Had a great day today! I just love being outside. This afternoon I biked downtown to meet another friend – Seamane – to tour an open house in our target neighborhood. We are nowhere near ready to buy, but I have been stalking the real estate market and jump at the chance to go in an open house.
The house was gorgeous and charming –
I would LOVE to buy something like this someday!
After our tour, we went on a walk!
Total miles walked today: 10!
Total miles biked: 6!
And what’s funny is that because it didn’t seem like exercise I don’t feel all that tired. Just like I did as a kid. Playing is fun!!
Cauliflower Crockpot Curry Chickpeas
Dinner cooked itself tonight – a simple crockpot mish mosh!
Ingredients included cauliflower, chickpeas, sweet potato, carrots, celery and FIGS!
Plus turmeric, curry and garam masala
And a few more randoms:
Cauliflower Crockpot Curry Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 large sweet potato, cubed
- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed
- 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 6 figs, chopped
- 2 cups broth-of-your-choice
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Method
- Combine all in crockpot and stir.
- Set to high for 2 hours and then low for 2 hours.
- Serve over coconut-scented brown rice with plain yogurt and spiced nuts!
Unfortunately I didn’t find any pieces of fig in mine! Bummer!
This evening I watched the movie Valentine’s Day, which was pretty good!! Only a few cheeseball moments, and LOTS of fun celebs to watch.
Midway through, in honor of the Chocolate Holiday, I had to partake myself –
Banana Soft Serve made with chocolate vanilla almond butter topped with chocolate-covered almonds (from Whole Foods bulk bins) and coconut!
Matt loved his twin bowl too : )
Nite!
{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }
I almost rented Valentine’s Day yesterday! The celebs almost make it worth watching regardless of the cheese factor.
Your dinner looks delicious!
I’m so glad you got to spend so much time outside. I didn’t get out as much as I wanted, but it looks like you were outside enough for the two of us!
I’m pretty sure we crossed paths on the sidewalk on Locust today – my friend was in the middle of a story so I didn’t have a chance to say hi, but glad you enjoyed your walk! It was a gorgeous day to be outside in C’ville
OMG!!!!!!!!! You should have said hi!!
What a great day. I love days like that – when there’s lots of playing involved. I feel like the days I go hiking are like that. They always make me feel like a kid.
I bet that curry would also be delicious with raisins in place of the figs.
Fun times! We went and toured two model homes in Belvedere this afternoon. The sun was gorgeous today!!
Oh let me know the next time you go out looking!! How is Belvedere? Newer right?
Kath – it’s really nice and will be great once it’s more built in! Once they’ve hit their stride, there will be 700+ homes, as well as a town center, organic garden, outdoor amphitheater and 5 miles of trails that connect to the Rivanna Trail.
The development is in Phase 1 right now and has several builders – really cool craftsman style homes and many also feature a detached carriage house, which I really liked. Pretty neat!
If we end up going again I’ll def let you know =)
Oh cool!! I have my heart set on a historic house downtown, but I am also a HUGE new house girl and love communities like that! Maybe I’ll go check it out
Oooo I haven’t had banana soft serve in so long! I better stock up on bananas tomorrow and get that process going
And of course, I’ll be sure to throw in some chocolate…
That house looks so charming! And I still have yet to see Valentine’s Day!
Kath,
How does a person deal with binging late at night? I have severe muscular and kidney issues that prevent me from exercising. And I binge at night — a lot. I start off fine, then will eat anything. I ate a full box of cereal and a bag of chips late tonight after my normal choices. To make it worse, these things affect my condition and make my condition worse. I cannot exercise it away or just not eat the next day.
Any suggestions from you (a sensible eater) would be appreciated.
Amie
Oh that dinner looks fab!!! I love that movie- it is a cute one if you want a nice chick flick
Love crock pots!!!!
I love that house, and I’ve been stalking the real estate market for 2+ years. We’re no where near ready to buy either, but I can’t resist checking all of the realtor websites every week. I should stop, but I can’t!!!
Your dinner looks great! Glad you had such a fun filled, active day outdoors!
I gotta make some banana soft serve and find out what everyones talking about. I also really want to get an ice cream maker to make some fro-yo.
Wow that looks great! I love your little spice containers too. And YUM soft serve!
no fig in your bowl?!? d’oh!
Yum that recipe looks great and the dessert looks way good!
Beautiful photos once again! How did all those veggies keep their shape after 4 hours of cooking though? I love those days when you just amble around town and don’t even notice all the calories you’re burning.
Looks like such a great dinner, and love that dessert! I must make banana soft serve again soon!
Mmmm. Recipe looks AMAZING.
Figs make EVERYTHING fantastic!
I have a really similar recipe I’ve posted about…curried raisin lentils with chickpeas. Tomato paste, lentils, chickpeas, garam masala, cinnamon, raisins, a few other things…one pot, simmer for a half hour, done. Your recipe looks lovely!
And that house. That is SO YOU! That house just screams: Kath! all over it. One day you will have a house just like that
The Cauliflower and Chickpea meal looks so delicious! I wish I’d checked in with your blog before dinner – I was totally having an uninspired cooking night!
That house does look cute! Love the living room.
And that crockpot dish looks amazing. I love Indian spices!
I saw Valentine’s Day when it came into the dollar theater- it was pretty cute!
I miss banana soft serve! Can’t justify it when bananas cost as much as saffron right now
Cute house! I go in random open-houses all the time. It’s so much fun to see what’s out there and get ideas for my place.
Mmmm, your dinner and dessert looks heavenly. You must’ve been tired and after all that activity!
Ever tried coconut bliss ice cream? It is the BEST
That soft serve looks delish. I hope you get your dream home soon in the future
Wow that’s a lot of walking for one day! I loved Valentine’s Day..sometimes cheesy chick flicks are just so necessary
!
Ah I love recipes like this! Crockpots ftw…
That looks/sounds delicious! I will definitely be trying it.
Sounds like you had a really lovely day! Your banana soft serve looks devine!
It’s so true that when we look at movement and activity as play, instead of laborious exercise, it is such FUN!
Being very active is awesome and never feels like exercise. Way better than the gym!!
Your curry looks delish and I am not even crazy about them. Figs… savory meets sweet… YUM!
The crockpot is my new best friend! Its so simple and makes delicious eats! I must make this curry dish! Looks divine!
I love the addition of the figs! What a great idea!
What an amazing day of fun outside exercise! Love when the weather is nice enough for that:-)
That house is adorable! While we aren’t looking, sometimes it is fun to stop in to open houses…especially ones in ginormous houses that we could never afford!
10 miles of walking.. that is awesome!
That house is so you Kath! House hunting is always fun no matter if you are in the market or not.
Kath!! Your dessert, lady, is amazing!! Totally copying you soon. Not just the banana soft serve, which I often make, but all the fixins. Loooove it. High five.
Heidi xo
I love crockpot recipes! It’s funny, when the weather starts to get nicer , my crockpot goes into hibernation! I don’t use it as much!
Glad you had a great day being out and about!
xoxo
Mmm…I love enjoying a completely full day outdoors in the fresh air. Glad you had a fun Sunday!
I watched valentines day this weekend too! Not nearly as cheesy as I had thought it would be! And I prepared myself for the worst.
yum! that dinner looks perfect!
I love the kitchen in that house! That’s my dream goal – to have a nice (walk-able) kitchen.
That movie was cute. I seen it in theatres and didn’t expect much but was surprised. The recipe looks great – is that about 4 servings maybe? I need to use the Crock-Pot more, would definitely break up my routines.
1. Your dinner looks delicious and so easy! Definitely trying that.
2. I really enjoyed Valentine’s Day too – It was corny and cute, but sometimes that’s exactly the kind of movie I want to see. I’d watch it again for sure!
3. Whenever I go running downtown I stop to look at the flyers for the houses for sale. I love that area.
I thought Valentine’s Day was cute too. Except for the Taylor Swift parts… they were pretty cringe-worthy!
Agreed!
I covered 10 miles yesterday too! I thought about calling you a few times to get some miles together…next Sunday!
I almost stopped by your house but I was too hungry!!
You’re an inspiration to me as far as biking/walking as a form of transportation. My husband and I are moving to Germany in 6 weeks, and we found this amazing apartment about 5 km away from the city. So, I would have to bike 5 km to be able to go anywhere (one-way). I keep telling myself to take the apartment, because I can bike if Kath can bike
hehe..
Looks like the exact same dinner I had! Except I served mine over toast hehe
It’s so cool that you can bike and run everywhere, I can’t wait to live in a city that allows me to do that!
Jason and I are nowhere near ready to buy either, but we look at houses too
It’s fun to see whats out there!
YUM! I love crockpot dinners……especially with sweet potato! They get so thick and creamy with all the other ingredients……HAVE to try this out! Doesn’t banana softserve make the best desert?! Love those crazy toppings too!
That house looks beautiful – I would love an old house one day. I have found a dream house of mine – I just don’t think we are ready to buy yet.
I wish I lived in a more walkable area – I would love to walk more!
I seriously need a crockpot – it would make weekday dinners so much easier!
Crockpot dinners are my favorite! I love the simplicity of them–chop and drop
I like the different combination of foods you incorporate into your meals (i.e., figs).
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
I make a protein smoothy with half a frozen banana every morning, but I never thought I could just make soft serve with my extras in the old f.p. — I think you may have just changed my life!
That crockpot meal looks YUM! Can’t wait to try it!
Anything with chickpeas and curry is good in my book.
This looks like one of those recipes you can keep eating all week and it keeps tasting better!
I could not be happier to know about this banana soft serve!!
Crockpots are the best…throw it all in, walk away for hours, and then you have a delicious meal! I definitely need to bust mine out more often.
Ooooh, this looks too good! Too bad, though, that I don’t have a crockpot. Is there any way this could be prepared in a “normal” pot?
Absolutely! I’d start at a boil and then reduce to a simmer and give it maybe 30-40 mins?
Thank you so much! I’ll definitely let you know once I get around to making it (hopefully soon!).
I am definitely making that dish soon! Looks like something I’d love for leftovers, too!
I am currently making this recipe right now for my lunches the rest of the week! I wasn’t able to find the garam masala though. I went to Trader Joe’s and then just a regular chain grocrery store, and couldn’t find it at either of those. Do you have to go to a specialty store to find it? I just used extra of the other spices in the recipe so I hope it still turns out good!
It will still be good!
My GM is from Whole Foods’ bulk bins, I believe. I found it at World Market too
OK good to know, thanks!
Can I skip the figs (out of season)? Sub with anything?
And do I not peel the sweet potato?
Thanks – this is my first crock pot recipe ever!
Yes you can skip the figs. And I never peel potatoes but that’s up to you