Day 5’s recipes for the Offbeat Home Food Challenge

HELLO DAY FIVE! WELCOME!

So far this week you've had yummy goat cheese and pear bagels, the quiche from hell, and some food experiences in between. For Day 5 (Thursday May 3rd), we'll revisit some of the ingredients and techniques you've learned and apply them in new ways.

Breakfast: Scrambled egg tacos

INGREDIENTS for 2 servings

• 4 large eggs
• salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 corn tortillas
• 1/2 avocado, sliced thinly
• 3/4 cup cheddar cheese (other cheeses acceptable!)
• salsa, yogurt, chopped cilantro for toppings

1. Heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. Crack in the eggs and sprinkle in several pinches of salt. Stir until the eggs are set to your liking — a couple minutes.
3. Put tortillas on a plate. We are going to warm tortillas, to make them more pliable. If you use paper towels, moisten one and lay if over the tortillas. You can also run water over a second plate, then place it upside-down over the tortilla plate instead. Pop it all in the microwave for 40 seconds.
4. Place eggs into tortillas. Top with cheese! Salsa! Yogurt! Cilantro! and fold them up and stuff them in your mouf.

Lunch: Smoked turkey sandwich with paprika mayo

INGREDIENTS for 1 sandwich

• bread
• slices of turkey
• leaf lettuce
• 1 slice cheese
• 1 tablespoon mayonaise
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika
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1.In a bowl, mix mayo and paprika.
2.Assemble sandwich. Spread mayo mix on bread, and stack turkey, lettuce, and cheese.
3.Serve! With potato chips!

Dinner: Chickpea spinach curry with cucumber-yogurt sauce and rice, with a dark chocolate bar for sweets

This recipe was assigned for Day 2, but Megan had a quiche-related breakdown instead, so it’s BACK!

This is probably a two-serving recipe. Double or triple as necessary for leftover planning or guest-feeding.

• olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped ginger: peel or roughly chop the skin from the edges of the plant. Remove any dry ends. If you have trouble chopping the ginger, try going with the grain — vertically — down the root. Sometimes it is woody and difficult to work wit.
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 15.5 ounce can of chickpeas/garbanzos
• several handfuls spinach, chopped (I had Megan buy fresh greens, but spinach is one item you can easily keep on hand in your freezer)
• salt!
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cucumber, skinned and diced
• rice

1. Prep the rice. If you have a rice cooker, dish up 3/4 a cup of dry rice per person. Rinse rice several times. Load the cooker with water — about as much water as rice. Pinch in a healthy amount of salt (1 teaspoon?). Place lid on top and hit “cook”.
2. If you do not have a rice cooker follow these directions for cooking rice on a stove.
3. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat for at least 60 seconds. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and cook for six minutes, stirring often.
4. Add curry and cook for additional minute.
5. Add chickpeas, spinach, one cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt to the saucepan. Bring to a simmer (a low-level of bubbling activity) and cook for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. About four minutes in, use your spatula or a fork to mashed up the peas a little. It can be precarious, so don’t sweat it too much.
6. Meanwhile, mix yogurt, cucumber, cilantro, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl with a spoon.

• When time is up and rice is done, fluff rice and dish onto a plate. Ladle chickpea sauce over the top generously — think of them as two meal items you can eat together.

I’m sorry, I’m kind of weak on desserts. But I never turn down a dark chocolate bar — especially as a palate cleanser after a savory, spicy meal like this.