Salad Dressing for Half Assed Salade Nicoise (even though it is half assed it still gets a pretentious unnecessary e)

1 c. olive oil
1 T dijon mustard (I used some cheap crappy kine... cuz that's how I roll)
3 T cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
tarragon
basil
oregano
thyme
salt
pepper

I looked up nicoise salad dressings and made this up based on what I saw, what I had on hand, and what I was willing to buy. I just put teeny dashes of all the herbs cuz I am chicken.

Tomato basil pasta with eggplant (and chicken)

Boil 1 package thin spaghetti (or angel hair) whole wheat pasta for 6 minutes, with a dash of salt and olive oil.  Strain in colander when done and rinse in cool water.

Dice 5 tomatoes, about half of a small eggplant, 1 onion and chop garlic, basil, and cilantro.  Cut a lemon in half.  Add some olive oil to a large pot or frying pan, before adding garlic, onion, and eggplant.  Saute for a bit.  Then add tomatoes, squeeze lemon juice, basil, and cilantro and saute for a few minutes.

Slice 4 pieces of chicken breast and season with salt, pepper, and herb mix, something like Mrs. Dash.  Add olive oil to frying pan and fry til fully cooked.

This dish can be topped with grated parmesan or other cheese if desired.

Curry sauce

(You all will be amused to know that predictive typing thought "Curry sauce" was going to be "Curious researcher.")

*sigh* This was an adventure. I guess Googling a recipe is always a risk. And I figured this one looked sketchy, but I chose it cuz it claimed to be British and it didn't have chunks in it. (I figured chunks of veggies or meat would be hard to pick up with french fries...)

Anyway, as written, I think this recipe is made to mix with like already cooked chicken and poured over rice or something. It's a really small recipe though. It would only feed like one or two. Even just as sauce for fries, I thought we needed more so I kept trying to stretch it with tomato puree and water, and then thickening as needed with cornstarch. It started losing flavor so I added more spices... but... something was still missing... I think probably to make more, it would be best to start by doubling (at least) the recipe. Onion and garlic was stuff I couldn't just add more of later.

So... I ended up throwing in a jar of Trader Joe's Curry Simmer Sauce. haha... it was Kea's (brilliant/cheaty) idea. That made it taste much better!

(Oh and just so you know, cardamom is expensive! So I subbed cinnamon instead. And I didn't know what "dried chilies" meant so I just used red chili pepper--you know like the kind at pizza restaurants.)