Lentils

Tired of sandwiches, I made myself an easy and relatively quick lunch today - lentil stew. It's summer-time, but I think we can still eat stew, as long as we let it cool enough. Lentils are an amazing food, and now that I'm trying to exercise more, I want to pay even more attention to eating very nutritious foods.

Here is a very simple recipe I made up this morning, and I think it tastes delicious. I couldn't get my little girl to eat it, but she was eating a muffin at the time, so there wasn't a lot of incentive for her.

Hearty Lentil Stew

1 cup presoaked lentils
2 cups vegetable broth
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, sliced
2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 30 minutes. I'd say this makes 4 to 6 servings, depending on how much you eat.

I don’t like runny soup, so this makes more of a thick stew, and it thickens the more you let it simmer. I’ll eat it by itself, but I also think I’m going to try it over brown rice, which will also make it a complete protein.

UPDATE: Both kids ate it and loved it.

Parmesan Cream Crackers

Always trying to make more food from scratch, I made crackers today. I started off from a recipe found in the New York Times and tweaked it a little bit, Parmesan Cream Crackers.

Here's the recipe as I made it:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese ( I will actually use more next time)
1/2 cup whipping cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly dust baking sheet with flour.
2. Pulse flour, salt, cheese and butter in food processor. Add cream slowly until mixture holds together but is not sticky.
3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until at least 1/4 inch thin, preferably thinner. Transfer to cooking sheet.
4. Lightly score with a knife into squares. Bake 10-12 minutes.



These were a big hit in our house. The little guy almost climbed up on the table to get more.