Indian Inspired Vegetable Lentil Stew

Put some oil in a pan, saute onion, green pepper, garlic, cubed eggplant, added some red curry paste. Put in some cauliflower, diced tomatoes, coconut milk, tumeric, cumin, salt, ground coriander. Cook until tender (I started the cauliflower in the microwave, then added partially cooked)I cooked the red lentils separately in my rice cooker. Make sure you rinse the lentils well before cooking. I served the vegetables over the lentils, but will combine it all together for leftovers.

Strawberry Jam Cupcakes

My daughter wanted yellow cake with strawberries and ice cream for her birthday. Well, the strawberries in the store looked a little sad, so this is what I did. I made a regular "butter" cake mix, made it according to the directions, with the addition of about 1/3 cup of Montana Wheat Prairie Gold flour. I don't like the fluffiness of cake mixes. Then, I put the batter into cupcake tins, and added a bit of strawberry jam to each one, baked as usual. I frosted them with cream cheese frosting (yes, I bought it), and put some red food coloring in to tint it pink. Serve with Breyer's Natural Strawberry ice cream

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew

This is so easy! I got a package of stew meat (beef), seasoned it with pepper, paprika, and salt, browned it in a cast iron pan with a bit of vegetable oil. I did it in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Overcrowding the pan will result in steaming, and you won't get that nice brown color. I did it in two batches. Put it in the slow cooker as you brown each batch. Then I added a bit more oil to the pan and slowly caramelized some chopped onion, threw that into the cooker. I used one small packet of reduced beef stock (Knorr's), and threw in a bay leaf. I peeled and cut up some russet potatoes and carrots. It cooked on high for a couple of hours, then turned it on low for the remaining couple of hours. I started this around noon, so that's why I started it on high. If doing it in the morning, cook it on low. Ah-mazing.