Friday Food #34

I love Indian food and a couple weeks ago I finally decided to try making an Indian dish that I love but have never made myself.  The original recipe had heavy cream in it, which is not only high in saturated fat, but Kendall wouldn’t be able to eat it because of her dairy issue.  It was also made with chicken, so of course, I had to make some changes there as well.  I modified a recipe that my friend Erin uses and it turned out great!  There are no vegetables in the original recipe, but I think the carrots and celery were a great addition.  Go here to check out my version of Tikka Masala.

Friday Food #33

I love a good “two-fer” meal—you use part of it one night and repurpose it a bit for another meal the next day.  On Wednesday night, I tried out a non-traditional pesto that we all really liked.

I can’t make completely traditional pestos since Berkeley is allergic to pine nuts (a fun thing we discovered when she started violently puking at Aunt Meredith’s wedding dinner last summer) but we all loved this variation.  My little Emery had two servings!

The next day, I made some of our favorite mac & cheese for lunch and after preparing it according to the box directions, I mixed in a couple very large scoops of the leftover pesto.  It was delicious!

Get creative in your kitchen.  What can YOU use for a two-fer?

Friday Food #32

After the stomach flu had its way with four out of the five members of our family last weekend (Kendall’s the only one that escaped!), I was ready to make something for dinner other than water with a side of toast crumbs.  I wanted REAL FOOD.  Patrick explained it best when he said, “Nothing like the stomach flu to make you realize what your body really needs.  When you haven’t eaten in a couple days, you’re not craving chips and candy!”

It was chilly and soup sounded divine.  I tried out a new recipe using one of my new favorite ingredients—red lentils.  I did a post a while back about lentils but in that post I didn’t talk about the red lentil, which actually has very different qualities than other lentils. 

• They only need to cook for about 10 minutes instead of the 30 minutes that typical lentils need.
• Once cooked, red lentils lose their shape, and if cooked long enough, they get mushy.

For some recipes, you really want the more substantial texture of a brown or green lentil, but in others, the texture of the red lentil works perfectly.  The only other recipe I had used red lentils in was the Curried Red Lentil Stew with Vegetables.  It is delicious, but I was ready to branch out with a new recipe.  I tried Red Lentil Vegetable Soup and it was fabulous as well.  It was just what I needed to welcome my stomach back into the world of digestion.

We had some leftover mashed potatoes, so I created a well and served the soup inside of it.  The girls love it when I do that.  You gotta change up the presentation every once in a while!

I loved how the red lentils added to the thickness of the soup.  What other recipes can I try my red lentils in?

I knew I wanted to have TONS of leftovers so I made a double batch.  We ate it for dinner twice this week and I had it EVERY SINGLE DAY for lunch.  You’d think I’d be sick of it by now, but I have one portion left and I wouldn’t be surprised if I shed a tear as I finish it off tomorrow. . .

Friday Food #31

Just a little food for thought. . .

What are you filling YOUR body with?

Think about this picture the next time you are eating something completely processed and unnatural.  Is that what your body really needs?

Friday Food #30

On a night like this when it’s snowing outside and all you want to do is curl up on the couch with your blanket instead of making dinner, it’s nice to be able to do just that because you already have your dinner simmering away in the crockpot!  Here is the recipe for Four Bean Chili that we had tonight.  It’s not a spicy chili because mama doesn’t like it hot, but if you like to take things up a notch, feel free to doctor it up with your choice of extra spices.

Sorry that I’m horrible at food photography—it tastes much better than it looks!  I usually like to serve it with avocado and some chopped cilantro on top, with a side of tortilla chips!

Friday Food #29

I’m back.  Sorry about the hiatus, but when your 10 year anniversary, Christmas, and New Year’s Day happen to fall on three Fridays in a row, Friday Food gets a little neglected!

For those of you who might think that I would rather die than make my kids some dinner out of a box, maybe you shouldn’t read this post and ruin your opinion of me. . .

Back before we found out that Kendall does MUCH better when she’s avoiding dairy products, I ordered a couple cases of macaroni and cheese for our food storage.  It won’t surprise you that I don’t buy just any mac & cheese—you know how I feel about regular white pasta, so one of the only kinds of boxed mac & cheese I feel okay about buying in bulk is this Annie’s Whole Wheat Pasta & Alfredo.  There’s no artificial orange coloring, it’s 100% whole wheat, it tastes yummy, and the kids love the D.W. shapes!

Now that we don’t use dairy in our house anymore, I have boxes and boxes of these just sitting in our storage room.  On occasions when Kendall isn’t around, sometimes I’ll pull a box out and cook it up for lunch for the other two girls.  Because we rarely make it, Berkeley thinks it’s kind of a special treat—of course, the key to it feeling like a treat is that Kendall doesn’t get to have it!

Tonight, Kendall had a Build-a-Bear birthday party to go to, so what do you think was the first thing Berkeley said to me when she found out Kendall wasn’t going to be home for dinner?  “Are you going to make something special for dinner tonight?  Like maybe that DW pasta?”  (I was proud of her for being thoughtful enough to wait till Kendall wasn’t around to hear her ask me!)  With as easy as it is to make, how could I turn her request down?  Of course, I steamed some broccoli that I mixed in with the pasta for an even tastier and healthier treat!  There really are some boxed dinners we can all feel good about!

Friday Food #28

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, there is no shortage of recipes at this time of year for treats.  Fudge, bon-bons, dipped treats, gingerbread, toffee, almond bark [insert your favorite treat here]—the list is endless.  Everyone has their favorites and their traditions.  One of our favorite Christmas treats is sugar cookies.  For me, one of the things I love most about sugar cookies is the decorating.  I love sitting at the table, talking and listening to Christmas music while frosting cute little trees, stars, and gingerbread boys.  It’s very calming and relaxing, yet I’m having fun and making memories at the same time!  My girls love it just as much as I do.  Here are K & B decorating cookies last Christmas:




The recipe I use is not a family recipe.  It’s actually one I found a few years ago when looking for a lowfat sugar cookie recipe.  I stumbled upon a recipe that had NO BUTTER (or shortening) in it.  I didn’t believe it could really work, so I had to try it for myself.  I followed the recipe and then frosted the cookies with some icing.  The cookies were great, and even Patrick was surprised at how tasty they were.  We both loved eating these delicious cookies and in addition, we didn’t have to feel guilty about eating a fattening treat!  From then on, this has been the only recipe I use for making sugar cookies.  Let me be clear—these are not “healthy cookies.”  There is still lots of sugar in them and they’re made with all-purpose flour (I’ve tried making them with whole wheat flour and I won’t be making those ever again)!  But if you’re going to make a treat, why not make it slightly LESS bad for you?

So, without further ado, here’s my Christmas present to all of you—the recipe for my famous sugar cookies!  Enjoy!

Butterless Sugar Cookies

1/3 cup white sugar

1 egg

2/3 cup honey

1 tsp lemon or almond extract (depending on your preference)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Mix sugar, egg, honey, and extract in a medium bowl with mixer. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt until well-combined and dough forms. Chill dough for one hour. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut out shapes (use enough flour underneath dough so it doesn’t stick to countertop). Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake for 4-6 minutes. While you are figuring out how long your oven takes to bake these just right, watch them carefully. Do NOT let cookies get brown. Frost* when cool. Keep in airtight container and these cookies will remain very soft!

*For my frosting, I just use a small amount of Smart Balance, powdered sugar, vanilla, and almond milk.

 

We make this recipe for Valentine’s Day cookies, Halloween cookies, and any other holiday that warrants cute decorated shapes!  We have already made these cookies once this season, but we’ll be making them again next week so we can do it with the whole family this time!

Friday Food #27

A while back, I was making something that required broth, and in the middle of making whatever it is that I was making, I realized that I had NO BROTH.  I didn’t feel like abandoning my dinner plans for the evening, mostly because I was too lazy to think of something else to make, so I did a google search for a substitution for broth.  I found a recipe where you combine a bunch of spices to make a “bouillon powder” and since I had all of the spices on the list but one*, I thought I’d try it out.  To use it in place of broth, you use it as you would any bouillon granules—one teaspoon per cup of water to make one cup of broth.  Now, I wish I could remember what recipe it was that I used this broth replacement in for the first time, but I can’t.  What I do remember is that it worked so well, that now I use it almost every time a recipe calls for broth!  There are a couple things about it that make it very appealing to me:

1. It is SO much cheaper than buying broth.  I didn’t crunch the numbers, but if I did, I’m sure it would be ridiculous.  This recipe made a TON of powder that keeps forever in an airtight container.
2. It has hardly any salt in it.  When buying broth or bouillon granules, I only buy the low-sodium kind because the regular broth is dripping with salt.  This broth recipe makes even the low-sodium ones look bad!  (Once your dish is complete, if you feel it is lacking a little in salt, you can add a little, and it will still have less than what the regular broth would have added.)

When using this bouillon powder to cook with, I usually use half store-bought low-sodium broth and half of my homemade broth (assuming I’m not completely out of store-bought broth, of course).  This way, I’m saving on money and on sodium, but still getting some of the commercial broth flavor.  Sodium is hidden in SO many foods, so we really need to make cut-backs whenever we can.  Using this recipe is a good start.  It’s worked great for me—try it out sometime!

By the way, why should we be worried about how much salt we’re consuming?  Well, extra sodium in your diet increases your chance of developing high blood pressure, a condition that can lead to heart and kidney diseases!  That’s why! 

*The one ingredient I didn’t have was summer savory.  I still have no idea what that is, but I think it worked great without it.  If you happen to have it, though, maybe it’s even better!

Friday Food #26

What was on our table for Thanksgiving dinner?

• rolls
• mashed potatoes
• green beans
• turkey
• green salad
• stuffing
• frozen fruit salad
• coconut cream pie

Sounds like a pretty typical dinner, right?  I know that some people think that Thanksgiving is an excuse to splurge, but I think that if you can make all your favorite Thanksgiving dishes a little better for you without sacrificing the taste, then you should!  So here’s the changes we made:

• rolls—made with half whole wheat flour
• mashed potatoes—leave the skins on, mash with almond (or soy) milk and Smart Balance
• green beans—steamed with some spices
• turkey—we don’t do meat around here, but since we had friends coming for dinner, we had them bring the turkey!
• green salad—lots of veggies, lowfat dressing
• stuffing—made with whole wheat bread, vegetable broth, and no butter!
• frozen fruit salad—a traditional family recipe made with lots of fruit, cool whip, and melted marshmallows (it’s more of a dessert than a salad, but because of all the fruit, it’s a better alternative than most pies!)
• coconut cream pie—used skim milk (I also made one with almond milk as an experiment and it turned out great too) and left out the butter

I had no complaints about the dinner, in fact, most everyone went back for seconds and thirds—the mark of a fabulous dinner, right?  One of our guests even asked me for my stuffing recipe.  I combined a few different recipes and tweaked them a bit to make my own version.  I’m posting it over on my recipe blog if you’re interested!

Even before I became a vegetarian, I’ve always thought the best part about Thanksgiving dinner is the SIDES!  The only thing I’m sad about is that I didn’t get to make one of the dishes I was most excited about eating.  I was planning on making a roasted vegetable medley of carrots, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower (you all remember how much I like roasted cauliflower!) but in my hasty planning, I was not thinking about my issue of oven space.  I have a very tiny oven, and since I also had to bake the rolls and the stuffing, I had no way to roast the vegetables and have them finished at the same time as everything else.  I am dreaming of a day when I have double ovens for meals like these!

When we were done eating, we were all full and satisfied, but none of us were sick full.  No one had to run to the bathroom or unbutton their pants—a novel concept, huh?

Hope your Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as well.  Next year, are there any modifications you could make to make it delicious AND healthful?  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—DON’T BE AFRAID TO MODIFY RECIPES!

(Can you believe I took ZERO pictures of our dinner festivities?  Lame!)

Friday Food #25

Isn’t this so cute?

If you’re looking for a way for your child to be more excited about trying new foods, maybe this is the plate that could change your life!

I think I especially love it cuz it reminds me of long road trips when I was a kid.  We all loved playing with our Wooly Willy!

Friday Food #24

Just a friendly reminder from Dr. Ernst Schaefer of Tufts University:

When I saw that slide in one of the presentations I went to at FNCE, I really wished that everyone in the world GOT that.  I’ve talked to plenty of people who said, “I’ll worry about what I eat when I get older.”  What those people don’t realize is that plaque starts building up in your arteries during your childhood if you’re not taking care of yourself.  If you wait until you are “older” to start treating your body well, it could be too late.  Tim Russert was only 58 years old when he died of a heart attack.  If he had understood this concept, I think his story would have had a much different ending.  (More on the Tim Russert story in a later post.)

It’s never too late to start making changes, though.  Studies have shown that you can shrink the plaque formation.  Dr. Dean Ornish conducted a small trial with 48 people with severe heart disease.  Half of them followed his "reversal diet" (a mostly vegetarian diet with no more than 10 percent of calories from fat), engaged in daily exercise, worked on stress management, and received group support.  The arterial plaque in this group shrank and there was a significant drop in cholesterol and blood pressure.  The group who was not following these recommendations saw an increase in their plaque formation.

The reversal process isn’t quick—it can take a few years to reduce your risk of heart disease.  Why not start now by making some small changes?  And for our kids, won’t it be easier if they grow up eating whole grains, low fat proteins, and lots of fruits and vegetables, instead of having to change their habits later in life?  Give yourself and your family the best shot at living a healthy, disease-free life!

Friday Food #23

The girls are off school today for parent-teacher conferences, which means I’m not rushing around packing lunches, doing hair, and signing forms. . . why don’t I break tradition and do my Friday Food first thing instead of posting just before midnight?

So, here is the first of many posts about the ADA FNCE (American Dietetic Association Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo).

I wanted to share with you all the coolest new gadget that I was able to see in action.  It is called the Acti-Fry (made by T-Fal) and it’s a pretty amazing little contraption.  The motto of the Acti-Fry is “nutritious and delicious.”  It is an appliance specifically designed to make great-tasting food that is also good for you.  It is capable of cooking all types of food from a Thai stir-fry to a hearty chili, but what people love it the most for is cooking French fries.  If you love French fries, this just might be the gadget for you.  You can make TWO POUNDS of fries with just ONE TABLESPOON of oil.  (That comes out to just 3 grams of fat per serving!)  They had them there to sample, and let me assure you, they were fabulous—crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  You can also make your own granola.  If any of you have ever made homemade granola, you know that it takes about an hour in the oven.  This granola uses MUCH less oil and it is done in just NINE MINUTES!  The granola tasted great as well—it had just the perfect amount of crunch!

Ellie Krieger*, the host of Healthy Appetite on the Food Network, was there promoting the Acti-Fry.  I got to chat with her for a while and she told me that she has one at her home and that she is pretty sure she’s addicted to the fries!

So, you’re sold, right?  At this point, the only thing that might keep you from buying this nifty little appliance is the price.  It ain’t cheap—it retails for $299.  But hey—Christmas is coming up, right?

Europe has always been ahead of the U.S. in fashion and eco-consciousness, so I’m sure it’s no surprise that they’re ahead in the food industry as well—they’ve had this appliance over there for years now.  It’s just making it’s debut here in the States (sold online and at Macy’s), so maybe in a while, it will be a staple in nicer restaurants and many homes!  We can hope!

*I also got a free signed copy of Ellie’s new book The Food You Crave.  I’ll let you know if I like any of her recipes once I try some out!

Friday Food #22

Why do I love this pancake/waffle mix?  Let me count the ways:

1. It’s delicious.
2. The first ingredient is whole wheat flour--- 4 grams of fiber per serving.
3. It’s so easy to make—all you have to do is add water and then pour the batter into your waffle iron!
4. It’s lowfat—just 1.5 grams of fat per serving (NO trans fat).
5. It’s a good source of calcium and iron.
6. You can spice it up by adding fresh or dried fruit or nuts—if you’re feeling crazy, maybe some mini-chocolate chips!
7. It makes a good breakfast but it’s also a great dinner when you’re short on time (like tonight when we didn’t get home from soccer until 6:15).

I know there are plenty of great whole wheat waffle recipes (from scratch) out there, but none of them are as simple as this one, and because it is minimally processed and nutritious, I don’t feel bad about using a mix.  There’s just one problem—it’s not always easy to find.  When we lived in Utah many years ago, I was able to find it at most grocery stores, but since then, I’ve had to search high and low.  Here in Charlotte, I couldn’t find any grocery store that carries it.  The only place I’ve found this mix here in town is in the small grocery section at Target, of all places!

I almost always add ground flaxseed to it, just to boost the nutrients even more.  When I went to the Krusteaz website to snag that picture, I saw that they had recipe ideas using their mixes.  One idea I’m going to have to try soon is to add shredded carrots and ground cinnamon.  I have a feeling it’s another winner!

Friday Food #21

I am soooooo tired of the low-carb craze. Just when I think people are over it, I’ll hear someone say, “I’m off carbs this week.” SERIOUSLY?

Your body does need carbohydrates. So, my message today is that you CAN have carbs as part of a healthy diet if you follow two rules:

1. Eat carbohydrates as close to their natural state as possible.
2. Eat carbohydrates in moderation.

Carbohydrates that are close to their natural state are called whole grains. Some examples are brown rice, wild rice, whole wheat, buckwheat, oatmeal, quinoa, barley, and even popcorn! When buying products where the main ingredients are carbohydrates, check the nutrition label and go straight to the list of ingredients. If the first ingredient says “enriched or refined” in it, it is NOT a whole grain. Be careful because some labels try to trick you. On the front of the product, you might see WHOLE GRAIN FOOD, but just remember that it is not 100% whole grain unless they put that on the label! The ingredient list is in order of quantity in the product, from the most to the least. If the first ingredient is a whole grain, that means there are more whole grains in that product than refined grains, which is what you WANT!

If most of your calories are coming from carbohydrates, then you are NOT eating them in moderation. Did you know that this is how you should try to make your plate look at each meal?

Yeah, that’s right—only 1/4 of your plate should be filled with grains and 1/2 should be vegetables (and fruits). Sorry—potatoes and corn don’t count as vegetables! Bump those on over to the grain category cuz they’re starchy!

Here are some tips to incorporate more whole grains into your diet:

• Eat breakfasts that include high-fiber cereals, such as bran flakes, shredded wheat or oatmeal.
• Substitute whole-wheat toast or whole-grain bagels for plain bagels. Substitute low-fat, bran muffins for pastries.
• Make sandwiches using whole-grain breads, buns, or rolls. Swap out white-flour tortillas with whole-wheat or corn tortillas.
• Replace white rice with kasha, brown rice, wild rice or bulgur.
• Feature wild rice or barley in soups, stews, casseroles and salads.
• Instead of regular pasta, use a whole-grain pasta (my favorite is Barilla Plus, but there are lots of options out there now).
• Use rolled oats or crushed bran cereal in recipes instead of dry bread crumbs, or make your own whole wheat bread crumbs by pulsing dry whole wheat bread in a blender.

So remember: You don’t have to say NO to carbs, just choose the right ones and know when to say when!

Friday Food #20

Need a quick meal for a crazy weeknight? Can you say fa-HEE-tah?

The most time-consuming part of this recipe is chopping up the vegetables. If your evening is going to be really busy, just get everything chopped up earlier in the day and then you can pull it all out of the fridge when you’re ready to throw everything together. (Don’t slice the avocados ahead of time or they will turn brown.) The total cooking time for this recipe is about 7 minutes. You can’t even get through the drive-thru that quickly!

These fajitas are chock full of fiber, protein, vitamins A & C, B-vitamins, potassium (even more than a banana), and iron—how do you think a Happy Meal would measure up to THOSE stats? In addition to the fajitas’ beautiful resume, they taste absolutely delicious—would I be telling you about them if they didn’t?

So…… have I talked you out of McDonald’s yet? Click here for the recipe!

Friday Food #19

One night I was trying to think of something to make and didn’t want to make our standard “it’s 5:00 and I don’t know what we’re having yet” meal of pasta with red sauce and some vegetable on the side. And then a light bulb appeared above my head and I knew what I was going to make: sesame noodles! I mean, really-- who doesn’t love a good bowl of sesame noodles?

I did a little Google search and found this recipe. The only problem is that I didn’t want to have to make something separate for Emery, and this recipe has peanut butter and honey in it—two things that I’m not giving her until she is two. So instead of peanut butter, I used almond butter and I swapped out the honey and used sugar instead. The results were fantastic! Everyone scarfed it down. I made a ton, so I thought we’d have lots of leftovers, but when Patrick came home a couple hours later and ate, he almost finished them off!

This recipe was quite easy. While the noodles are cooking (I used my fave spaghetti—Barilla Plus) you blend the sauce ingredients together and chop the veggies. You can use any combo of veggies you like. I used broccoli, carrots, and red bell pepper. I wanted them slightly softer than raw, so I sautéed them for a couple minutes before I added them to the noodles and sauce. If you wanted to eat this dish cold, you would want to make it a few hours before dinner and chill it. Since I didn’t plan ahead enough to do that, we ate them kinda warm and they were still really yummy. Of course you know I put my pea shoots on the top, but cilantro would be really great too.

Do you have a good sesame noodles recipe or have you never tried making them before? Get creative and let me know how YOUR sesame noodles turn out!

Friday Food #18

If you’ve been following the Friday Food, you know how I LOVE going to the grocery store. One of the things I like to do while I’m there (provided I’m not in a rush) is look for a new food to try. On a recent trip to Trader Joe’s, I saw some pea shoots that were calling my name.

How had I not seen these beauties before? If you’re as unfamiliar with them as I was, they’re the immature tips of snow pea and sugar pea plants, which are plucked as the plant keeps maturing. On the package, some of the suggested uses were in salads, sautéed, or in a stir-fry. So first, we tried them in my version of sesame noodles (more about this dish in a future post):

The girls thought it was so much fun using chopsticks (which actually was Berkeley’s idea)!

Then, Berkeley and I finished off the rest of the package for lunch one day when Kendall was at school. I sautéed them in just a tiny bit of olive oil until they wilted and then put a pinch of salt and pepper on them. Delicious! They have the taste of peas but with a different texture. Berkeley wanted more and was bummed when I told her that’s all we had.

This shouldn’t surprise you, but just like the hummus page, there is also a PEA SHOOT PAGE! (And according to this website, they apparently are taking the food world by storm!) On this page you can find some great facts about pea shoots, such as:

• they have 7 times more Vitamin C than blueberries
• they have 8 times more folic acid than bean sprouts
• they have 4 times more Vitamin A than tomatoes
• you can eat an entire bowlful for just 14 calories!

As I was typing this, Berkeley was looking over my shoulder and all of a sudden got a big grin on her face when she saw the pictures I had posted. She said, “We need to buy those pea shoots again, cuz I just LOVED ‘em!” I read that they’re great for growing in a window sill, and if I had a window that got enough sun, I’d already have some sprouting! If I ever get my act together and plant a garden, these will definitely be going in there.

For a food I had never heard of before, I sure found lots of online recipes that used them. The next time I buy pea shoots, this is what I’m making!

Friday Food #17

I love a good veggie burger. In my opinion, veggie burgers should not try to masquerade as meat, which is why I’m not a huge fan of the Boca burger. My favorite ready-prepared veggie burger is definitely Morningstar Farm’s Garden Veggie Patty. It tastes like vegetables because it has large chunks of mushrooms, water chestnuts, peppers, and carrots in a base of soy, brown rice, and oats. And did you know that if you order a veggie burger at Burger King, this is the one you will be served? (This is also the one that you will be served if you come to any of the BBQ’s at my church since I’m in charge of all the parties there—okay, we do have meat there too!)

I also like making my own veggie burgers from scratch. I’ve experimented with quite a few recipes from garbanzo bean burgers to black bean burgers. I tried out a new black bean burger recipe for Patrick’s birthday a couple weeks ago and it was a hit! Go check out the recipe I posted on my veggie blog!

I think the next time I make veggie burgers, I want to try this recipe that uses Portobello mushrooms and edamame. Mmmmmmmm. Looks good!

P.S. I had an AMAZING veggie burger at a restaurant called 131 Main a couple weekends ago. If you live in Charlotte or Asheville, you should definitely check it out! Our server told me that many non-vegetarians are big fans of it as well, so don't be scared!

Friday Food #16

As most of you know, I have a vegetarian recipe blog in addition to this one.  The idea for it came one day when I was talking with my friend Kindee on the phone.  She and I were both relatively new vegetarians at the time and thought it would be fun to share recipes with each other.  If one of us tried a recipe and thought it was a keeper, we would post it on the blog.

Since I started the blog, I’ve had some additional friends and family members join as contributors, but I have to admit that I have been a slacker and have not been trying new recipes to post on a regular (or even semi-regular basis).  I have piles of recipes that I want to try and have been a rut lately just cooking my old stand-bys.  Enter my little brother Mitchell.  He noticed that there had been a lull in recipe posting and decided to step it up.  The last four posts on the blog are all his.  He’s been on a lentil kick (I dub him the Lord of Lentils), and three of those four posts use lentils as the star ingredient.

There are lots of advantages to using lentils.  Nutritionally speaking, they are great sources of fiber, protein, iron, folate, thiamin, phosphorus, copper, and potassium.  They are virtually fat free and have just 230 calories for an entire cup of cooked legumes.  Their fiber is the type that aids in lowering cholesterol and keeps blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal.

Another advantage is that they are very affordable.  You can generally buy a pound of dry lentils for less than a dollar.  If you find them for an extra good deal, why not stock up?  If stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry, dark place, they’ll keep for a year! 

Unlike other legumes, you don’t have to soak lentils before cooking them.  They cook in 30-40 minutes versus more than an hour for most dried beans.

Lentils are a staple of the Indian diet.  They are eaten in some form at least twice a day in most Indian households.  In fact, lentils are like India’s “meatloaf”:  the quintessential comfort food.  If that’s true, why not make a vegetarian meatloaf out of lentils?  I tried making one a year or so ago, and it was okay, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the recipe and haven’t made it since.  I recently found a recipe that sounded a lot better, so Mitchell agreed to try it out for me.  His wife is a huge meatloaf fan (the food, not the band) and she LOVED it.  I can’t wait to make it for this Sunday’s dinner!  If you’d like to try it as well, go here.

Friday Food #15

It has recently come to my attention that there are some people out there who have been disappointed that I have been less than consistent in posting my Friday Food segments.  I always have good excuses, for example, two weeks ago it was my birthday and on my birthday, if I don’t feel like blogging, them I’m not going to blog!  Then last Friday I got up close and personal with my kitchen floor and a few of my friendly neighborhood emergency responders, so I was a little preoccupied.

I guess what I hadn’t realized is that there are quite a few people who actually like and look forward to my Friday Food posts, other than the few friends and family members that I already knew about.  When I don’t post, I’ve never thought I was really letting anyone down.  So before I talk food, I’m going to ask you a favor.  If you read my blog, would you mind clicking on the followers list so that I know exactly who is reading these posts?  It will help me to have a better idea of what kinds of topics I should write about in this weekly segment if I know who my audience is!  If you are reading this in a blog reader like Bloglines or GoogleReader, then just click into my blog and find the followers section.  Thank you!

And now let’s talk hummus.  It’s no secret that I’m a fan.  Not only is it delicious, but it is chock-full of good stuff.  Garbanzo beans are great sources of fiber, folate, protein, and iron.  I’ve tried most hummus brands that are available at the grocery stores and they’re okay, but one of the best kinds I’ve had is at a local bagel shop here in Charlotte.  There is a fabulous sandwich there called the Aunt Beanie and it has tomatoes, avocado, sprouts, and their delicious homemade hummus on a steamed whole wheat bagel.  It is perfection with a hole in the middle.

I’ve never quite recreated that hummus, but over the course of the last couple of months, I have experimented extensively with making my own hummus.  I’ve tried all different spice combinations and have even tried using peanut butter or sunflower seed butter instead of tahini (if the other spices are right, you won’t taste it).  A recent favorite I’ve come up with is a take on sun-dried tomato basil hummus.  I’ve always loved that combination of flavors, but sun-dried tomatoes aren’t cheap and I rarely have them on hand.  So one day I got the bright idea to add some marinara sauce to the hummus.  I used Trader Joe’s Tomato Basil Marinara and then added some extra basil, some garlic, a little sunflower seed butter, and it was actually VERY good.  Another spice combo we like is curry and cumin.  It’s a very Indian-tasting hummus.

The next hummus flavor I’d like to attempt is smoked paprika.  Our local grocery store has their own store brand’s hummus and this is by far my favorite of their flavors.  I never thought paprika had that much flavor, but apparently when you smoke it, it comes to life!  WOW!

In my searches for different hummus recipes, I cam across the Guinness book’s world record for the largest plate of hummus.  How fun would it be to have a party with a plate of hummus this big for everyone to dig into?

Making your own hummus is SO much cheaper than buying it.  I have tried cooking the dried garbanzo beans (and that is the most economical way to do it) but since I’m not always that prepared, I usually just used the canned kind.  A can of garbanzo beans costs me about 69 cents and that makes almost a 16 ounce container of hummus.  In comparison, you can pay $2.99 (or more!) for just 8 ounces of hummus in a store!

If you’d like to learn more about making hummus or find some great recipes, there really are TONS swarming around the web.  My friend Emily even posted some great hummus tips on my recipe blog a couple weeks ago.  And check this out-- here is an entire blog that is completely devoted to all things hummus!