Hearty Lentil Stew

It's been getting quite cold here in San Diego so I wanted to make something filling, warm, and delicious. We went out to the Farmers' Market and snagged most of these vegetables there. My dad also sent me a crockpot after mentioning that I wanted one after making peanut ginger soup. Thanks, Dad! I knew I had to make something with lots of yummy veggies and let it slow cook while at work.

Ingredients:

6 c. water

3 vegetable bullion cubes

2 c. brown lentils

1/2 c. quinoa

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 medium red potato, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 c. corn

1/2 c. peas

1/2 c. low sodium tomato sauce

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp. curry

1 tsp. garlic powder

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

Handful of spinach, chopped

Handful of kale, chopped

Instructions:

- Throw all of your ingredients into your slow cooker, stir, and let cook for 10 hours! I made sure to stir every so often because of the bullion cubes.

- When it's done cooking, throw in your spinach and kale.

- Serve!
This is mighty good! The recipe makes it look like there are a lot of spices but I didn't add too much of each, making sure to let the taste of each vegetable stand out. I probably could've added more quinoa but that 1/2 c. was the rest of what I had. It was still really really good, though, and was nice to keep on hand for lunch or dinner during that week. Stews and soups are easy to make when you're in a time crunch -- just grab whatever vegetables, beans, etc. you have, throw them in a crockpot, come home from work and enjoy! I can't wait for this cold weather to let up so the farmers at the Farmers' Markets will actually show up and sell me some of their goodies!

Lentil Cutlets

A couple of weeks ago I threw together these lentil cutlets. We were running out of food so I pretty much just used whatever I had and they ended up turning out very good! I also didn't measure anything so I am just going to guess on this...

Ingredients:

1 cup dry lentils

2 cups of water

1/2 white onion

1 medium sized carrot

2 cloves garlic

1/2 c. cooked rice (not sure how much I threw in. We had some leftovers so I used those)

2 tbsp. flaxseed meal

a dash of cinnamon

a few dashes of cumin

a few dashes of cayenne

pinch of salt and pepper

2 tbsp. cornstarch

1 1/2 c. breadcrumbs (use however much you think you need. Just keep adding until you get a desired consistency)

Instructions:

- Bring lentils and water to a boil. Turn to medium-low heat, cover, and let sit for 30 minutes or until lentils are softened.

- When lentils are done, place those along with your onion, garlic, carrot, rice, flax, and spices in a food processor. Once processed to your liking, place contents in a large mixing bowl.

- Mix your cornstarch and breadcrumbs in a small bowl.

- Stir in your breadcrumb mix into the lentil mix, adding more breadcrumbs as needed. I made mine fairly thick. A good way to test the consistency is by making a patty with your hands and see if it stays together at all. If you feel that it's too dry, add a little bit of water or soy milk.

- Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer before cooking.

- After refrigeration, shape the lentil mash into patties and fry in a skillet with just a little bit of oil. It should take a few minutes on each side on medium-high heat.

- Enjoy!

I am very glad I made these. I was able to use up some stale bread that I had made a few days back as well as leftover rice. They sort of tasted like mujadara patties... YUM! They were crispy on the outside which I liked. They were very filling as well so I didn't really need to eat anything else. I think next time I might add a bit of flour just so they hold together better (they were very fragile) or process the mixture for longer. In any case, they were fun to make and I love experimenting with new veggie burgers or cutlets!

Crushed Lentil Soup

I wanted to make Michael one of his favorite dishes because he's been working so hard. I've never made crushed lentil soup before but I think it turned out quite delightful!

Ingredients:

3/4 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

6 c. vegetable stock

1 c. dry lentils (I used brown but I think yellow would be good as well!)

1/3 c. uncooked rice (I used long grain)

1 tbsp. cumin

1 tsp. thyme

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

lemon juice

Instructions:

- Sauté onions and bell pepper in a fairly large saucepan. Since I was using my saucepan to dissolve my vegan bullion cubes, I just did this in a skillet with a bit of oil. Cook these over medium heat until they're just softened up -- about 10 minutes.

- When the veggies seem about right, add those along with the remaining ingredients except lemon juice into your saucepan. Bring this to a boil.

- Cover and cook on medium heat for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. I think I cooked mine for an hour.

- Once done cooking, transfer soup to a food processor and puree. Don't puree it too much -- I made sure to leave some of the lentils whole.

- Return pureed soup to saucepan to reheat. If the soup seems a bit too thick, feel free to add some water to make it the consistency you prefer. I think I added almost a cup of water.

- Stir in lemon juice and serve!

Michael and I had a bit of a feast last night! I made some small pita for the soup (pictured below) and still had a few big ones leftover for falafel sandwiches. Don't worry, we did not eat all that pita last night. We ended up eating the soup, baked falafel patties on homemade pita bread with green peppers, hummus, and some garlic spread that I made. Everything was amazing. It seems like a lot of food but we ended up having quite a bit of leftovers, which is good for me! The soup turned out better than I thought it would. We both loved it and I will most definitely be making that again.

Here are the small pita I made using the recipe in the last post. This made A LOT... definitely more than what would generally come in a bag of small pita bread. This picture only shows what I could fit on a plate! They're nice, too, because they split open very easily. They are definitely good for small pocket sandwiches or for dipping in crushed lentil soup :)

Mujadara and Banana Soft Serve

Warning: This is going to be a long post.

Mujadara

Ingredients:

1/2 c. uncooked brown lentils

1 c. uncooked rice (I used long grain rice, but you can use brown or white)

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 or 2 tbsp. olive oil

a dash of cinnamon

a few dashes of cumin

Instructions:

- Chop onion (not too finely) and add to a deep skillet with the olive oil. Let this cook for 30-40 minutes on low heat, stirring the onions every so often. Stirring the onions is important so they brown evenly.

- Follow instructions to cook your rice. I used Uncle Ben's long grain rice -- which called for 1 cup of rice boiled with 2 1/4 cup water, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

- Add the lentils to another sauce pan and boil them with 1 cup of water. Once the water starts to boil, turn it down and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Whoa, check out this madness

I timed everything so it all finished together. Once everything is done, mix the onions, rice, and lentils (with leftover water) into the onion pan along with the spices. Stir and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Once finished simmering, plate then eat! Yum!

Well, I practically inhaled this. I probably could've cooked the onions longer but I was impatient and hungry. I should never cook while already hungry, haha.

The good thing about mujadara is that you can customize it to your own needs. Some people make it without rice or spices. I personally like it this way the best. You can also speed up the process by not cooking the onions as long, using instant rice, etc. I think cooking it slowly like this makes all the flavors very strong and delightful!

Banana Soft Serve

("That shit is bananas... B-A-N-A-N-A-S" - made famous by Gwen Stefani but recently quoted by my lovely boyfriend)

Ingredients:

3 frozen bananas

2 tsp. agave

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

Place ingredients in food processor and let it run for about 5 minutes. Make sure to scrape the sides every so often so every bit of banana gets in the blades.

Scoop out into a bowl and enjoy!

(Sorry for the bad quality picture)

This is one of the best things ever. It's so smooth and creamy and tastes just like soft serve. It's also so simple and easy to change up. I probably didn't really need the agave, but it was still good with it. I was going to add some cocoa powder but decided against it. Just a tip... 3 bananas worth is probably way more than enough for one person. I was already quite a bit full from the mujadara but this tasted so good and I couldn't stop eating it! Good thing it was bananas and not sugar-filled ice cream. Also, about 3/4 of the way through I realized I had already eaten a banana today. I had to stop and put the rest in the freezer. I doubt it'll be as good as when it was first made, but oh well. That makes roughly 3 bananas eaten today. I don't know what happens if you eat too many bananas in one day, but uh, I sure hope it doesn't happen to me!