Winter Vegetable Dal

Winter Vegetable Dal

I want my kids to fail. That's right I don't want my kids to succeed at everything they try. Why? Failure is one of the most important lessons we should be imparting to our kids. Let me provide a little background to my reasoning. My son came home from school last week and informed me that everyone got a ribbon for participating in a school event. Great, so everyone wins for doing nothing. I know that sounds a little harsh, but good old fashioned competitiveness is not a bad thing. I failed a lot growing-up. I tried basketball, softball, gymnastics and I was horrible at all of them. Then I discovered swimming and I was great at it. The pleasure I got from succeeding was that much better since I knew what it was like to be horrible at something. In college I had a professor inform me that I didn't understand anything about the concept of 'national identity' and that I should avoid a degree in English. I ended up getting my BA in English Literature and wrote my master's thesis on national identity and geography. However, if I hadn't done horribly in that class I might have had a very different life. We remember the times we fail, we need those failures to become the adults we are. It seems that we are now teaching our children that failure should be avoided in order to save our children the pain. Yes failure hurts, but the success that eventually comes is that much sweeter for having the fought our way back. So yes I want my children to fail, I will comfort them from the pain and cheer them on when they find a way to succeed. It's a part of growing-up.

My family rarely eats out, less than once a month. However, we all love various ethnic foods so I try to re-create as many dishes at home as I can. Last week I tried a new Winter Vegetable Dal recipe from the January/February 2014 issue of Eating Well magazine.

Winter Vegetable Dal

 

This recipe has 18 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 35 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First, I used a bay leaf instead of curry leaves. Curry leaves are very hard to find in my area and I didn't want to have to go searching for them. I thought that I had cumin seeds in my cupboard, but wasn't able to find them when I made the recipe so I substituted ground cumin instead. I cut my potatoes small, but I still found that my dal took longer than the recipe suggest for the vegetables to fully cook, approximately 10 additional minutes.

Winter Vegetable Dal

My husband and I enjoyed this recipe. It was mild enough that my kids loved it while still being flavorful enough for adults. If you like your dishes spicier you can add a small amount of crushed red pepper. The leftovers of this dish re-heated well and it tasted great over brown rice.

For the recipe go to Winter Vegetable Dal.

Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves from Martha Stewart

Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves

Today reminded me that I'm not in my 20's anymore. Since my oldest had the day off school I thought it would be a good day to paint the ceiling in our dining room. The last time I had painted a ceiling was 7 years ago when I was in my late 20's. This evening I am sore, very sore. What was relatively painless in my 20's is an entirely different story in my middle 30's. I'm positive tomorrow is going to be a day for painkillers and my neck and back are not going to be happy. It's days like today that remind me that I have gotten older. On a daily basis I tend to forget my age, but when a task that was easy 10 years ago takes twice as long and makes me feel twice as bad I remember that I'm not the same early 20 year old I was before kids. I also remind myself that that's okay. I might take a little longer and feel a little more sore, but I'm also smart enough to know how to do something right the first time due to the wisdom I have gained with age. I would much rather be where I am now, being in my 20's was confusing and tiring. In my 30's I am older, wiser, and happier. I know who I am and can stand up for myself with no qualms. My younger self was quick to judge, talked first, thought later and could be more than a little selfish. My 30 year old self is pretty great, I listen first, talk later, look at most situations from all angles and have the wisdom to know how to deal with most situations. So tomorrow as I take a few aspirin with my morning coffee I will smile knowing that even though I am older, I am also only getting better with age. Now on to the recipe! Tonight I tried a new recipe for Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves from the Martha Stewart website.

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This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 1 hour 50 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 1 large loaf or 3 mini loaves. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First I was out of curry powder. So instead I used a mixture of the spices I already had on hand to make homemade curry powder. I love making my own spice blends and they are oftentimes cheaper than the pre-made varieties. For the rice I used arborio and homemade black beans instead of canned. Make sure to let the loaf sit after cooking in order that the loaf doesn't fall apart when sliced.

Harris Riverfront Park Huntington, WV

My husband isn't a big fan of meatless meals. He did however, like this recipe. It had the right amount of salt and I added cayenne to my curry powder so the loaf had a nice amount of heat. Finding vegetarian recipes that my family will actually eat can be really hard. This recipe was nice since everyone in my family ate it without complaints.

For the recipe go to Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves.

Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A vegetarian recipe for Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves. Full of lentils, black beans and curry powder.

Preparation Time: 0h, 25m

Cooking Time: 1h, 0m

Total Time: 1h, 50m

Yield: Serves 8

Put Down the Take-Out Menu: Try Red Lentil Curry at Home

Red Lentil Curry

I made brownies for the first time in months tonight. My kids ate almost the entire batch in just a couple of hours. They were really good for gluten free brownies, probably the best I have made since I started baking gluten free. I normally would have allowed my kids to only eat one or two, but they have been very good this week. The weather has been hot and we have been spending a lot time in our front yard. Today I pulled out the super soakers for the first time this summer. They had so much fun running around playing in the water. It made me miss being young! Since it has been so hot I have been trying to keep my time in the kitchen to a minimum. The idea of spending hours with the oven on just isn't appealing when the weather is in the 90's with high humidity. This week I tried a new recipe for 40 Minute Red Lentil Curry from allrecipes.com.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First I wasn't able to find curry paste, so I made my own. I thought that I had turmeric when I started this recipe, but it turned out that I didn't so I left it out. I allowed the lentils to cook for 25 minutes,  I like my red lentils to be pretty soft in curry. Finally, after all the ingredients were added I cooked the curry an additional 5 minutes.

The flavor on this curry is pretty mild. If your family likes the flavor of Indian food, but aren't fans of a lot of heat this recipe would be perfect. My husband and I added cayenne pepper to our servings to increase the heat. We both prefer our food to be a little spicier than the recipe as written. I served the curry over basmati rice and my kids really liked it. The recipe is a nice way to get kids to eat a larger variety of foods without having them turn up their noses.

For the recipe go to Red Lentil Curry.

Cilantro Lentils and Lemon-Cumin Rice

My posts have been slim this week. Normally I post once a day, but between family obligations and sick kids I have had no time for my blog. Right now my youngest is miserable on my lap while I attempt to write something that is at least semi intelligible. Whenever I am sick with a cold I love spicy food, the spicier the better. Especially when I have a stuffy nose I love things that have lots of flavor and kick. One of my favorite types of food to make spicy is Indian cuisine. The flavors can be made mild or intense and many recipes are easy to make at home. Last week I tried a new recipe for Cilantro Lentils with Lemon-Cumin Rice from the March 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 10 ingredients in the lentils and 6 in the rice. The lentils take 1 hour of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. The rice takes 45 minutes, 5 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients. I did make a few changes. Instead of butter in the lentils I used canola oil and I increased the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon. Additionally, I let my lentils cook longer than the recipe suggested. I increased the total time by approximately 1/2 hour. This increased cooking time allowed the lentils to fully thicken. Make sure to salt again before serving, I needed to add an additional 1/2 tsp of salt.

The lemon juice added at the end of the lentil recipe makes all the difference. It really does add a great flavor that finishes the dish. The lentils and the savory rice are delicious together. The tastes play off of each other and are perfect. The rice would also work well with other recipes and could be modified to be more or less savory.

For the recipes go to Cilantro Lentils and Lemon-Cumin Rice.

Lentil Sliders with Sesame Sauce

 I took the Christmas tree down yesterday and put away all the decorations. As soon as the holiday is over I like to box up all the decorations and get back to normal. I have always been like this. Growing-up my mother would keep our tree up until well into January and it would drive me nuts. I like to get things over with and move on, Christmas is one of those things. Don't get me wrong I like Christmas, but all the dust from the decorations and the lack of space from the Christmas tree drives me nuts. So as soon as Christmas is over I get up the next day and put everything away. My living room is now back to the state that it the rest of the year and I am happy and content. I have survived another Christmas and things can start settling into the cold winter months ahead. Winter to me always means beans. I cook with beans a lot in the winter, I find them filling and comforting when the weather is cold and depressing. Last week I tried a new recipe for Lentil Sliders with Sesame Sauce from the January issue of Parents magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 8 sliders. I did have to go to multiple stores to find all the ingredients, but that is normal when I am looking for tahini. Be very careful when cooking these sliders, they have a tendency to burn if you follow the amount of oil in the recipe. Watch the sliders very carefully and add more oil if necessary. I served my husband and kids portions with pita, but I ate mine with just the sauce since I can't eat gluten. For the lemon juice I used fresh squeezed, the taste is better and lemons are inexpensive. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The sauce in this recipe was too sweet. I think it would be better if the honey was eliminated or there was a touch of crushed red pepper. As the recipe is written the sauce is just too mild and sweet. The sliders on the other hand were delicious and everyone in my family enjoyed them. My husband thought that they were actually better the way that I ate them without the pita.

This recipe is currently not available online, but can be found in the January 2013 issue of Parents magazine.

Lentil Sloppy Joes

I can't believe that Christmas is next week. This month/year have gone by so quick! I am taking a laid back approach to the holidays this year. As I have gotten older I have realized that all the craziness of the holidays that I put myself through when I was younger just isn't worth all the stress. My boys are now 4 and 6 and I fully expect to enjoy Christmas instead of obsessing about everything being perfect. Things will still be great, even if the presents aren't perfectly wrapped and dinner is simple, yet still delicious. This year I am determined to enjoy my kids and the time that I have with them. I am old enough now to realize that these moments are fleeting and I would rather enjoy the time than run around making myself tired and cranky. Since next week will be so busy I have been making meals that are easy to put together, while still being nutritious and flavorful. Last week I tried a new recipe for Lentil Sloppy Joes from the December issue of the Food Network Magazine, which looked like a great way to add fiber and iron into my family's diet, while still being low in calories.

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It takes a total of 1 hour 10 minutes, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did decide to make a few changes to the recipe. First I was not motivated to make ground beef, so I substituted ground lamb instead. Secondly, since I eat gluten free I used gluten free hamburger buns. I would normally make them from scratch, but this time I bought store bought. I chose to use sliced pickles, but not the pickled jalapeno peppers. The recipe suggests that you may need to add up to an additional cup of water in order to cook the lentils, but I did not need to make this addition. I did find that the lamb was a little rich, but a mixture of lamb and beef would be perfect. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was surprised how great these sloppy joes turned out. I wasn't sure how the lentils would taste, but they worked great with the meat and were a good way to save fat and calories. My husband added jalapenos to his serving and he thought that they were a great addition. If you like spicy foods this would be a great way to add some heat. 

For the recipe go to Lentil Sloppy Joes.

Squash and Lentil Stew

This has been a long day. Not for the reasons you might think. Don't get me wrong, I love the excitement of election day, but this year it has taken a back seat to the rest of my day. This afternoon my two boys were in the kitchen together. I should have known right there that something was wrong. When my two boys are being quite together something is brewing. I walk in and my youngest son is partially bald and surrounded by his cut hair. You guessed it, my oldest son had given his baby brother a haircut. Now on most boys this wouldn't be a huge deal, but my son had very long beautiful hair. He has always loved his hair long and cried as soon as he realized it was gone. Of course I was trying to figure out what my oldest son's reasoning was. When he finally told me I had to try not to laugh. Apparently my youngest son had been saying 'potty' words and my oldest decided that he needed to be punished...by cutting off all his hair. Gotta love kids! So tonight's blog post goes back a couple of weeks to a great stew recipe I tried. Last month I tried a new recipe for Squash and Lentil Stew from the October issue of Family Circle magazine, which looked perfect for fall.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 56 minutes of cooking time and 20 minutes of prep and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I have never seen French green lentils locally, so I used brown lentils instead. Instead of store bought chicken stock I used homemade. I don't salt my homemade stock, but instead salt the stew itself once it's finished. For the carrots I used baby carrots. I find baby carrots easier to deal with, especially since they are already peeled. I let my onion, celery and carrot mixture cook longer than the suggested 5 minutes by the recipe. Instead I allowed the mixture to fully soften. Make sure to fully salt the stew once it has completed cooking. Even with store bought stock this recipe will need a good amount of salt. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With 8 grams of fat and 17 grams of protein this recipe is a great low-fat meal. My two boys really liked the butternut squash and ate all of it in their servings. I liked that this stew is full of vegetables and beans and has a great flavor. I would suggest letting the stew cook slightly longer than the 40 minutes suggested in the recipe. I think it would allow the lentils to be even more tender and the flavors to fully incorporate. Overall, a great fall recipe.

For the recipe go to Squash and Lentil Stew. (registration required)

Slowcooker Lemony Lentil Soup

I love fall. The leaves, the weather and most importantly the food. I have never been a warm weather person and I pretty much am miserable all summer with the humidity and the heat. No amount of air conditioning ever seems to cool me down enough. When fall rolls around the the temps start to drop, I love it. The weather hasn't gotten bitterly cold, but is just cool enough to start to enjoy great dishes like soups and stew. Beans are one of my favorite ingredients in the fall. There is something very comforting and delicious about all varieties of beans. Luckily my two boys share my love of beans, with one of their favorite fall dishes being bean soup. They absolutely love it and will eat multiple servings. Last week I tried a new recipe for Lemony Lentil Soup from the September issue of Parents magazine, which looked like a perfect fall dish.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 6 hours of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients and made no substitutions. I know from previous experience that my local grocery and super stores don't carry red lentils. However, the farmer's market in Charleston does, so I always buy a few pounds and keep it in my cupboard. I love that they have bulk beans, they are a great way to save money. Make sure to mince the carrots and onion. The recipe states to chop both of the ingredients, but my husband and I weren't fans of the texture after being in the crockpot. I would suggest dicing both of the ingredients and then sauteing them in a little bit of butter until they are soft and then adding to the crockpot. This would eliminate the texture problem. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I love lentil soup. The lemon flavor in this soup was delicious and really brought out the flavor of the lentils. The one thing that I was not a fan of was the texture of the carrots and onion. They tasted almost not all the way cooked and they definitely would be better diced and then sauteed instead of chopped. The leftovers of this soup re-heated well and my two boys ate the leftovers happily.

For the recipe go to Lemony Lentil Soup. 

Lentil-Chickpea Chili

Have you ever had one of those weeks? The kind where everything seems just a little bit off. I am definitely having one of those weeks this week. My oldest got out of school for the summer on Tuesday, it was 95 degrees today and I feel blah. It doesn't help that I spent the evening watching Great Expectations on Masterpiece Theater, I love Dickens, but not great for my mood. So where does that leave me, making crockpot dinners for the week. I have had very little motivations to cook anything complex or taking hours to prepare. Luckily there have been great slow-cooker recipes in a number of magazines in the last couple of months. I love using the slow-cooker when the weather is too hot to cook or I just don't feel like dealing with dinner at all. Thankfully the February issue of Family Circle magazine had a recipe for Lentil-Chickpea Chili, which with 15 minutes of prep looked perfect for the less than perfect week I have been having.

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 8 hours on low in the crockpot and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients at the my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. I was particularly happy that I found out that one of the stores in my area now has shallots by the pound. A huge difference in price, before I could only find the pre-packaged shallots which are $1.99 for 3 ounces. Now I can buy them for $3.99 a pound, talk about a huge price difference! I completely forgot to make flatbread, so instead I served the chili with homemade whole-wheat bread, which worked just as well. After adding the chickpeas (I left out the cilantro) I allowed the chili to cook for an additional 15 minutes. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With 22 grams of protein and completely vegetarian this dish is a nice change of pace for my family. I have been trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals and this recipe was easy to prep. This makes a large amount of chili! It states that it makes 8 servings, but honestly it looks like I still have 10 more servings in my freezer. I really liked the flavor of this soup, it was flavorful without having to add meat. My husband wasn't a fan of the chickpeas, but that is normal for him. He prefers chickpeas to be mashed or completely cooked until almost mushy. I was surprised that my boys ate their whole servings and asked for more. Overall this was a very easy slow-cooker recipe that was well received by everyone in my family.

For the recipe go to Lentil-Chickpea Chili.

Lentil Soup with Peas and Ham

My husband and two boys have an obsession with meat. I have talked many times about the endless amounts of bacon and bacon flavored products that they seem to be able to consume. Luckily, I have slowly begun to have them realize that there are other foods in the universe which can be healthy and delicious. Beans and lentils have been a pleasant surprise. I thought that when I started adding more beans and lentils into our diets that I would be meet with a lot of resistance and complaining. Instead I was pleased when my oldest son explained to me that he loved beans and ever since gets excited when he learns that beans will be included with dinner. My husband was a little more resistant, but after his stomach accustomed to the increase in legumes, he now likes them to the point that he prefers my lentil burgers to many meat equivalents. Of course he still adds bacon to his veggie burgers, but he's a work in progress. Soup is a major way that I have learned to add more legumes into my family's diet. Both of my sons absolutely love soup and lentil soup is one of my favorite soup varieties. Therefore, I was excited when the May issue of the Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Lentil Soup with Peas and Ham, which looked delicious and full of protein.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. Luckily I already had red lentils from a previous recipe. For whatever reason the only store in my area that feels the need to have any type of lentils other than brown is the Lebanese market near my house. That market is great and I have found many hard to find items, plus it's always great to support neighborhood stores! For the onion I used a vidalia sweet onion. I love vidalia onions and I was excited to see that the first shipment was available at my local grocery store. They are great to cook with when they are in season. I was very pleased to find that all the cooking times in this recipe were very accurate. Oftentimes I find that recipes can be off by a very large margin, but I followed this recipe as written and had no problems.

My family really enjoyed this soup. The only thing that I would change would be the peas. I have never actually seen fresh peas in my area, so I had to use frozen. I'm not a big fan of frozen peas, especially in cooking and this soup would be great without them. With the peas the soup almost felt off, so I would suggest omitting them completely. The dill taste is delicious and creates a nice fresh taste to the soup. The best part is that the recipe has 28 grams of protein and only 7 grams of fat per serving. A great way to provide a low-fat flavorful soup recipe to your diet.

For the recipe go to Lentil Soup with Peas and Ham.

Food Network Magazine Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup

I seem to have a theme lately on all my posts. In the last couple of months I have made numerous slow cooker recipe. They are great when my two boys are acting ornery and nothing seems to be getting done. Most of the dishes that I have made have been beef or pork, which are delicious and easy to make in the crockpot. However, I have been trying to branch out and try new vegetarian dishes. The recipes I have tried have been hit or miss, so when I saw a recipe for Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup in the December issue of the Food Network Magazine, I figured it was worth a try.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of prep and eight hours of cooking time in the crockpot and makes 4 servings. I did have a problem finding one of the recipe ingredients. For whatever reason all the major grocery stores in my area refuse to carry any type of lentil other than the basic brown variety. Luckily I discovered when looking for ingredients for this dish that the smaller Lebanese market near my house has bagged red lentils. I was very happy! I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients and made no substitutions. I did find that the finished soup was way too watery for my tastes. I suggest using either chicken broth (or vegetable broth to keep it vegetarian). The broth would add greatly to the overall flavor of the dish. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With only four grams of fat and twelve grams of protein, this dish is a great healthy option. I would definitely suggest adding the broth instead of water. As written the recipe lacks flavor due to the water, with the substitution the recipe would be great. A very easy, vegetarian slowcooker meal that takes less than a half an hour to prepare. Great for a weeknight meal!

For the recipe go to Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup.