Curried Coconut Lentils with Chopped Baby Spinach

A little disclaimer: Sorry about the blurry pics; I don't own a tripod and I still have no idea what I'm doing with a digital camera. I don't even have cable so I probably won't be figuring it out anytime soon...


Ian isn't a big fan of spinach or kale, two of my very favorite greens, so I often have to find creative ways to sneak the ingredients into dishes without him knowing. At times he doesn't even know he's eating kale (the puree is my best friend) but with spinach, I've found a better way of getting him to eat his greens: chop it into tiny, unavoidable pieces. That's right folks, back the haters into a corner and force them to down the very ingredient they despise.



And then watch in surprise as they eat it without complaint.



I make a couple of vegetarian items a week, and this particular meal is one of my favorites. There's something comforting and hearty about lentils, and in this heat, the no-fuss prep for this meal is hard for me to pass up. I could call this a dal since it's close to many recipes I've seen, but I can't really vouch for its authenticity since I really just slap it together at the last minute and then return to sitting in front of the fans with an ice pack.




The particular lentils I used are from the local Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative in Genesee, Idaho. I was happy to see that the lentils were great quality and didn't have any grit or grime all over them as is so often the case.






Curried Coconut Lentils with Chopped Baby Spinach

1 1/2 c. lentils
2 3/4 c. vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, minced finely
1 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. cumin
2 cups finely chopped baby spinach
1/2 cup light coconut milk

Directions
1. Soak lentils in cold water for 20 minutes. Rinse.
2. In a dutch oven or heavy skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and spices to the pan and cook until fragrant. Pour in vegetable broth and lentils, and bring to a boil.
3. Turn heat down to simmer and cook until lentils are soft and broth is reduced (anywhere from 20-35 minutes).
4. Stir in spinach and coconut milk and heat for about a minute. Serve with rice or naan bread.

Bring on the cheap summer meals! Baked Falafel with Tzatziki Sauce and Quinoa Tabbouleh

Early summer is an inspiring time for me in the kitchen. The grocery stores and farmer's markets are rich with beautiful, aromatic herbs and fresh produce, but not being rich myself means carefully budgeting and planning meals faced with an abundance of healthful options.


One of my favorite ways to get a little mileage out of weekly foods is through summer pasta, rice and grain salads. I make a large batch on Sunday evenings and then eat it throughout the week for lunch with fresh fruit, for breakfast smothered with an over easy runny egg, or with light summer dinners.


After getting a pretty awesome deal on quinoa a few weeks ago, I decided to reinvent a traditional tabbouleh side using the grain. If you haven't tried quinoa, it's a little nutty but has a pretty interesting texture that adds an unexpected bite to side dishes, warm or cold. I rounded up a bounty of fresh produce and prepared one of my new favorites.


Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup diced carrots
3 green onions, sliced into 1/4" pieces
3 campari or roma tomatoes, chopped
2 tbl. finely chopped Italian parsley
1 tbl. finely chopped mint
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Pinch of sea salt, fresh ground pepper

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients together except for quinoa. Slowly fold in quinoa.






















Ian isn't a fan of cucumber, so he generally picks the pieces out of this particular salad, but he doesn't mind cucumber if it's finely blended. Making tzatziki sauce in this household is a bit tricky, so I had to pre-mix red onions, peeled and diced cucumber and a clove of garlic in my food processor before adding to Fat Free Chobani Yogurt. I never measure out this sauce, since I generally just prepare it to taste, but the trick for me has always been to add just the right amount of sugar for the cucumbers to stand out.



As for the falafel, I'm not a huge fan of frying these bad boys up, so I bake them as patties instead. I used this recipe, subbing the peanut butter for the last bit of sunflower butter I had left. As one might expect, baking falafel patties means a few cracked casualties occur, but this girl isn't very picky: I ate the cracked ones straight with tzatziki about three minutes after they finished baking.