I'm in the middle of what is turning out to be an all night cooking-a-thon.

I hate trying to make lunches for myself everyday, I never want what I pack and by lunch I'd rather go out and get a sandwich than eat the one on my lunch. Sad. To help combat that problem I decided to cook and then freeze servings of many meals that I know I would like to eat, even 5 hours after I pack them.

I had a bit of a shopping spree this afternoon after carefully checking a couple of recipes to make sure I had all the ingredients I would need--making a list and checking it twice! After spending more than a few $ at the grocery store I then spent an hour cutting up chicken, cutting away the fat and generally making it mouth-size pieces. Then I started to make my famous butter chicken and noticed I had forgotten the butter. D'oh! See, butter is one of the key ingredients in butter chicken. Back to the store.

A couple hours later I have the butter chicken about 90% done. It is sitting on the counter cooling so I can put it in the fridge for the night. Tomorrow I will put it in the slow cooker for the day to let all the spices do their thing. Yummy.

I also have a chicken curry about 75% done. I will finish it tomorrow and then freeze it in single serving dishes. The curry will have lots of yummy veggies in it, something that butter chicken doesn't have.

Also on tap is my spinach paneer. I have some of the spinach out thawing and have decided that since standing for the past few hours is starting to give me a pain in my side that it will wait until tomorrow. I can almost taste the paneer. Paneer is actually pretty bland. It has the same consistency and taste as tofu but is made entirely from milk. The texture is part of why I like it so much. And yes, I like milk--it does a body good. Don't ask why I like paneer so much. I doubt I would eat it plain, but it takes on the flavours of the dish so nicely and is a nice contrast to the spinach puree. Or in other dishes the paneer sometimes takes away some of the heat.

If I had more freezer space I'd cook up some mac 'n cheese, but I fear the freezer will be full tomorrow night so it will need to wait. But I am making some pasta sauce tomorrow. I take plain sauce and add as many veggies as it will hold, some additional spices and voila! homemade pasta sauce.

My apartment smells like curry and onions. I hope my neighbours like curry.


My not so neat box of spices. Some in bottles, some in bags, some old, some new. Surely there must be a better system.


Paneer. I was aiming for an inukshuk, but it looks more like a cross.


Butter chicken. It will have a slightly different colour tomorrow after I add the yoghurt.


Palak Paneer (Spinach Paneer). The picture is a bit fuzzy and you can see the two different greens in the pot. The lighter green is the canned spinach puree I found at the Asain food store. The darker is the frozen chopped spinach I found at the grocery store.


Chicken curry before the veggies are added to it. I hope to put in baby corn, jicama, peppers, eggplant, mushroom and whatever else I find in the fridge. (Jicama is a mexican turnip or potato. I haven't tried it yet..it is one of the three new foods I am trying this year.)


My messy kitchen.