Let there be Lentils :)

Pin It

I arrived home from work and I just craved that return home snack. And what better way than a couple of cookies and milk (shh! on the milk as I rarely drink dairy milk these days I prefer Almond and Coconut. So I stole from my hubby and our milk supply is very low so I had a very small glass.) And than the avalanche of cravings started, it was near five and I was getting hungry for a real meal but we tend to eat late in our house, sometimes very late! I was thinking I need to get away from the snacks and was planning to complete my fifteen minutes of movement. But instead I thought this would be a great night to surprise my hubby with dinner. He does 90 percent of the cooking in our household (he is a super yummy chef :) Here is the food victory of the day, not only did I stop a snack avalanche in its tracks I experimented with lentils. When I first started the HealthFULL Journey the goal was to try a new veggie, fruit, or grain every week. I am trying to start get back in this habit. It is such an easy way to bring one out of the rut. You get to try a new flavor, possibly learn a new skill in how you prepare the new food, and a way to get different vitamins and minerals into your body. I can't recall ever trying lentils and there is so much variety. Ohhh if you haven't tried this high protein and fiber powerhouse, buy some today. They are so simple to prepare. We had purchased the red lentils and I found a curried red lentil dish on the web that they called "Dal". So good. We ate it with a little brown rice and Naan bread which I had never tried before which is why we had the side of brown rice. But that works out great for me as I can bring the extras for lunch tomorrow. Here is the great thing about the lentils. They have a hearty texture and the strength is up to you. If you like mushy food as comfort food just let them simmer extra. If you like a little extra bite don't simmer as long. And for flavoring the recipe called for a chile (I recommend this as all we had was bell pepper. The chile would give it that little extra hot spiceness) and onion. Otherwise it was just a couple teaspoons of interesting warm spices that we definitely need to use more in our house (cumin, coriander, and tumeric). Now I do warn you that this dish wasn't the prettiest but it was so tasty, filling, and SIMPLE!!! I always consider it a victory when I can feel full, no meat was consumed, nor was it missed. I think our next lentil experience will be with the green puy ( they look like little jewels ) :) The simple factor to lentils is equivalent to rice. Pour in a cup of dry lentils into two cups liquid (broth, water - broth really can add a lot of flavor) and let it simmer. My recipe told me to add tumeric and then we added the other spices with sauteed onions halfway through the simmering. Voila! So SIMPLE :) And to end the evening we took a family walk. As we already had eaten dinner by 7 pm which in our household is a nothing short of a miracle. It felt so freeing to have time after dinner to truly relax. A simple walk out the door isn't quite what it used to be as we gather our dog and her items and then our son requires a small army to gather his things to leave the house for 26 minutes. We didn't quite walk a mile. Though we had a little incident that required me to be very still. Our dog scooted out of her collar as she was a hunting a cat in the dark. It took a couple of minutes to calm her down and literally lasso her. But we were back on our way. I also noticed a trend with our family and maybe this happens to other families. We think we are being spontaneous but then realize yet again we are walking on trash night (the night before trash is picked up ). Not so bad in this type of weather, a little cool some breeze. Oh in the summer it is the worst as heated garbage wafts toward our nostrils. So either we are so predictable or our dog has total mind control over the house and whispers we need to walk by all the wonderful smells and sniff our way to paradise. I am worried it might be both :) 10:15 food victory done, movement completed, and blog now done! YAY! May your HealthFULL Journey lead you to exciting foods, new perspective, and extra fun. ' Til we meet again. . .