You know how some mornings you wake up out of sorts and there's no real reason for it but it sticks all day? That happened to me today. I felt shaky and gross, mildly disillusioned with my lot in life and convinced I lack the ability to manage things most adults take in stride, like garbage night, which, apparently, was last night. And yes, okay, probably eating chocolate chip cookies and leftover pizza for breakfast didn't really help like I thought it would.
So for dinner I made some simple lovely stomach-friendly soup. I threw these things into the Instant Pot:
- a parsnip, peeled then chopped up
- cubed butternut squash (frozen, in a bag, thank you Danny Wegman)
- roasted red peppers (frozen, in a bag, thank you Danny Wegman)
- a bit of red lentils - just what was left in the bag
- white rice
- a bunch of water
- fresh ginger
- fenugreek
- a mild curry blend (turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, black pepper, ginger, mustard, fennel seed, allspice and red pepper)
- salt
- pepper
I wanted something nurturing and gentle — this worked. The lentils dissolved and helped thicken it, as did some of the squash cubes. I ate two bowls. To the first I added a pat of butter and dash of salt. For the second I went with a dollop of yogurt (thank you again, Instant Pot) and a splash of Braggs Aminos.
From The Sideboard is where I ramble about food, cooking and eating. We really have a sideboard at our house — but we call it The Cyborg. If I called this From The Cyborg you might be confused or perhaps even feel cheated. Nobody wants that. I cook extemporaneously, make a lot of spicy pastes, and rarely cook the same thing twice.