Lentil Curry

Lentils. I have to confess that the thought of eating lentils has never filled me with glee. Mostly I find them bland and vaguely repulsive – suitable only for vegans who have already sold their taste buds to the devil in exchange for a sallow, unhealthy appearance. 

But, people argue passionately, they are so high in fiber and protein! And nutrients! 

To which I reply with an emphatic, “whatever.” Because no matter how excruciatingly healthy something is, I’m not going to actually eat it unless it tastes good.

This story has a point (and a recipe) somewhere, I’m pretty sure.

I’ve had a bag of green lentils in my pantry for about six months. My sister gave me a sausage and lentil soup recipe that I’ve been meaning to try but as it is summer here in the US, I’m not in a raging hurry to fix soup for dinner.

Instead, I stumbled upon a lentil curry recipe that I had at least half of the ingredients for. And Oh.My.Gosh you guys. This is amazeballs. You can find the actual recipe here (which I imagine is pretty good). The following recipe is what I actually did.

I guess the moral of this story is, don’t judge a food by its terrible vegans.

And the other moral would be, go easy on the cayenne or you’ll kill your children mouths.

And the final moral goes a little something like: seriously, make this and get it in your face asap!

LENTIL CURRY

Serves 8

1 bag (about 2 ½ cups) lentils, rinsed well

1 medium onion, diced

3 T butter (or oil)

1 ½ T garam masala

2 generous T cumin

A few good shakes of cayenne pepper (next time I will do one gentle shake)

1 T minced garlic

1 t sea salt

1 can tomato sauce

1 can coconut milk

Cilantro/coriander leaves for garnishing

Rice for serving

1. Cook lentils according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. Melt butter in large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes until fragrant and golden. Add all the spices (garam masala, cumin, cayenne, garlic and salt) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes (add a little vegetable oil if it looks too dry). Add the tomato sauce, stir and simmer until smooth.
3. Add the lentils and the coconut milk. Stir to combine and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro.

As with all curries, it is even better the next day!

Greek Egg Omelets

For each omelet you'll need:

2 eggs

Chopped red onion

Chopped tomatoes

Reduced-fat feta

Beat 2 eggs.

Pour eggs into small skillet.

Cook until stiff enough to flip.

Flip.

Sprinkle remaining ingredients onto one-half of eggs.

Fold eggs in half.

Flip.

Serve.

**
note from Bonnie ... I tried these tonight and they were delish.
I added black olives ... as you can see in the photo above !

How to Make {Cheese}

In this case, the cheese in question is Paneer. This is an Indian cheese that's pretty simple and easy to make, and is suitable for a vegetarian (although not vegan, 'cause let's face it...it's cheese) diet. The cheese itself is fairly tasteless (so don't throw in your lasagna), but when added to curries and things like saag paneer or fried in butter with a little garlic, it sings!

The original website I used seems to not exist anymore, so if this doesn't work, it's only because my memory is bad! Also, I may add in some pictures later, but I don't have time just presently.

What you will need:
4 cups of whole cow's milk
3-4 Tablespoons lemon juice (you can also use lime juice or leftover whey from your last batch)
Cheesecloth
Thermometer
A sieve
A saucepan

Heat the milk to 80 Celsius, or just before the boiling point. Add in the acid, 1 teaspoon at a time, making sure to give it a good stir. Keep adding the acid until the curds separate from the greenish whey (and while you're stiring, be sure to note that Little Miss Muffit was dumb-tuffit, 'cause would you really eat that??? Even without the impeding visit of a spider??? No, you would not).

Pour the mixture through a sieve lined with a couple layers of cheesecloth (If you want to, you can let the mixture cool for 30 minutes before this step, but I found it easier just to rinse it with lukewarm water until it was cool enough to handle). Rinse with fresh water. Squeeze the water out of the cheese with your hands. Then, sit your cheese under something heavy and let it self-squeeze for a while. The more moisture you remove, the firmer your cheese will be.

Optional: soak your cheese in cold water for 1-3 hours (I threw mine, cheesecloth and all, into a ziplock with some cold water and left it in the car while I grocery shopped. So mine soaked for however long that took, maybe an hour and a half). This will improve the color and texture of your cheese.

Note: this recipe does not yield a whole lot of cheese, so maybe plan to make two or even three batches.

Raw Lasagna on Big Honkin' Mushrooms

These were so yummy. I have done this raw lasagna as a dip before but wanted to do it as part of a main meal. This worked really well. I just got some humongous portatbello mushrooms, grilled them in my sandwich press right before we were ready to eat, spooned to (already prepared a few hours earlier) lasagna onto the top. EASY ! YUMMY !

1/2 a zucchini, finely sliced

2 cups tightly packed fresh spinach, processed til finely chopped
1/2 cup avocado, mashed
AND
1 ripe tomato, seed and chop (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup homemade sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup red bell pepper
2 tbls olive oil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
--
Process everything under the AND ... til smooth.
--

Layer zucchini, spinach, avocado, tomato sauce. Do a few layers. I think I got three in a rectangular tupperware and four or five in a square tupperware ... It's best if you leave it set a few hours in the fridge before you eat it. The flavors really develop !

Roasted Tomato and Black Bean Soup

Yay! Another fabulous BEAN recipe! I found the original recipe in the Reader's Digest, modified it extensively, and oh yum! It was just exactly what I wanted on a chilly rainy day. This is my version.

4 medium tomatoes, quartered (I used roma, 'cause they were on sale!)
3/4 of an onion, cut into large pieces (about 1")
1 small head of garlic (the original called for twice the beans and only 3 cloves of garlic! Ha!)
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1 can chicken or vegetable broth
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 tsp cumin (I used curry powder, since I didn't have any cumin)
1 tsp chili powder
Splash of lime juice

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Cut the top off the head of garlic, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt (preferable sea salt), wrap in foil and stick in the oven. In a bowl, toss tomatoes and onion with some more olive oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet and roast until edges of onions have browned and the tomatoes have collapsed, 35 - 40 min. Stir once after 20 min.

2. Transfer roasted veggies to a large saucepan. Squeeze out the garlic cloves into the pan and add broth, beans, and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 min.

3. Remove from heat and blend to desired smoothness (I left mine just a touch chunky and really enjoyed the texture) using an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender.

4. Garnish with some Tabasco sauce (or, if you have none, substitute packets of Taco Bell hot sauce...seriously, it ain't easy cooking so deliciously in such an obviously deficient kitchen!), sour cream, and/or cilantro. It's also all kinds of spectacular with tortilla chips.

{Couscous Stuffed Peppers Photo}

The recipe for these beauties is here.
I can attest to their extreme deliciousness!

Couscous-stuffed Peppers

4 bell peppers (any color)
1 T vegetable oil
1 medium zucchini, shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T lemon juice
2 c cooked couscous
1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, drained
1 tomato, chopped (small pieces)
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t salt
3/4-1 c crumbled feta cheese

Cut peppers in half lengthwise and remove stems, seeds, and membranes. (May parboil for 5 minutes if desired--I omit this step as I prefer the pepper a bit crunchy.)

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add zucchini and garlic and saute 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Place pepper halfs cut side up in lightly greased shallow baking dish. Fill each pepper half with couscous mixture. (Any extra filling can be put around peppers in dish.)

Bake 20 minutes, until filling is heated through.

Recipe adapted from Reader's Digest.

{ratatouille}

I was directed to this recipe by way of a friends blog ...
I made a few modifications, of course, but not too many. Next time I'll make a few more.
Anyone who knows me won't believe this but I totally forgot the garlic and onion !
WHAT?!?!
It's true ... I'll be trying this again soon WITH those necessities !!

Here's the recipe ...
1/2 onion, diced
garlic, to taste, crushed
1 can (400g) tomato puree
olive oil
Zucchini - Green and Yellow (I couldn't find yellow this time though)
Eggplant - I used a lebanese one.
Red and Yellow Capsicum ( bell peppers )
fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, 180 C.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish. Cover with garlic and onion . Season with salt and pepper.

Thinly slice the veggies into rounds.

Alternate veggies and lay around the dish. Working around the outside and finishing in the center. I chopped up the remaining capsicum and sprinkled them on the top.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with fresh thyme.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment (baking) paper cut to fit inside.

Bake for about 45 to 55 minutes, the veggies should be cooked, not limp and not brown at the edges. The tomato sauce will bubble up around them ...

She served with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, I was going to use feta but totally forgot. I think I was in a rush !!!

I served this on top of mashed potatoes, with steamed bok choy on the side.

Vegetarian Curry

I was watching my favorite cooking show the other day (America's Test Kitchen) and they made the yummiest looking vegetarian curry. So I pulled out my notebook and a pen and wrote down what they did as they did it. We made it last night and it was amazing! Enjoy!

Vegetarian Curry

1 or 2 T curry powder
1 T garam masala
Oil
1 med onion, chopped
3 or 4 medium potatoes
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 serrano chili, seeded and finely diced
1 T fresh ginger, grated fine
1 T tomato paste
1/2 head of cauliflower, in bite sized pieces
14 oz. can of diced or crushed tomatoes, run through a blender (I guess you could sub tomato sauce)
1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1 t salt
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1/4 c. heavy cream

Toast the curry powder and the garam masala in a dry pan on high heat for a minute or two until it smokes. Remove from pan and set aside.
Heat some oil over medium heat and add the onions and potatoes. Let fry for about 10 minutes until they get some nice color.
Add in a little more oil. Throw in the ginger, garlic, chili, tomato paste and the toasted spices. Let the spices bloom for a bit in the oil then add in the cauliflower. Made sure the cauliflower gets coated with the spices. Add in the blended tomatoes, about 3/4 cup of water (more or less depending on how much sauce you like and how thick you prefer it to be), the chick peas, and the salt.
Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat until the veggies are done.
Add the frozen peas and the cream.
Take off heat.
Done.

Serving suggestions: Serve with basmati rice and your favorite chutneys or relishes. We had sag paneer and nan with our curry and rice.

Asparagus Pizza

I made Bonnie's asparagus pizza last night, but changed a few things because of certain circumstances. It was SUCH a huge hit that I was told I HAD to write down EXACTLY what I did so that we can make it JUST that way EVERY TIME! :-) So, here is my modified version of Bonnie's asparagus pizza.

The mushrooms (1 1/2 packages) we had gotten were going a little bad so I sauted they with corsely chopped garlic (~ 5 large cloves) and the asparagus (cut into bit size-ish pieces) in a bit of olive oil. Then I needed more oil because the mushrooms soaked up all of it, so I threw in a couple squirts of this roasted garlic and onion oil. Then, I didn't want to overpower the dish, but I still needed more oil so I threw in a glug (like my exactness??) of peanut oil. The last minute or so of sauting I threw in a couple of generous handfuls of pine nuts. After the last minute I turned off the heat, but did not remove the pan from the hot burner.

I mixed 1 small can of tomato sauce and 1 can of chopped black olives and spooned that over the crusts (I also discovered that the bobali crusts are nice if thrown in a 250 degree oven for 5 minutes or so - just on the rack). I spinkled a bit of italian seasoning over the the sauce. I then spread the veggie mixture on. Next, I sprinkled a generous amount of green olives, which I had cut in half. Then, I sprinkled a generous amount of kalamata olives around. I sprinkled one package of feta around and topped with a three cheese pizza mix. Into the oven till the cheese was melted and just barely starting to turn brown in a couple of spots. Serve and enjoy! YUM!!!!!!

Mediterranean Rice Salad

From The American Vegetarian Cookbook

Salad:

1 cup white or brown basmati or long grain brown rice

2 to 2 ½ cups water, depending on rice

1 teaspoon sunflower oil

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 to 3 cups sliced zucchini

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

8 cups Butter or Red lettuce, in ¼ inch slivers

4 cups coarsely chopped spinach, or 2 cups arugula and 2 cups spinach

1 cup alfalfa or sunflower sprouts

½ cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives (my favorite) or 1/3 cup slivered sun-dried tomatoes

¼ cup chopped fresh basil, or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint (optional)

Ground rock salt to taste (optional)

Dressing:

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 large garlic clove, pressed

½ to 1 teaspoon honey (optional)

½ teaspoon dried chervil

¼ teaspoon dried mint

½ teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon dried tarragon

½ teaspoon Dijon-style mustard

½ teaspoon ground rock salt or salt free seasoning

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place rice in a medium saucepan. If using basmati rice, add 2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon sunflower oil. If using brown rice, add 2 ¼ cups water and 1 teaspoon sunflower oil. Bring to a boil, stir once, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes for white basmati rice and 40 minutes for brown rice. Remove basmati rice from heat and fluff with fork; do not lift cover of brown rice for an additional 10 minutes, but do remove from heat.

(You could also skip this step entirely, by cooking your rice in a rice cooker if you have one. That’s what I do!)

While rice is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet or wok. Add zucchini, basil, and oregano and sauté, stirring frequently (add 1 to 2 tablespoons water to prevent scorching) over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until zucchini is just tender; do not over cook or it will fall apart in salad.

Measure dressing ingredients into blender and blend until creamy.

Add slivered and chopped greens to salad bowl with dressing. Add rice and zucchini, toss well. Fold in sprouts, olives or sun-dried tomatoes and fresh herbs. Adjust seasonings. You may need to add a dash more salt, since no salt was added to the rice during cooking.