lentils

{Recipe} French Lentil Dahl

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Healthy. Cheap. Easy. Three keywords when it comes to recipes lately at our house. Lentils are just that healthy, cheap and easy to work with and they are so energizing and filling. Last week I made this dahl for dinner and Neil took it to work for lunch the next day. That same day he had the opportunity to go out for lunch (for free) but decided he would rather have leftover dahl, brussels sprouts and rice <-- that's how good this recipe is; don't believe me? Try it out for yourself and see.

French_Lentil_Dahl

French Lentil Dahl

  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil
  • 1 red onion, Diced
  • 1 carrot, Peeled and Diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 15oz lite coconut milk
  • 1 teaspoon ume vinegar
  • 1 medium tomato, diced
  • 2 cups French Lentils, cooked

Melt the coconut oil in a medium heavy bottom pot over medium heat. Add the carrot and onion; sautee for 7-10 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic, curry powder, salt and pepper. Add the coconut milk, tomato, ume vinegar and lentils. Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce to low. Cook for 30 minutes. You can leave it as is but if you would like it a bit creamier remove 1-1.5 cups of the dahl and blitz in your blender until smooth; return to pot and stir to combine. Serve with rice over a bed of baby spinach.

{Recipe} Lentil Marinara

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Every since pregnancy I have been kind of obsessed with lentils. I started eating them more for the nutritional benefits and then I just kind of fell in love. There are so many varieties of lentils from red to beluga but today I used French lentils for this recipe. French lentils are hearty and give this sauce some meatiness while began a healthy vegan sauce. My toddler devoured this so if you’re a parent looking to get your kid to eat more protein, fruits (yes I think we forget tomatoes are a fruit) and veggies this is a great sauce to have.

IMG_4720Lentil Marinara

  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, peeled and diced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1-14.5oz can salt free diced tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup cooked French lentils
  • 1/2 teaspoon ume plum vinegar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • Olive Oil Spray

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray with olive oil spray and then add the onions and carrots; sautee 7-10 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and oregano. Add the tomatoes and lentils; stir to combine. Add your remaining ingredients and then cover and cook cover medium-low for 15 minutes. With a hand blender or a stand blender puree the ingredients.  This will leave you with a thick sauce which is fine as you will want to add your pasta directly to the sauce, carrying a little pasta water with it.  If you are not planning to toss this with pasta then you may want to add additional water to thin the sauce out slightly.

*I made extra of this to freeze so once I try it I’ll come back and let you know how freezing worked out.

Lentil Marinara Nutrition

Recipe Of The Week: Curried Lentil Orecchiette

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I have finally stepped back into the kitchen and I am doing some real cooking again! Last night I was in the mood for something warm and creamy.  I debated making a pasta with “cream” sauce and then I remembered I had coconut milk and curry leaves so I decided to make a curry pasta dish that ended up being so delicious; I can’t wait for lunch today!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 2T Canola oil
  • 1t Mustard seeds
  • 1t Fenugreek seeds*
  • 1/2 cup Curry leaves*
  • 1/4t Turmeric
  • 1/2t Chili powder
  • 1t Curry powder
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 green chili, minced
  • 2 cups green cabbage, chopped
  • 3/4 cup Red lentils
  • 1-15oz can Diced tomatoes (no salt added)
  • 1-15oz can Lite coconut milk
  • 1/4t Ume plum vinegar or red wine vinegar
  • 1/4-1t Cayenne pepper (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 Servings of Orecchiette or other pasta, cooked according to directions

Directions:

In a large saute pan heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add in the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds and toast until they start to pop, about one to two minutes; then toss in the curry leaves and cook for one minute. Stir in the curry powder, turmeric and chili and stir to combine.  Stir in the onions, chili and cabbage and saute until the vegetables start to soften and are lightly browned. Stir in the red lentils and tomatoes and then the coconut milk.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.  While the lentils are cooking cook your pasta according to the directions.

Stir the vinegar and cayenne into the lentil mixture and add salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for 5 more minutes or until the lentils are softened.  Once the lentils are soft stir in the cooked pasta and serve!

*If you do not have curry leaves or fenugreek seeds you can omit them; the dish will not taste the same but it will still be delicious.  Feel free to add an additional 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of curry powder.

 

Reminder: I just wanted to encourage you to read my Yoga Aid Challenge post and donate any products (gently used or new) or services to my auction to raise money for Off The Mat.

Veganomicon: Snobby Joes

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I have been working my way through the recipes in Veganomicon for the Cookbook Club. Last night I tried the Snobby Joes, a play on the traditional Sloppy Joes.

I was a little confused with this recipe because it calls for lentils; just lentils. It doesn’t specify whether they should be red, green, brown or French; this complicates the recipe because cooking time for red lentils versus green/brown/French is dramatically different. I decided that I would try it with the red lentils because when I think of sloppy joes the first thing I think of is the rich red tomato sauce.
I served the Snobby Joes over brown rice because I didn’t have any bread. The recipe was just okay; the red lentils got really soft and turned into a pile of mush. I also thought that the maple syrup in the recipe was really unnecessary and made the dish too sweet. I would have tried a little molasses instead to add more depth of flavor and a just a tiny bit of sweetness.

Did I like this recipe? Well it was edible but not great. Would I make it again? No. I also wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, however if you do try this recipe go with a green, brown or French lentil.

Slow Cooker Smoky Pumpkin Chili

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As soon as the snow comes so do the chilis at our house. Yesterday was going to be a busy afternoon so I decided to get a head start on dinner before I went to work. I honestly rarely use our slow cooker and it has been in a box for the last year, however I decided that I would give it another try. Besides slow cooked food is always better especially when it comes to soups and chilis.
I have to say I used to be a little lost about how the slow cooker worked and years ago i decided I wanted to make chili in the slow cooker so I chopped everything up and placed it in the slow cooker, turned it on and then thought it was just going to cook everything perfectly…including the uncooked rice I had added to the chili. Boy did I learn my lesson- there are certain things that need to be cooked prior to being placed in the slow cooker (like uncooked rice).

That being said I learned my lesson and this chili turned out really delicious.

Slow Cooker Smoky Pumpkin Chili

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 3 celery stalks, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder or you can use 2 chipotles in adobo diced**
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoons pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 (15oz) can of low sodium vegetable broth, reserve 2 tablespoons
  • 1  (15oz) can no-salt added diced tomatoes
  • 1 (15oz) can brown lentils, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (150z) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tablespoon lite soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon umeboshi plum vinegar (optional)*
  • 2 teaspoons cocoa powder (make sure it’s unsweetened)
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add in the onions, carrots and celery; saute for 10 minutes.
  2. Stir in the garlic, spices and 2 tablespoons of vegetable broth into the onion mixture, cook for 1 minute.
  3. Add the pumpkin, vegetable broth, tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, lite soy, umeboshi plum vinegar, cocoa powder and onion mixture to the slow cooker.  Stir to combine and then cover and turn the slow cooker onto low for 6 to 8 hours.
  4. After 5-6 hours stir in the corn and taste for salt and pepper.

*You could use red wine vinegar.

**Chipotle is essential to make this chili smoky

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