Red Lentil Stew

I've mentioned before that the boy dislikes lentils, but with this dish and the fresh flat bread, we might be approaching something close to a lentil dish that he actually enjoys (?!).  This is good because lentils are fabulous in both flavor and nutrition.  A 1/4 cup of dried lentils contains only 70 calories (and they just about double in size when cooked) and has 7 g of protein, plenty of fiber, and 15% of your daily iron requirements.   Also, they're 50% of your daily delicious requirement.

Red Lentil Stew

Serves 2 ...or 1 if you aren't eating gobs of rich bread and hummus on the side

1/2 c dried red lentils

2 c water

1/4 t ground coriander

1/4 t cinnamon

2 t cumin

1/4 t cayenne (or to taste)

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t paprika

dash of black pepper

1/2 t salt

1 c fresh spinach

1 large carrot, sliced into medallions

Clean the red lentils, making sure there aren't any pebbles/debris, then add to the water.  Bring to a boil, then add the carrot slices.  Turn down to simmer and let cook for 15 minutes or until the lentils fall apart when you gently stir.  Add the seasonings, then add the cleaned spinach to the stew and cook until the spinach wilts.

Serve with pita or some other flat bread.  I think this would be good with eggplant, too.

There you have it.  Healthy comfort food in a bowl.

Vegan MoFo: Tofu Scramble

It was a dark and grainy night:

It's a tofu scramble!

I don't really care if the tofu is cubed or crumbled, but some frozen veggies and a little nooch and ginger and soy sauce goes a long way in being a quick weeknight comfort food.  And healthy, too, which is more than I can say for my so-cheap-it's-vegan toast addiction.

Does a Casserole Count?

Although certainly not accurate enough to use in equations, Pi Day has arrived along with DST.  And I forgot, so no pie! (Although we did end up making more pizza. The boy is obsessed.)

The boy and I usually try to make up a big pot of soup or a pasta dish or some pizzas to eat during the week. We usually leave early in the morning and get home around 730 or 8, so having premade food prevents us from eating popcorn and oatmeal for dinner.  Well, okay, I still usually have popcorn for dinner a couple times a week, but there have been some late nights recently.  Oops.

We already have a bunch of soups frozen, so I scrounged around and made an "everything" casserole with biscuits.  A giant russet, a couple vegan bratwurst, some pinto beans, celery, an onion (a precious one, since apparently we are having an onion shortage), two big carrots, soy milk, nutritional yeast, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper, and some biscuit dough all went into making this unphotogenic might-as-well-be-pot-pie-for-Pi-Day monstrosity:

Yes, that is a little bit of sausage at the corner there. It's too bad that biscuit topping looks so much like vomit, because this was total comfort food.  I don't get people who criticize vegan food as "looking icky" or whatever excuse they give not to try something; it's not like a meaty cheesy shepherd's pie ever looked any more glamorous.