fast – Page 3 – Wait…are those…cookies?!

December 18, 2013

A simple sammy to combat holiday madness

Okay so not a recipe, but this is one of my favorite combinations… and I felt greedy hogging it all to myself…

Sharing is caring, right??

Right.

Especially this time of year when I feel like a hermit. Seriously. I go to work. I work (retail, for those of you not in the know). I fight the masses to drive home. And then I get home, and I DON’T LEAVE. Ugh. It takes twice a long to go anywhere, and people are abnormally aggressive, it seems. Heaven forbid you don’t locate the EXACT item in the EXACT shade that you were looking for. Just because you haven’t does so not entitle you to run me over, verbally or with your large vehicle… Most wonderful time of the year? Um… sure. Just don’t make me venture anywhere near to a shopping metropolis and I’m happy [this includes groceries, by the way… helloooo creative cooking with the remnants of the pantry].

Thankfully, this is one of the simplest things ever. It makes a spectacular breakfast… or lunch. Or really I suppose you could eat it for dinner too… I’m sure I have, somewhere along the line. And also thankfully, you can rustle it up easily with things you probably already have on hand. Although, if I run out of almond butter, I generally make an exception to go brave the masses. I must ALWAYS have almond butter on hand. Non negotiable…. nut butter is its own food group around here.

So do yourself a favor and whip up one of these. Naturally sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy. Everything you might want, all in one tidy package. Or not so tidy… this is definitely a needs-a-fork sammy, in the best possible way.

Grilled Almond Butter and Banana Sandwich

I used to eat just plain almond butter-banana sammies, but eventually I decided to try grilling it… and I have never (and probably never will, unless in dire circumstances) go back. These are just too good. Makes one sandwich, obviously doubled/tripled easily depending on how hungry you are.

2 slices of whole wheat bread (I use organic sprouted honey wheat)
2 tbsp (ish, let’s be real, I don’t measure) almond butter*
1/2 large banana, sliced
1.5 tsp unsweetened coconut
cinnamon to taste
salted butter*
raw, unfiltered honey and/or date paste for serving

*I like salted, since it gives the sandwich a bit more depth against the sweetness of the banana

Really… I feel slightly like I’m insulting your intelligence by writing down directions… buuuuut just in case I’m going to do it anyway.

Lightly butter the outsides of your bread. On the inside of one piece, spread yo’ almond butter. Top it with coconut sliced banana, and then with cinnamon (I like a lot!). Almond butter the other piece of bread, and slap it on top of the nice pile of goodness you already have going. Heat your preferred pan over medium heat, and grill the sandwich until it’s golden brown (or I like mine a little charred) on both sides. Top with honey or date paste for serving, for a particularly decadent treat.

November 23, 2013

Talking bananas and some chicken

Well firstly, Jessie wants to say hi.

And she also wants me to tell you how incredibly helpful she is when I blog. Like… soooo helpful. See?

And also (and slightly more to the point), my bananas are talking to me again.

So I did them a favor and made banana bread with spouted quinoa flour and honey and coconut oil, which in reality did ME a huge favor because whatever, banana bread is maybe my favorite food thing ever. evereverever.

And then I made this chicken thing… and put it in direct sunlight to photograph it because I was feeling sassy. Sorry I’m not sorry I’m breaking all the food photography rules…

It’s delicious and an easy way to fix chicken—I do it on the regular when I want a fast lunch. This time I ate it with quinoa and avo because really—everything just gets better with avo.

Coconut Amnio Marinated Chicken

Serves… however many you like, depending on how much chicken you use! The so-called ‘recipe’ is from somewhere deep in the depths of my brain. Healthy, fast and delicious (also gluten free!).

chicken breasts, thawed and sliced into thin strips
1-2 tbsp coconut aminos
1 tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp coconut oil (per 1 chicken breast), or other high heat oil for sautéing

Defrost chicken, and slice it into small bits or thin strips. In a small bowl, combine coconut aminos and rice wine vinegar, and add thawed chicken. Let it marinate for however long—I’ve left it for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour (usually I’m hungry). Heat a skillet over medium and toss in a bit of coconut oil (or your preferred high heat oil). Once the pan is heated, add chicken, stirring periodically so all sides are dooone.

Eat with whatever! I like it in sushi, over faro, veggies, or another grain…. or really any way. But make sure you add avo, whatever you do!

November 15, 2013

Planning Fail.

It was cold.

I sat on my exercise ball and studied bio until my eyes crossed.

I wanted soup.

And cornbread. We’ve been over this…. soup is just an excuse for carby sides. With BUTTER. Because, I ask you… what is better than butter?!

Anyway. I digress.

Soup. There’s a quick potato soup that I’m fond of. It happens to be vegan, comes together faster than you can say boomshakalaka! and is obviously also delicious. This is rather the route I was attempting to go tonight, except I kind of got maybe not even a third into the recipe before I realized I actually didn’t have half the ingredients I was supposed to. Whooops. Planning fail.

So I made soup anyway. Kind of jankily. With the butt ends of things found in the fridge, and minimal ingredients. And it was (emphasis on the past tense here) delicious. And… it’s GREEN! Obviously I love it. Green things rock.

I also decided to put sprouted quinoa flour in my cornbread. A wise decision and one I’m sure I’ll be repeating… and homg BUTTER! ON my cornbread. Obviously a decision that I a) never regret and b) why would you ever regret butter?!

So here you go! A nice, fridge-scrounging Thursday night recipe when your brain is fogged and you think you have more groceries than you apparently actually do.

Boomshakalaka Potato Soup!

Recipe from… the depths of my grey matter. And my fridge. Serves 3 for dinner, with leftovers for one. Beyond excellent with cornbread, hellooooooo obviously you need an excuse for butter. I like this recipe best! But this time I replaced 1/2 c whole wheat flour with 1/2 c sprouted quinoa flour. Delicious.

6-7 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 sweet potato
5-6 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
a good glug of olive oil
1/2 a clove garlic
2 c low-sodium veggie stock
4 c raw spinach
heaping 1/4 c nutritional yeast
salt and pepper, to taste
optional: chopped cashews for a classy garnish

In a pot, bring some water to a boil, chuck in your chopped potatoes, and boil until they’re fork tender.

In a larger soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Toss in garlic clove and celery, and sauté until the celery is soft. Add spinach, and cover the pot until everything gets wiltified. Once the potatoes are done, drain them, then add them to the pot with all the other veggie biz. Add stock, then puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in nutritional yeast, salt and pepper (and any other seasonings you might like, this isn’t a recipe so much as a template..). Season to taste! Serve hot. Also delicious with some chopped cashews for a classy garnish.

October 4, 2013

Soup is just an excuse for bread, don’t try to deny it!

Soooooop.

And bread.

Because obviously you can’t have soup without some bready, carby side dish. We all know that soup is really an excuse for bread, let’s be real here.

But mmmmm, soup. I do love it (but I DO NOT love photographing it. Ugh). ESPECIALLY now that I have this fabby immersion blender!! Which means that I can dispense with all that silliness of attempting to blend soup in a food processor (no, I don’t own a normal blender), which is a dumb idea as a) soup is hot. Hot things expand and b) food processors aren’t watertight (rude). So instead of soup going slightly all over the counter, now I can just bust out the trusty immersion blender, stick it in the pot of soup buzz buzz buzz and low and behold!! Creamy soup, no mess required. Genius.

Also. I bought a spiralizer. Possibly the BEST decision I have ever made. And also possibly the most fun kitchen utensil ever created.

See?

Reeeeealllyyyy looooooong zucchini noodles! So much fun to play with. Obviously avoided if you do the smart thing and cut the zucchini in half first, but why spoil your fun? Incredibly long noodles are so much more entertaining. And delicious, especially when you top them with bison pasta sauce and other delicious things. Unfortunately, it was slightly too delicious and there went that before I managed to take a picture of anything besides the noodles. Whoops! Next time.

Anyway. Let’s get seasonal! Hellooooo autumn, you’re my favorite. The day I made this, I ate three sources of beta carotene in one day. No eye problems for me!
This soup is very easy, comes together in a snap, and is (naturally) delicious. The muffins are awesome too, likewise easy and delicious. In fact, if you time it right, you can bake them while the squash is simmering, then blend your soup and have everything hot at the same time. Wheee!

Ginger-Coconut Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 4, with leftovers. Recipe inspired by Whole Foods, here! Gluten free, can be vegan with veggie broth.

a generous drizzle of olive oil
1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced (yield: 4 c diced)
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 persian cucumbers, diced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated or diced
3.5 c veggie or chicken broth
1/2 c light coconut milk (out of the can)
1/2 tsp sea salt
pepper to taste
pepitas, for garnish!

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Toss in onion, carrot, and cucumbers, and let cook until the onion is translucent (about 5ish minutes). Add ginger, let cook a few minutes more. Finally, add stock, squash, coconut milk, sea salt, and pepper, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let cook, covered, until the squash is fork-tender (about 30 minutes). Once squash is soft, use an immersion blender to puree soup to desired consistency. An upright blender is fine too, just make sure the soup is cool enough.
Garnish with pepitas just before serving!

Pumpkin Cornmeal Muffins

My yield was 10, in my so-called ‘jumbo’ muffin tins. I never fill them all the way, but these muffins came out a totally normal size. High in vitamin A, low fat, refined sugar free, and whole grain! Recipe adapted from Running to the Kitchen, here!

1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 c cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 tbsp coconut sugar
1 egg
1/2 c unsweetened almond milk
1/4 c lowfat plain yogurt
1 tbsp butter, melted (I use Kerrygold Irish butter)
1 c pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 375, and lightly grease muffin tins (I use coconut oil).

Whisk together whole wheat pastry flour, cornmeal, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and coconut sugar. In a smaller bowl, whisk together egg, almond milk, yogurt, melted butter and pumpkin puree. Combine wet into dry, mixing just to combine. Pour batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 15 minutes (a tester should come out clean, and the tops should be slightly browned). Let cool for a few before turning out onto a cooling rack.
I’m sure these keep well, but ours didn’t last that long!

August 26, 2013

Happy Tummy Conga Lines

YOU. GUYS.

I know I have like umpteen zillion banana bread recipes on the blog, but seriously. Ignore the other ones (well, not really–they have their merits too.. just for today!)

THIS is my favorite. Hands down, I’ve-already-eaten-two-slices-and-am-heading-for-another-one-someone-stop-me kind of bread. Like, half the loaf is gone (I’ve had help, let’s be real here).

And besides that, it is FAB with blackberry jam. Especially when that jam is handmade and acquired from a lovely local source. I’ve never put jam on banana bread before now but I’m probably not going back. Ever.

Luckily for me, not only is this one a fast and easy one to whip up, but it’s full of healthy for me things like coconut oil and buunahhnuhhsss and whole grains and honey. Good thing too that we had literally two bunches of dead bananas spread out between the fridge and the freezer and they were looking so sad and dead and brown… clearly they needed to go into something delicious like this. They’re much happier now, they wanted me to tell you.

Go make your dead bananas happy. Bake them into something that then makes your tummy do a happy dance! Mine is, we could have a tummy conga line. Umm yeah okay this is getting out of hand with talking bananas and gastrointestinal conga lines, but seriously. Make, eat, love!

Why is it gone?!

Coconut Oil and Honey Banana Bread

If you’re not a coconut fan, don’t worry! There’s no coconut flavor noticeable in the bread—I used refined coconut oil for baking, as it can take high heat. This bread is SUPER hydrated (remember, we don’t use the m word), but not squishy. It’s the perfect balance between hydrated and dense, with a nice crumb. It only has a 1/4 c of honey added, so make sure your bananas are deady-dead-dead. The deader the bananas, the sweeter the bread! Mine were literally black. So gross…until they aren’t! This makes one loaf, and the recipe is (ever so slightly modified) from Relishing It, here! SO happy I found it.

1/3 c refined coconut oil
1/4 c honey (mine was local, yay!)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 c mashed, dead bananas (I used about 5)
1.75 c whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
a few sprinkles of chia seeds (can be left out)

Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly grease a loaf pan (I use more coconut oil).

In a mediumish bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sea salt, and chia seeds. In a smaller bowl, have fun mashing up all of your dead bananas and trying not to be too disgusted by how brown they are. Ahem, moving on…

Stir together coconut oil and honey until they’re creamy and mixed. Slightly beat eggs and then stir them in as well, followed by vanilla. Mix lightly until combined, then stir in dead banana mashup. Adding the dry ingredients a bit at a time, stir them in until the dry is just incorporated–don’t over mix! No one wants tough buhhnahhnuhh breadz.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and pop it into the oven for just about 45 minutes—mine came out at 45 but probably could have gone for a few more. Let cool in the pan for a bit, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. I’m sure it stores well, but as mine is rapidly disappearing I’m sure we’ll have no issues on that front…

August 9, 2013August 9, 2013

Soup is like my problem child

Hello invisible internet friends!

I made soup for you, and I apologize in advance because I HATE photographing soup. It can look all cute and aesthetic, and then I stare at it through a camera lens and my first response is always…

Ew.

I LOVE soup. Why is it so annoying to photograph?! You would think that a bowl of chunky veggies and lumpy lentils… oh. Wait. That’s right. Lumpy is not generally considered aesthetic. Problem child.

Well, whatever. Pictures may be lacking but soup and flatbread are incredibly aesthetic to my stomach, so there. We already know I love lentils an any form, so obviously it’s a give that I love lentil soup. And really we all know that soup is just an excuse for a carby side (ie, BREAD, wheee!!).. and thusly that bread is a convenient conveyance for butter, what a glory. Bread+butter= doesn’t get much better. Oh, right, and add in the side of soup to nicely round things out for a balanced type meal.

In other news, I have eaten some delicious croissants and trout and avo lately… (it was too pretty not to share!)

Annnnddd I made what appears to be the world’s tiniest buckwheat cookie. Sorry it kind of looks like… a turd?! It was delicious, promise.

This soup is also delicious, have I neglected to mention that?! It also comes together in about 20 minutes, or less depending on if you puree (which I did not… lack of immersion blender, blender of any sort, and a leaky food processor notwithstanding). If you like cumin-type flavors, put this on your dinner list… now!

Simple Lentil Soup

I ate this with the Sri Lankan roti flatbread I’ve made before, here. The soup recipe is lightly adapted, courtesy of Sukarah, here! We got three dinner servings out of it, plus a small bit of leftovers.

1 c red lentils, rinsed and drained
4-5 carrots, chunked/diced
4 c water
1 cinnamon stick
a glug of olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
4 c fresh spinach, rinsed

Combine lentils, carrots, water, and cinnamon stick in a large-ish soup pot, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, covered, and let simmer until the lentils are cooked, about 15 minutes (they will have absorbed most of the water, but there should be some liquid still left).

In a sauté pan, toss in olive oil and heat over medium. When heated, add in onions and sauté until translucent. While onions are going, chuck in spinach to sauté/wilt. Add cumin and salt, and continue sautéing until onions begin to brown slightly. Remove from heat. Once finished, add onions/spinach to the lentils, and let simmer for a few minutes more. Remove from heat when ready to serve.

At this point, you can puree it for a creamy texture, or leave it chunky as I did. I like chunks… and, as I said, I have some slight gadgety issues at the moment that prevent mess-less pureeing… soooo… good think I like chunks.

Serve hot, preferably with some sort of bread!

July 12, 2013July 9, 2013

Out of coconut?! What? No. This is a travesty.

So yeah. You remember that day that I made the roti flatbread? Right.

I made cookies that day too! [I had a very productive day]

And guess how long it took us to eat all of that delicious carby goodness?

Yep. Like six hours.

Let me see… I made roti around 11… and they were gone by 12:30. And then I made the cookies around 11:30 and they were gone by 8 pm. Okay okay so more like 8 hours but do you see my point?! Delicious. Granted, there were four of us and I made half batches due to lack of coconut, but even so. Impressive, wouldn’t you say?

Besides, these are good for me so obviously this is an excuse to make them again…

Sweet Potato Coconut-Almond Cookies

Recipe lightly adapted from the legit blog Mangia!, here! I made a half batch and got 11 cookies, but I’ll post the full recipe here. These are deeelicious. Healthy fats, beta carotene, and whole grains. Winner, winner.

2 flax eggs (2 tbsp+6 tbsp water)
1 sweet potato, mashed (I microwaved mine, laaaazy)
1/2 c unsalted almond butter
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
3 tbsp maple syrup (I use grade B)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c almond flour
1.5 c rolled oats
1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c unsweetened, shredded coconut\

Preheat oven to 350, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Make your flax eggs and set them aside to gel. In a smallish bowl, combine mashed sweet potato, almond butter, coconut oil, maple, and vanilla: stir until just combined. In a larger bowl, whisk together almond flour, oats, flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, and coconut. Pour wet into dry, and stir until the batter is incorporated (I added a tablespoon or two of water to help it all come together). Drop dough by the spoonful onto the prepared baking sheet, and flatten slightly. Bake for 11-12 minutes (Mine were done perfectly at 11, with slightly golden tops). Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack!

July 7, 2013

Carbs are my friends.

I love carbs.

You know, I used to have a teeshirt back in middle school (high school? Don’t remember) that said “I [heart] carbs!” above a food pyramid composed completely of… carbs. Inspired, that’s what that is.

If I was to make up a pyramid for the carbs I eat now… hmm… Bottom layer: creamy oatmeal!! And other grains like amaranth and millet. Second layer: definitely toast. Bread, of all kinds. Toast bread… crusty, ciabatta-type stuff, olive and walnut, etc. etc. And then the third layer: flatbreads and tortillas! Because I don’t eat those quite as often. And then the little pointy part [eat sparingly, haha yeah right]: whole wheat croissants from La Boulange and… animal crackers [because I only eat them once in blue moon]. But only Barbara’s oatmeal kind, I’m rather particular. Yessss. Pyramid of carbs. Such a fabulous idea.

So! Because carbs are my friends… I made flatbread again! Except this one is different than the last one and my cat didn’t express interest…

This one is a Sri Lankan recipe called roti. Super easy to make and so delicious, I made a half batch due to lack of coconut and made 6… annnddd they disappeared within about 10 minutes of actually making them. I think we can safely assume that they were delicious. Especially with butter. Mmm. Butter makes everything better. Maybe that should go in my pyramid somewhere… my pyramid of carbs and butter. Or according to Regina George they’re the same thing: “Is butter a carb?!” haaa.

(Veggies would obvs be in my pyramid too but you’ve heard me expound enough about how it’s ridiculously challenging to keep me in vegetables so let’s just stick to carby wonderfulness).

Anyway. Make these flatbreads! They’re good either savory or sweet, and I’m sure they would be fab with curry, but too bad we ate them all before I could make anything to eat them with. Whoops.

Sri Lankan Whole Wheat Roti

Delicious recipe lightly adapted from Curry and Comfort, here! I made a half recipe and got 6 of various sizes; the full recipe (posted below) should yield 9-11.

3 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 c shredded unsweetened coconut+milk bev for soaking
1 c cool water
salt to taste
a bit more coconut oil for cooking

In a small bowl, soak coconut shreds in your milk bev of choice—I would have used coconut milk if I’d had one open; I used rice milk. Use enough milk to just moisten them, but not too much–you don’t want it soupy, just hydrated! Set aside.

Sift whole wheat flour (or don’t, if you’re lazy like me) into a bowl, and add melted coconut oil and salt. Stir in soaked coconut. Start adding water a little at a time until a dough forms. It should be about the consistency of play-dough!
Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat with a bit of coconut oil in the bottom. When it’s hot, pat the dough into flattish little shapes (Try not to play with it too much, as tempting as it is…. no one wants tough roti), and pan fry them until they brown on both sides. Serve warm with butter! Or curry, or whatever you have on hand. I think they’re best immediately, but I’m sure they would be just as good reheated.

June 28, 2013

Toast is really just like a ginormous canapé…

Ughhh. Waaayyy too hot to cook, much less come up with interesting things that resemble food.

So instead, you get a photo essay of sorts, of all kinds of interesting things I’ve eaten in the last few days.

High tea! With my maaaamaaaa because we’re awesome. And, well… because I’m OB.SESSED with lemon curd and high tea is an excuse to eat it on everythingggg.

And beets. Just because beets are delicious.

And a sort of recipe. I say sort of because really it’s a lazy girl’s dinner but I thought it was pretty, so I photographed it and, well… there you go (or as in My Big Fat Greek Wedding: “and ze root of ze wort eez Greek. Zere you go”).

Tuna in a can is so under appreciated. It’s like an instameal, just add veggies! And hopefully carbs. Because really, what is tuna without toast. And butter. Pleeease add butter, do yourself a favor. And while you’re at it, avo is excellent with your tuna and carbs and butter. Trust me, when it’s a million and one degrees in the shade and it’s 6 pm, the last thing I want to do is figure out dinner. Or stand in front of a stove and cook it. I pretty much just want a genie to appear magically out of my vat of olive oil and magically make my dinner appear.

Fat chance. Like there are any genies lurking about around here, I think they’ve all run off.

But!! This time something of the sort appeared out of my tuna can… and then I smooshed it all over toast. With butter. And ate it. And loved it. Every. Single. Bite.

It’s hot.

My brain is hot. Good luck getting anything sensible out of me, besides this:

1) Procure things.
2) Toast bread.
3) Open can of tuna. Ward off any lurking cats.
4) Mix tuna with a teeny teeny bit of plain yogurt…
5) and smash on buttered toast.
6) Top with avo.
7) Disregard forks. Silverware is overrated, eat with your fingers because toast is really just like a large canapé and it’s hot and who cares?

Hot weather calls for easy food. And easy food should be delicious, obviously!

June 18, 2013

An absurd amounts of lentils (is maybe the best thing ever!)

Shut the front door.

LENTILS.

There are no words.

Except…

I’m obsessed?! Forget the question mark after obsessed. No question. Ob. Sessed. As in…I eat them for three meals a day (not in the same day, obviously, but I do kind of have to stop myself from doing that): breakfast, lunch, dinner. I put them in oatmeal. With coconut milk and a date (seriously. You don’t know what you’re missing until you try it). Over sautéed mixed greens for lunch. With bread and mo’ veggies for dinner. Or a snack. Or whatever. OBSESSED. Lentils, where have you been all my life?!

I’m not entirely sure what I was eating up until now in order to fill this gigantic hole that is now filled with lentils… thankfully I can make huge vats at one time so that I have lentils for days (literally). Which means I kind of go through them a little, ahem, rapidly. Kind of like vegetables. But lucky for me, last week Whole Foods had a one day bulk sale!!! (danger, danger, this is my kryptonite) So now my cupboards are exploding with all kinds of fun bulk-type things like pepitas, mung beans, brown rice, dates, and.. oh yeah. LENTILS. Three. Different. Kinds. I literally have enough lentils to feed a small army. Or me. For about a week.

This is my favorite way to make them: they can be sweetish (in oatmeal with coconut milk and a date), or savory, over sauteed greens with avocado and a little splash of coconut aminos (or soy, if that’s your thing). I love that they can go either way, depending on what meal I’m eating or whatever.

You don’t even have to be alternative like me to enjoy them… if lentils in oatmeal scares you (we might not be able to be friends anymore but I’ll try really hard…) just make the lentils! They’re fast and delicious and… healthy! Naturally. Would I share anything less than that with my invisible internet friends? Answer: no!!

Lentils are also awesomely little super nutritious powerhouses: full of fiber and complex carbs, folate, magnesium, and vitamin B6. Which all means that they help lower cholesterol, are good for your heart and digestive health, provide an excellent source of energy and iron, and help stabilize blood sugar. Therefore… in a nutshell: eat lentils!! Your body will thank you :)

And look!! Sorry for the radio silence, my former roomie Kira visited me!! We went and had some fun in Mountain View Cemetery, so I was a little too busy going face-first into a plate at Rick and Ann’s to eat lentils. But. I’m back, in full lentil eating mode, here to cheer your inbox!

Marjoram, Cinnamon and Cardamom Spiced Lentils

Recipe by… me! Mutti gets credit too, especially when I have absolutely NO time, and she nicely makes may weekly vat of lentils for me. The measurements here make enough for dinner three, with leftovers. Or for one: Dinner, followed by three days of breakfasts….

1 c lentils (I like green lentils for this)
3 c water
1 onion, diced
3 large carrots, finely diced (or roughly chopped, whatever floats your boat)
a good glug of olive oil
1/4 c low-sodium chicken broth (to make vegan/vegetarian, sub veggie broth)
1 tsp marjoram, chopped
2 tsp cinnamon*
1 tsp cardamom*
1/4 tsp nutmeg*
salt and pepper to taste

*the measurements are approximate: I season to taste as I go with all the spices, and salt and pepper. I tend to go light on the pepper in this.

No need to soak the lentils, which is awesome. Toss lentils and water into a medium pot, bring to a boil, and then lower to a simmer. Let cook until the lentils have absorbed *most* (not all) of the water, about 15-20 minutes. They should have a bit of chew to them, but be on the softer side. Taste them, and you should be able to tell. Drain and rinse them, and set them aside.

Finely dice the onion and carrots. Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan. When hot, toss in onions, and sauté until they become translucent. Add salt and pepper and marjoram, and let cook for a minute more. Add carrots, lentils, and chicken broth. Cover and let cook until the carrots are soft (this is why I like to dice them really finely, or microwave the carrots first, as it shortens cooking time and I’m usually hungry). Stir in cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg to taste, while the carrots are cooking. I usually let it go for about 10-15 minutes, unless I’ve precooked the carrots.

Leftovers keep well in the fridge for at least a week, not that I’ve ever really had them around that long… Serve warm! Excellent over greens with some bread on the side :)