Curried Lentils and Rice

If you guys have been following my blog, you know that we are trying to eat a vegetarian meal at least once a week. I made this last week, and it is one of the few meatless meals that got the "you can make this again" approval from both Jer and I, so I thought I'd share, in case you're looking for a pretty good (and cheap!) meatless meal.

Curried Lentils and Rice

Cook dried lentils first.

1 Cup dried brown lentils
2 1/2 cups water
2 bullion cubes (chicken, beef or vegetable - I used chicken because that's what I have, but probably should have used vegetable, right?) :)
1 tsp salt (I would omit this, or at least cut it back a lot, because the bullion cubes make it salty enough)

Put all above ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 min.

Then you'll need:

1/4 cup butter
1 onion (chopped) (I omitted this and just used onion powder)
4 carrots (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tsp. salt (again, I would use less salt)
2 Tbsp. curry powder
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Saute butter, onion, carrots and garlic
Add the salt and curry powder for just a moment
Add cooked lentils and lemon juice and stir all together
Cook until heated through

Serve over brown rice (or white, if you prefer)

Vegetable Soup

We've been eating a lot of soup this winter. It's comforting, can be extremely healthy, and cheap too. So here's the recipe of the soup I made tonight.

Vegetable Soup

• 1 pound beef for stew (I usually buy mine pre-cut, cause I'm lazy and busy too)
• 1 clove of garlic
• a little flour
  
• 1 (46 ounce) bottle V8 vegetable juice
• 2 cups of chicken/beef/vegetable broth (this is approximate - I just emptied the box I had in the frig from last week. So add as much as you want, I say)
  
• 1/4 of an onion, chopped (we can't tolerate much onion in our home, so use more if you want)
  
• 2 carrots, sliced
  
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 2 cups of frozen corn or 1 can whole kernel corn
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can green beans (I would have used fresh if they were in season)
  
• 1 pinch ground ginger (I'm not sure why, but I tried it)
  
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Throw some flour, salt, and pepper along with the meat into a ziploc bag and shake it around a bit. Heat a little olive oil in the bottom of your pan and brown a clove of garlic. Then throw the meat in there. Let it brown the outside and then drain the fat. Put the beef back in the pot along with all the other ingredients. Let it cook for over an hour or all afternoon. This would also do great in the crockpot.

I hope these instructions aren't too general. You pretty much can't go wrong on this one, so enjoy making yours just right for your family!

This is one of our favorite new recipes. We have eaten it over rice and couscous-you could also eat it on pita bread or pasta. We have decided it tastes better after it sits for a while, so you might want to cook it during the day and then reheat it for dinner. YUMMY!

Tuscan Vegetable Ragout

2 tsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained (I like the basil/garlic kind)
2 15.5-oz. cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz. can artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
2 Tbs. coarsely chopped Kalamata olives (I omitted these)
1 Tbs. capers, coarsely chopped (found by the pickles)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and zucchini, cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, beans and artichoke hearts, and cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
Add olives, capers and half the basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with remaining basil.

Original recipe found here!