Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

I was really sick over Thanksgiving break. Totally not ideal, I know.

If I’m being honest, I’ll say that Jeff and I were both sick over break. Starting about Tuesday and really coming on strong from about Thursday morning through Friday night. It was really awesome. Luckily I consider myself fully healed, to which I give credit to a steady dose of Neti Pot and drugs. You can only imagine what a beautiful and attractive dreamboat I was with that combo, right?

Anyway, being sick on a week when all of the kids were home from school was, well, not the best thing ever. We had plans to show them a good time, maybe hit the ICE exhibit at the local Gaylord hotel or see a movie and do some wonderfully idyllic ice skating. You know, the regular all-American Thanksgiving break stuff. 

So sorry about our luck, though, because none of this was happening. Instead, in a series of non-verbal looks and gestures (that’s what 15 years together will get you people, the ability to communicate with each other with the skills of a Third Base Coach. Yes. I just sports referenced. You’re welcome), my husband and I silently decided on a different kind of Thanksgiving break. A much, much quieter one at that.

Or at least I think that’s what we decided on. He could have just been asking me to make him a sandwich. My sports skills are, after all, somewhat dicey.

Both Jeff and I are secretly (or not so secretly) book nerds. And despite being a raging extrovert, I actually really do enjoy his calm introverted ways as a counter balance to my, well, self. So in our own secret language, we (read: me) dreamed up a perfectly quiet and relaxed alternative week. In my mind (which you should know by now is overactive and dramatic and also slightly crazy) I concocted this vision of us all laying around, cuddled up with blankets and pillows, reading books and playing board games surrounded by warm steaming mugs of coffee (cocoa for the kiddos), a roaring fire in the fire place, our beautifully lit Christmas tree and gentle Christmas Carols in the background.

It was sure to be dreamy. 

So dreamy, in fact, that I posted a smug little Instagram shot of my husband and son playing a board game with a smarmy (yes, it’s a word) caption about shutting down for the week because I wanted to spend time with my loved ones completely unplugged. 

Blech. I even make myself sick with my ridiculous self. 

Because it wasn’t any of those dreamy things. Why? Because. KIDS.

I’m not sure if you’ve ever been around kids. Or know kids. Or like kids. But here’s the thing, kids (at least mine), they don’t do SLOW very well. They do LOUD perfectly. They do ACTIVE like a dream. And they do CRAZY like champs. But SLOW, not so much.

So after about 2.3 seconds of our dreamy slow vacation, it looked a little bit like romper room (oh my gosh, I know I’m not quiet about my age and all but if that didn’t just announce “Hey, I’m old” in all caps I don’t know what did) up in my living room.

Bored kids, it turns out, they’re often naughty kids. And when bored kids are naughty kids with no outlet for their energy, they create lots of fun on their own. 

Fun like, that annoying theme song from Jeopardy, you know the one, well imagine that hummed incessantly, right in your ear. At first it was quiet, like dog whistle quiet (which is sometimes more annoying than loud), then steadily increased in volume until it was a boisterous giant Hum-Scream Jeopardy theme. Please, stop for a moment and imagine this. Just imagine it. And then stop. Because you’ll want to ice pick your ears off.  Now imagine that no matter how many times we asked him to stop, he would not. But rather he would start the volume loop over. and over. and over. Thus the circle of life. Kid style.

Or fun like a child all up in your business when you’re trying to take a nap on the couch. I don’t know if non-parents can quite understand what I mean by this, either. I’m not trying to be one of those smug parents who is all “you’ll understand when you have kids,” but on this one, it’s true. I am just not sure you can truly understand just how incredibly close a child will try to get to you in times like these. Like, they will try to be you, like a child sweater almost. I don’t mean cute cuddly time. I mean, a child ALL.UP.IN.YOUR.BUSINESS. Virtually on top of you, a second skin if you will. At one point during our “quiet afternoon” my child was literally on top of me, laying upside down in my lap, kicking me in the face as he tried to turn somersaults on my body. It was glorious.

And finally, fun like a fist fight to the death between two boys, who, a mere 18 months apart have decided to become mortal enemies in their boredom. And in this mortal enemy state, where wet willies are given freely like candy and “stop it” is not listened to, fistacuffs are a given. And the fun of trying to break up mortal enemies in a fight to the death can’t even be expressed in words. You just have to live it. 

Trust me on this one.

So, I guess the reason why I’m sharing this all is not to feel sorry for myself. Though believe me, I for sure did for a few minutes this break. No, the real reason why is because I believe there are two very important morals here that we all should digest and understand. 

The first moral is obvious. Don’t believe everything you see on Instagram. It’s usually crap. Sure–there is the occasional spark of authenticity, but for the most part, it’s a teeny tiny snapshot of the few moments in any given day where there is complete harmony (and good lighting). That’s it. So don’t feel bad when you see perfectly curated pictures. Life is always messy. No matter how well we hide it. 

The second moral–not as much obvious but no less important. Kids can be jerks. Oh wait. No. That’s not it. The second moral is–be flexible. Our days didn’t turn out to be just as we planned. We were derailed first by sickness and then by kids. But it didn’t really matter. Because at the end of the day, we were all together. We really did have a great break despite runny noses and sore throats and Jeopardy theme songs. And we did, albeit this is easier to see in retrospect, have fun. Just a different fun then we thought. And that’s ok. 

Because life is never quite as we planned it, is it? Even when we think it’s going to go perfectly, it doesn’t. But if we can just lean into that imperfection (and maybe cut it with the fist fights) we might be delighted with the ride.

And thus, my friends, this brings me to our weekly recipe. Whenever I’m sick I tend to crave spicy foods. Probably in an unconscious attempt to drive the gunk out with pure heat, for sure. And curry for me always does the trick. In our house we are currently on a no-meat experiment for health reasons (except for Thanksgiving itself, of course. We’re still American) so I decided to take my Easy Weeknight Chicken Curry Recipe (it’s delish–try it here) and veggie it up. What happened was this supremely warming and comforting stew, slightly spicy slight sweet filled with healthy veggies. It was just what the food doctor ordered.  

I chose to roast the cauliflower and add it in at serving because I like the crunch of roasted better than simply boiled, but if you don’t feel like taking that extra step it would cook in the curry as well. Just throw in when you throw in the potatoes and you should be fine. Just check for tenderness before serving. I used a hefty pinch of red pepper to get the spice right, but you may want to tailor this to your audience. And finally, serve over a bed of white rice with some roasted pepitas for crunch and you’ll be well on your way to healthy. And happy. I promise.

Peace, love and flexibility,

Meg 

Roasted Cauliflower and Chicpea Curry

April 14, 2020

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 pound baby potatoes, halved
• 1 onion, sliced into thin half moons
• 3 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• generous pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon tumeric
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 can coconut milk (full fat)
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• Rice and Pumpkin Seeds to serve

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat oven to 450.
• Step 2 Toss Cauliflower heads with a generous pour of olive oil to coat and salt and pepper.
• Step 3 Roast on a parchment lined baking sheet for 20-25 minutes.
• Step 4 While the Cauliflower is cooking, heat a good drizzle of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
• Step 5 Add onions and carrots, season with salt and pepper and sweat out for 3-5 minutes or until tender and translucent.
• Step 6 Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.
• Step 7 Add tomato paste, flour and spices (curry, pepper and tumeric). Stir well, making sure to combine with vegetables.
• Step 8 Whisk in coconut milk and stir to combine.
• Step 9 Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
• Step 10 Stir in potatoes and chicpeas and cook until tender, roughly 15 minutes (check potatoes for desired degree of tenderness).
• Step 11 To serve, place rice in a bowl and add cauliflower, spooning curry over to generously coat. Top with pumpkin seeds.
• Step 12 Enjoy!

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