A Curry A Day

My Bestie is in Hawaii, hopefully having a glorious time in the sunshine. When her husband asked us if we could get all of the kids together this weekend for a play date (and so he could have some adult conversation), of course the answer was a resounding, "Yes!"

So today rolled around, and I honestly hadn't given a lot of thought to what we were going to do, or to eat. Also, suddenly, each of our kids had a friend coming over. All around dinner time. With 5 teenagers already in the house, that's a LOT of mouths. I poked around the house to see what we have handy, and I have to say, I wasn't encouraged. Moments like these almost always call for one of my favorite and most versatile meals - curry.

We had a beautiful pork roast from the pig my parents gave us for Christmas. Kira was able to scrounge some greens and a quart of tomatoes from the deep freeze, and I always have bulk Indian spices in the house. Here's what we came up with:

Pork Scrounge Curry
(serves 8-12)
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves
8 black peppercorns
2 1/2 -3 lb pork roast, cubed
1 tsp ground turmeric
3 tsp chili powder
3 tsp crushed coriander seeds
2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 bag frozen stew veggies
2 c frozen greens (collards, kale, spinach, or cruciferous greens)
1 qt water or tomato juice
1 qt frozen or canned chopped tomatoes
4 cup cooked lentils
steamed brown rice

Heat oil in large pan. Lower heat and add cloves, peppercorns, baby onions, and celery (from frozen stew veggies. Fry for about 5 minutes or until the baby onions are lightly browned and celery has softened. Add the cubed pork, turmeric, chili powder, coriander seeds, and garlic salt, and stir fry for about 5 minutes or until meat is seared on all sides.

Pour in water or tomato juice, greens, and remaining frozen veggies. Cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes while your lentils and rice are cooking.

Lightly mash the cooked lentils to release some of the starch. Stir mashed lentils into the curry, and cook on medium until the curry reduces and thickens. The final consistency should be stew-like.

Serve over steamed rice.

On Becoming...

I am not the person I was a year ago. I look at me a year ago and don't recognize that person. Of course, looks barely scratch the surface, but they are an indicator of the journey. That's me, on the left.

In 2011, Chris and I let go of a business that wasn't moving our family forward, and took a chance on another business that could, if we would just grow with it. I really hoped that the saying "no pain, no gain" would apply, because it was VERY painful emotionally and financially.

My husband and I challenged each other to develop better health habits. He lost 35 pounds. I lost 45! We had (and needed) a lot of help. We found Herbalife and fell in love with the products, which led us to the business opportunity. We fell in love with the coaches and with the business itself, and jumped in with both feet.

One of the most important things I fell in love with was the philosophy: Train, train, train... 1% better EVERY DAY... BECOME your DREAM! Chris and I started working on ourselves, and will continue for the rest of our lives. We train with the best leaders in our business, we build relationships with mentors, we choose what we watch on TV and read in books carefully. We YouTube the leaders we want to emulate, and we tell ourselves every day the important things we should remember about who we are:

• I am a good Mom
• I am a good Wife
• I love my children
• My family cares about me and our home
• My children want to do what's right
• I am generous
• I am beautiful
• I am healthy
• I have great wealth. . .
  

2 pages of positive statements to combat the negative messages we subconsciously give ourselves (everyone does it) throughout the day. The changes are unbelievable!

Chris and I have drastically improved how we communicate with each other and the kids. Together we have all improved the state of our home. We've improved ourselves, inside and out.

For the first time in years, we weren't scrambling to pay the utilities and feed the family at the end of the year. Despite closing one business and investing in another, we made it through the end of 2011 without worrying how much longer we could put off the creditors. Again, we had a LOT of help, but we DID it! Learning to accept help without giving up or deciding that we were permanent failures was a huge growth step in our journey this year.

I know that we are just beginning on our journey, but what better time to start than now? So much can change in a year if you want it, believe it's there for you, and really go for it! Here's to a new year of Becoming...