Lately, I’ve been cooking a lot of recipes from the Dairy Farmers of Canada’s annual Milk calendars. Recipes from all of their past editions are available online dating as far back as the 1970s. My parents used to cook recipes from these calendars all the time, so it’s cool that I can look up my favourite recipes from my childhood and try to recreate them.

All of the recipes I’ve tried so far have been mouthwateringly good. So good, in fact, that I almost forgive the Dairy Farmers of Canada for bombarding Canadian moviegoers with those obnoxious Get a Load of Milk commercials during the pre-show entertainment.

On Monday night, I cooked this Quick Cashew Curry. Warning: your house, clothing and hair will reek of curry after you cook this. I also felt pretty bad heating up my leftovers at work yesterday, as they stunk up half the office. But it was honestly worth any potential social fall out.  To make:

1. Cut up 1 medium onion and 2 cloves of garlic.

2. Cut 1.5 pounds of pork (or chicken if pork’s not your thing) into cubes.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter on a non-stick pan. Sautee onions and garlic. Add meat and cook for 10 minutes.

4. While the meat is cooking, cut up 2 medium tomatoes and ½ a cup of cashews and start preparing rice according to package directions.  

5. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and 1.5 teaspoons of curry powder to pan. Pour in 1.5 cups of 2% milk and whisk until smooth. Add ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper and ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

6. Add tomatoes and cashews. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.

7. Serve over a bed of rice and enjoy!

At 577 calories per serving, this meal isn’t exactly diet food (I classify this one as more of a ‘maintenance’ recipe) but you get a lot of nutritional bang for your buck. One serving has 49 grams of protein and is a great source of calcium, selenium, thiamin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12.

I’ve been writing a lot about food lately and not so much about exercise. I kicked the week off with a Monday morning Body Step class at 8:30. I’m going through a phase where I’m not so into my step class. My gym is pretty much dead at 8:30 in the morning, probably because it’s too late for people who work and too early for people who don’t. There are usually only a handful of people in the class and none of them like loud music, so the instructor keeps the volume really low. It’s kind of a bummer, but it’s the only Body Step class that works with my schedule at the moment.

Last night, I fit in a 50 minute RPM class, despite my hectic schedule. I didn’t work as hard as I did last Tuesday, but I still got my heart rate up and had fun, which is the most important thing.