One Dish Dinners

Once upon a time we had some friends and their kids stop by one night just as we were finishing dinner. I had made brown rice, beans and seasoned, baked sweet potatoes. This very dear, meat and potatoes couple, looked at our dinner, exchanged a few looks and asked a few carefully worded questions - their impression clearly being "This is what our friends are eating for dinner? This is it?! There is no ground beef or condensed soup here! Have they fallen below the poverty line?" I looked at the meal and saw a complete protein, lots of vitamin A, and super fiber. I tell this story, because I am once again embracing the one or two dish dinner. Who says you need three to five separate dishes to make a dinner? Well, lots of people, but not me.

So here is one of my favorite dinners. I made it last night and it was the perfect counterpoint to the blue-gray drizzle outside. We had brown rice topped with three kinds of peppers, chicken and onions in a curry sauce. I love curry. It is so fast and flavorful and versatile. We also like to put potatoes, peas, carrots, etc. in our curry. You can add just about any veggie and it turns out great every time. Even when you do it wrong (I added too much water last night) it turns out marvelously. And you get veggies, protein and a great carb in one dish. Add a little fresh fruit for dessert and voila! So here's to fabulous, simple, one dish dinners.

(Okay, I guess you could say that rice plus curry equals two dishes. As you see, I still cling to the rudiments of my math education. But when served together they look like one to me. And simple is so very very good.)