us.

My favorite moment was to see Perla's reaction when she saw Miri after 6 weeks. She didn't show almost any emotion, she just hugged him and hugged him.

Don't mind Perla's face, she had just eaten some of the treats daddy had brought home. Don't you love her dress, it has her name engraved in front.

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana

Healthy summer treat

Hello all!

I know summer is almost over but I only discovered these treats a couple of weeks ago. I found these Pop Molds on Amazon for $1. Can you believe it? I found a coupon online, in the beginning, I was skeptical, but I thought even if it wasn't true $1 wasn't a big deal. But they came in the mail! I was so excited and decided to try them immediately. I had some frozen berries in the freezer. I threw them in the blender with some almond milk and honey and filled up the pop molds. After 4 hours, these beautiful treats were ready. Not only are they healthy, but my baby loves them. She always asked for Popsicle when she would see other children eating them. Now I am happy to give her one per day. I am excited to try different recipes and tastes. Do you have a favorite recipe? I would love to have it! I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer.

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana

When I get crafty

Many of you know that I am not a crafty person. I don't like to spend money on craft supplies, I feel like the result won't be worth the time, etc. I also don't like to spend money on decorations for our apartment (unless it's a not a very expensive art piece of a temple, or Jesus Christ, then yes I would buy it). If you come to our apartment, you'll see plain white walls, nothing on them. I found some easy craft ideas on Pinterest that I could do, and that would be very affordable because I had everything that was needed. So, now we have two art pieces in our apartment, one in our bedroom wall and the other on Perla's room wall. Here are a few pictures, in case you want to use the ideas. I think they turned out pretty well. I hope you don't think they are junk. ;-) Be nice please!

Can you see what it is made off? TOILET PAPER EMPTY ROLLS!!!

I am sad because you can't see the colors very well. After painting them in red, orange, yellow and grey, I painted the pieces with a glitter paint. I wanted it to sparkle when the sun would come in. Well, the sun doesn't come in our bedroom a lot, so in the end it was a waste of time painting the pieces twice. :-(

As you can imagine the "P" stands for Perla. Initially I wanted to do the whole name, but I did the letter from scratch using a cardboard box and it took me a lot of time. It is not perfect as you can see, oh well!! The butterflies are origami butterflies made out of colorful paper.

Oh and it is taped on the wall. I have been forgetting to get some nails every time I go to the store. But it works for us like this! ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana