Tuesday, April 6, 2010

SIMPLE FOOD

When we were first married I would never have considered serving a vegetarian meal.  Times have changed and we lose the animal protein several times a week at dinner and my lunch is often meatless.  Last night I  made a simple meal of lentils and rice. This is a pretty common middle eastern dish that my late friend Sona,  a family dish in her Armenian family, introduced me to many years ago.  She made it with regular lentils, but I love little French lentils, or these recently discovered  Black Beluga Lentils, from Shiloh Farms.  One of the really nice things about lentils is that it is one of those fast cooking legumes.  No lengthy soaking and cooking for these little gems.  Slice and saute an onion, mine was a large one, in a little olive oil, Add cooked rice, I had some leftover Basmati rice, add lentils, salt and pepper, mix and serve with a green vegetable and a  nice non fat Greek yogurt and you've got a simple, tasty meal. 

12 comments:

  1. Oh god amazing. Do you have any idea how often I fantasize about your home cooking?

    Often. Especially on nights that I eat chicken nuggets. Even chicken nuggets in fun shapes cannot compare to ridiculously tasty mommy food.

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  2. Nancy, we need to organize a potluck! Looks delicious.

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  3. That looks delish. I just picked up fava beans and am looking for something to do with them.

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  4. Looks yummy! we are eating lots of vegetarian meals lately!

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  5. I see where those lentils got there name. They look like caviar! I am so waiting for the farmers market to open again in a few weeks, because I need some good produce to get me back into doing more vegetarian meals, or meals with smaller meat portions and larger vegetable / fruit portions. We have a new Thai Restaurant in Woodfin! (hard to believe -- it is in an old Subway Restaurant - just thought that would make you smile)

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  6. I LOVE lentils, you can do so much with them, they blend well with so many different flavors. One of my favorites is to cook them up with onions, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Yum. Also good with chopped tomatoes and cumin, a little tumeric.

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  7. Amazingly enough a couple of decades ago, I went vegan - yep, totally meatless. So my main courses, became bread, rice, beans, grains and I love it - they were so easy to digest - I called them "happy meals". Probably left alone for any period of time, I revert back to that. It's great soul food for me. Looks yummy.

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  8. As a vegetarian on a low carb diet I was excited to find these black beluga lentils. Trader Joe's sells them ready to heat and eat. They are very very high in fiber which makes them a great protein in a low-carb vegetarian diet. I add them to chili and other dishes that I used to use beans for. Now if I can only find a substitute for the high carb rice in your recipe. . .

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  10. Lentils...Mmmmm. We love them! I think they are just about the perfect food.

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