A couple of evenings ago, I walked into the kitchen at 6:30 without a single idea for what to make for dinner. All the meat was frozen, I was tired from my long day of kid wrangling, and the sink was full of dirty dishes. I was in no position to cook anything, much less prepare an evening meal for my family. What I wanted to do was fill up a bowl with cereal and call it good. But, it’s been cold here for the last few days and I figured we all needed something a little more substantial to keep us going so this is what I came up with:

1 16 oz bag frozen veggies (I used the broccoli/cauliflower/carrot mix from Stop & Shop)
2 15 oz cans chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
~ 1/2 cup tomato juice
~ 1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp curry powder
white rice

Mix all of this together in a pan over medium high heat and bring up to a nice bubbling simmer. Cover and reduce heat to low, and let it cook while you make your rice (about 10 minutes or so).

This was on the table before 7 o’clock and, oh my goodness, was it delicious. E ate 2 big servings and Isaac (who is often usually a picky eater) ate most of what I put on his plate. (A small victory, but a victory nonetheless. It’s the little things, really.)

Happy nomming!