Fast Veggie Curry from Scratch

My trick to a fast weeknight meal is doing small things every night to slowly prep for the next night or multiple nights.  For any type of bean, soak them overnight then put them in the slow cooker the next morning with fresh water and let them cook all day.  I don't bother with seasonings because I want them to be versatile, just like a can of beans.

My secret with winter squash is to cook them when I have the oven on for something else.  Just stab it a few times with a knife to make sure it doesn't explode and put it on a baking sheet in the oven along with whatever else you are cooking.  If the other things are done before the squash is soft, just leave the squash in the oven and turn the oven off.  There will be enough carry over heat to cook it all the way through.  The way you know its done is that the skin is soft.  Don't bother doing anything with it that night and just put it whole in the refrigerator until you are ready for it.

Now that the prep is out of the way, we can get on to a fast weeknight meal.  Into a skillet went the black beans, cubed squash, diced hot peppers, and curry powder.  Cook until warmed through then add in the coconut milk.  I let it simmer a bit to reduce and combine the flavors.

Top with some parsley and enjoy.  Making all this from scratch would be an all day affair, but split it up into small chunks over multiple days and a week night dinner is ready in 10 minutes.

French Toast

This lovely loaf of bread that I made truly was delicious.

Unfortunately there was only so much I could eat before it was past its prime.  Luckily a Saturday morning came around and French Toast was in order.

Into the liquid mix went eggs, vanilla, milk and cinnamon.  That butter is for the pan.

While mixing everything up get the butter in the pan and start heating it through.

I tend to use a 9x9 baking dish to mix all the wet ingredients together.  It is a great shape for laying out the bread in one layer.

Stir everything up and slice the bread.

Soak the bread in the egg mixture for a few minutes on each side.  The more stale the bread is the longer I let it soak.  Really, you can't over soak but if it doesn't soak long enough you still get the stale center of the bread in the final product.

Into the hot skillet it goes.

Cook on both sides until brown.  You can see some extra bits of egg attached to some of the pieces of bread.  That is because any egg mixture left when the last piece of bread goes in the skillet gets poured over the top of the bread directly in the skillet.  No reason to waste the egg.

For a fun little treat, once the french toast is out of the pan toss in some banana and pear to get them warm and caramelized.

Now that is what I call breakfast.

In my opinion this breakfast is delicious enough with out the syrup and it saves a few calories.