Saturday, December 6, 2008

Shut up and Listen!!

Hello, folks. Aren't you happy it's Saturday? I thought so. I went to bed pretty late last night. I went down to the South Side with my sister and her boyfriend. I thought I'd feel like a third wheel, but I didn't. I will admit, though, that the drive down there was HELL!!! haha Her boyfriend, Mario, does not shut up. AT ALL. You know that friend you have who just won't stop talking? Well, imagine that person talking 100x more often (Yeah, I know it's hard to imagine haha). He was telling me that every way I was taking would take longer and I just wanted to slap the boy. We got into it a little bit and my sister broke us up. I had to refrain myself because he was in the back seat, and I'd probably crash the car if I turned around and expressed how I felt haha

When we finally made it down there, we went to The Cheesecake Factory. The menu had no vegan items whatsoever, so I just got a salad. Don't you hate that? I can make salads at home, and the salad I ordered just wasn't good. I got the Vegetable Chopped Salad. I just try to avoid being the one who doesn't order anything in a restaurant because I used to do that all the time when I had some eating problems. Thankfully, a little shopping made up for the bad salad. We went to Forever 21, and I got the cutest bows for my hair!!!! I love wearing cute hair stuff, so when I found these, I was in love.

As for food, I have a curry for you. This was the first curry I made and the house smelled insane!! Insane meaning ummm.... weird. haha It tasted very good, but I just don't like the smell of curries. I found this recipe in Vive le Vegan because I am just so dependent on Dreena Burton for her good food haha Do you guys have that one cookbook author/authors that you just love?

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Curry Chickpea Casserole
2 1/2- 3 cups cooked chickpeas
1 13/5 oz can light coconut milk
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups celery, chopped
1-1 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1- 1 1/2 cups apple, chopped (you can peel it but it's not necessary)
2 small-medium cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1-1 1/2 tbsp mild curry paste
2 tsp mustard seeds (or 1/2 tsp ground mustard)
1 tsp cumin seeds (or 1/2 tsp ground cumin)
1/2 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp allspice

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. In a large, deep casserole dish, combine all the ingredients and stir until well-combined. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Stir through, cover, and bake for another 30-40 minutes, until the veggies are tender. Makes 4-5 servings.

14 comments:

Pearl said...

thanks for the recipe!

mario sounds funny - was he trying to be nice and connect with you by talking a lot?

cute hair stuff is so irresisible! :) i hope you have a great weekend, jo!

Kelly said...

I'm sorry to hear it was so hard to find something to eat. That is uber frustrating. I realized during Vegan MoFo that unfortunately restaurants are not always so accomidating. I personally love the one restaurant manager who told me the vegans love his chicken.

Anonymous said...

You have to post pictures of the new things you bought!!!
And I'm sorry Mario was annoying, I hate it when people won't shut up!!! It's like ummm excuse me kiddo, shut it!
I'm sorry all they had was salads, what a bummer!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Yeah, I avoid Cheesecake Factory, since when I wrote to them, they said, "We do not cater to vegans." Um thanks??? Haha ;-)

Great recipe!!

Jenn said...

I haven't been to the cheesecake factory in ages. Good think I've been avoiding it. My old roommates used to work there, and I thought they were supposed to be really accomodating.

Love the Mr. T shot.

Reeni said...

I love the way curry smells when it's cooking, my parents hate it! I love cute hair stuff too, I'm very into headbands. That sucks about your dinner! Your chickpea casserole looks yummmmmmmy.

Emily said...

I love anything with curry. This sounds delicious!

Georgia said...

We don't have a cheesecake factory here but I can sympathise - I think a simalar thing has happened to the majority of vegans - but that doesn't make it any better does it.

That chickpea curry looks SO good - I LOVE chickpeas!!!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Your post made me laugh! That curry looks pretty dirty (= insanely good ;-P)!

Cheers,

Rosa

Wandering Coyote said...

I used to loooooooove the Cheesecake Factory, but yes, a bit difficult for vegans. Sorry about your salad, but your curry looks terrific.

fleur said...

haha you always make me laugh

Kiki said...

Hey Joanna! I just found your blog through Jemima from How I Mash Potato's blog. Your food looks so yummy! Is that recipe from recipezaar? I've made it twice and I'm in love with it!

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

Mario sounds annoying! I've never made anything curry, but I just bought some curry powder today so I'm gonna have to man up and use it!

Bethany said...

that's funny and annoying that you had a chatter in your car. I don't like too much noise when I'm driving with people in the car. If andy is in the car we can have the music on. if other people are in the car, I turn it off.

I won't go to a new restaurant with non vegans. I always have to scope it out first because I refuse to eat crap while they stuff themselves. of course this is different if I'm on vacation.

that curry looks amazing. thanks for sharing the recipe.