So while I was slaving away for a belated Thanksgiving, my friend Carly was eating West African food at her boyfriend’s sisters place. They are from Sierra Leone, and the food is VERY spicy hot. No fair, no fair. What a waste -- Carly hates spices of any kind (lives on Spaghetti-o's and McDonalds). But they would be insulted if she didn’t eat, so she ate their mildest dish with tons of milk. The sister was so impressed, she made Carly a special batch and gave her some spice mix.(Carly wanted to THROW IT AWAY!Aaaaaah!)

It was couscous with some vegetable that was totally new to me. I brought Courtney, of Naughty Curry a small bowl of it, just so she could tell me what the vegetable is--. plantain, found only at the Asian grocer in our town. So that’s where I went. I lightly fried two plantains cubed in a little oil and what was left of the spice mix. Then I stirred in the Veggie Couscous Upma from the NC site [RECIPE HERE]. Oh my god! Oh my god! I immediately made Hamburger Helper to divert Vin. I'm kind of a selfish bitch when it comes to food. Oh well.

Indian-Spiced Couscous with African-Spiced Plantain Above is Veggie Couscous Upma [RECIPE HERE]mixed with the addition of spicy sautéed plantains. Better than sex (lately, anyway. haha) The plantains were sauteed with a spicy hot mix, and the couscous Upma is a super quick-easy-tasty dish that takes 15 min. tops. (you just need frozen veggies and a lime)

"There is one picture on your website that kinda sucks," I was telling my friend Trobee (of Naughty Curry) when she was making pumpkin pie at my place on Sunday. "The rest, awesome, but there is one..."

I love pissing her off every so often. It's hilarious. And easy. She looked it up on my computer and said, "Yeah that's the one Courtney took, and it always bugged me, but... That's it. We're making this right now! It's super fast."

So she made this addictive curry-spiced pumpkin dip. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on eating ANY, cause I’m used to associating pumpkin with icky sweet spicing. But I'll be damned. It’s actually got the garlicky-onion mojo that I am a total slave to. I didn’t have the garam masala, so she used 1 tsp of coriander seeds with the cumin seeds, whizzing them into a powder after roasting them.

Anyways, the dip was all orange gorgeousness. Trobee won’t be outdone. She pulled out stuff and created this platter in 2 minutes. Damn her. I guess she is going to use this pic for the website. But we all know who really made it. Anyway, I noticed that the old photo is gone... HA!

Curry-Spiced Pumpkin Dip

Above is Naughty Curry’s YUMMY Pumpkin spread [RECIPE HERE] . Spicy and garlicky, it is fantastic on bagels, crackers, chips, and veggies. (I added cayenne so that Vin won’t eat it. I’m such a bitch.) It happens to be vegan, cause the cream cheese is soy.And it's gluten-free. 

Vin made me do it. Clean out my closet. I’ve been fudging on it for months now, and he finally took no mercy. Clothes that I do not officially wear had to go. After the dramatic experience, I felt totally out of shape , and made (what Vin and I call ) Popeye Patty Cakes [RECIPE HERE]. Its basically potatoes, spinach, peas, onions, garlic and spices…all mashed up and fried in a titch of oil. The original recipe uses mustard greens, but you know Vin and his spinach. Spinach is much easier, anyway. Not so stiff.
Anyway, it is full of vitamin and stuff, bursting with spice-love and something for Vin to gobble with his plate of bacon. But then I ended up eating them with those buttery ready-made pastry shells, full of trans-fats (whatever those are) so whatever.

Spicy Popeye Pattycakes Say hello to Peppy Green Pattycakes [RECIPE HERE], made with stuff easily found in your pantry. The texture is soothing, and the flavor is bursting with spice-love. Healthy, low fat, vegan, all that good stuff. Fun little twerps.

"Look at what momma has, boys!" I told the big group of cavemen that gathered for the big game at my house the other night.
 I’m really super proud about this one, and I’ll tell you why. Loaded nachos with NO CHEESE, and no one missed it. See, there was this awkward thing going on because one of Vin’s biggest beer drinking buds, can no longer eat wheat. That’s totally weird, since this guy used to be a garbage gut. Now he just brings rice chips and mineral water. I felt bad for the guy even though he is kind of a prick, so I used my new spice knowledge to come up with this frickin awesome wheat-free nachos. [Well actually they are honey-dijon rice chips.]
 What makes it is this sensational tangy hot Screaming Green hot sauce [RECIPE HERE] that is like this crazy jolt of flavor. Also in the pile is spicy rice, soy sour cream, and salsa. Best part is, I only told him it was wheat free. Everyone demolished it. The end.

Spicy Loaded Rice Crisp Fixins A funky pile of spicy rice, honey-dijon rice crisps, soy sour cream, salsa, and the main mojo ingredient, Screaming Green hot sauce [RECIPE HERE]. We were wolves while we ate this, serious.

Major mental overload. (Old lovers, evil cell phones, Vin's annoying friends, and more.) 
So I just want rice. Rice. Just rice. This is the third kind of rice I have cooked up in the last two days. I'm posting on this one because it did me good. I guess the recipe [click here] is authentic, from an Indian woman known for her cooking. Anyways, it did me good. It has golden raisins and a light sweetness from the spices. The rice is boiled kind of like pasta... I didn't know it could be made this way! Love it.

Bengali Pilau Rice This pic DOES NOT do this gorgeous-flavored rice justice! I was hungry, I was in a hurry, OK? RECIPE HERE