Orange, Gold & Green Lentil Stew

After working all day, I was really hungry and wanted something substantial, but hadn't prepped anything for a fast finish.  There was a photocopy of a recipe a friend had sent to me for a lentil stew with cumin seeds. Well, I didn't have any cumin seeds, and in fact only half the recipe seemed to be in the photocopy! So I felt completely free to invent the following. I started a small pot of short grain brown rice. It took about 40 minutes to make the stew by which time the rice was ready, and I had a chance to throw together a delicious salad. Lucky for us, there's a quart of leftovers to get us through another late night this week. You can definitely add more heat and spice with more red pepper flakes and cumin. If you do happen to have cumin seeds, roast 'em up and toss them on the top!

Orange, Gold & Green Lentil Stew

3/4 cup green lentils
1 sweet potato
1 yukon gold (or other) potato
3 medium carrots
1 medium-large onion (2 cups chopped)
1 (or more) tomatillo
3 cloves garlic
8-15 stems cilantro - 3/4 cup chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin (ground)
1/2 tsp more or less red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups or more water

1. Chop onion, garlic, tomatillo and water saute about 10 minutes in about 1 cup water in a medium saucepan, with cumin, red pepper flakes, mustard seed (whole), and salt.  Stir occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, chop both potatoes, the carrots and cilantro, and add to pan with lentils and water. Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer. You can half cover this to speed the cooking but do not fully cover the pan. This will need about 30 minutes.
3. Stir occasionally, add more water if needed. Test the lentils for doneness. Salt to taste.

Orange, Gold & Green Lentil Stew Nutrition Facts for One Quart 2 Servings  (900g) (makes 2 quarts) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 500 25% Total Fat 2g 3% Saturated Fat 0g 2% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 292mg 12% Total Carbohydrate 98g 33% Dietary Fiber 32g 127% Sugars 15g 0% Protein 25g 50% Vitamin A 84% • Vitamin C 77% Calcium 17% • Iron 46% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Red, White, Green & Black  Salad
The salad was so beautiful and fun to eat that I couldn't resist putting an image here. What's in it?
enoki mushrooms cut into 3 segments; fresh pea shoots also cut into thirds, baby arugula, scallions chopped into small bits, big black organic grapes de-seeded and halved, and about 5 slices of "watermelon radish" cut into slivers. A light dressing of tarragon vinegar with garlic and salt was the perfect foil for the stew with rice.

Savoy Slaw Steals the Show

Last night during the Superbowl, my husband made the salad. I should say up front that he is an artist so although he doesn't do much of the cooking nowadays, when he sets his hand to it, his eyes are right there too... I'm not saying that my food doesn't look beautiful... but when he made the slaw to go with our Chili & Chard Mac (recipe to come), well, it stole the show.  We make our own tarragon vinegar by putting sprigs of fresh tarragon into a dark wine bottle and adding distilled vinegar. It only takes a few days for the flavor to infuse and it keeps on the counter for months. We also make our own herbes de Provence, but you can use any combination of herbes you like, about 1/4 tsp crushed between your fingers as you sprinkle it in.

Here's what he did:


Superbowl Savoy Slaw
5 medium leaves savoy cabbage
3 large leaves radiccio
2 shredded carrots
1/3 red pepper, shredded
daikon slices (about 2 inches)
handful cherry or grape tomatoes
2 Tblsp tarragon vinegar
splash of Balsamic vinegar
Tbsp Dijon mustard
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 tsp crushed herbes de Provence

Finely chop the cabbage and the radicchio. Shred the carrots and red pepper. Mix together vinegars, mustard, add a shake or two of salt and pepper, and herbes. Layer the cabbage, with carrots, peppers on top and add halves of cherry tomatoes and diakon slices around the plate, pouring the dressing over all. You can see from the images that how you put it together can make all the difference!

Savoy Slaw Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 full recipe (393g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 128 6% Total Fat 1g 1% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 492mg 21% Total Carbohydrate 24g 8% Dietary Fiber 8g 34% Sugars 11g 0% Protein 4g 9% Vitamin A 76% • Vitamin C 157% Calcium 10% • Iron 7% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com data supplied by me

Being Ready: Keep tidbits, Add Color

Flavor makes so much difference in this style of cooking and giving up the familiar patterns is much easier if the food is satisfying and flavorful. One way to make sure of this is to save the parts of vegetables that will make a broth more full flavored, or to add in something unusual that adds sparkle.

 A few leftover cooked beets or a handful of pomegranate seeds, or chopped pea shoots can make a salad zingy. Putting a smattering of enoki mushrooms or fresh cilantro on a rice cake with homemade humus (smash up those remaining chickpeas with garlic and tahini and lemon and you're there with oil-free humus) can turn the quotidien into a subtle and delicious treat. Chipping a couple olives off the pit into a salad will replace any depth of olive oil flavor you might miss, then add a splash of vinegar and a handful of toasted sesame seeds.  And save the stems from your shiitake mushrooms along with unused celery leaves and other bits, like the greens of the leeks, which go a long way towards a yummy soup stock into which you can throw lentils, a cut up potato and some kale.  You only need to simmer the bits in water and then strain the bits out -- you can add some carrots, onion and garlic too and voila!

Lemons and limes are key ingredients to have handy at all times. Drizzling lime on your celery and jicama salad is like having the sun come out from behind the clouds. A squeeze of lemon on the green beans or broccoli is all it takes to make a special taste out of a common one. A smattering of chopped almonds on top will add flavor and deeper layers to your nutrition for the day.  For example, 22 almonds, dry roasted unsalted, added to your salad, would add approximately 6 g of protein, 14.8 g of lipids, 6 g carbohydrates for their 169 calories, according to chronometer.com.

We love to have tomatillos and avocado around too, adding tomatillo tartness to a sauce for our black bean enchiladas (recipe to come) or an avocado's creaminess to a cracker or a sandwich (great with a slab of tomato, slices of cucumber or red pepper and a sprig of parsley) makes a quick and lovely lunch.

One more item that I always keep in my fridge is miso. My local coop carries Miso Master Organic traditional soy paste in several flavors.  I like to try various types, barley, red, white, etc. At lunch I love having that to add to a bowl of boiled water in which I have quickly cooked any combination of chopped veggies (scallion, a grape tomato, a shiitake mushroom, bits of leftover tofu, a spinach leaf). You can also add a bit of soaked Wakame seaweed. Miso can bring depth to a soup, or sauce and is fun to experiment with in no oil-salad dressings.

So Much Fun Eating Only Veggies, Fruits & Whole Grains

Everything we eat changes our biochemistry and that, in turn, really does make us who we are. Food can have a big effect on mood, energy level, risk factors for a whole host of medical conditions, and in our social and family life. Food has a way of entering into our daily pattern, interactions, budget and sense of satisfaction. It makes a difference when we change eating habits, and even if it seems like a good change, making it work can be complicated.

When my husband declared, the morning after seeing the movie "Forks Over Knives"   (forksoverknives.com), that he wanted to “give it all up” and begin eating a meatless, diary free, no gluten, no oil, whole grain, vegetable based diet, I was delighted if incredulous. So, we took the plunge. From that moment on, we began talking about, planning around, buying, preparing, and sharing delicious whole grain, vegetable based meals. This blog will explore our experiences, my invented dishes with recipes, leftovers that make great meals, disasters, new ingredients, our upstate garden and whatever else happens. 

I invite you to try the recipes and let me know how it goes, what you did, how you changed things, and what you like best.  Perhaps I'll compile the recipes that come out best when tested by everyone else and make that available. I'll try to organize my key words so that you can find recipes for various parts of meals, to use specific ingredients, and so forth. Please let me know how this works for you or not, so that I can improve as we go along.

My way of making food is intuitive, using what I see and hardly ever measuring anything. I’ve estimated quantities, and encourage you to change ingredients depending upon what you have in the kitchen and what you like in the way of flavors and colors. I have been using a free program (chronometer.com) to get an idea of the nutritional values of the recipes and I assign serving sizes to see some measure of the protein, fats, carbohydrates and calories each meal contains. Giving up all dairy, meat and fish all at once made me curious about what all these vegetables and grains would provide, and I wanted some way to know if we ought to be taking some kind of nutritional supplements or not. 

So far, it looks like our meals are giving us just about all the nutrition we need, except for vitamin D and calcium, which we are taking as supplements. We've both lost a few pounds just naturally by eliminating oils, all processed foods and dairy and animals. 

Recipes and photos will follow! Let the deliciousness and fun begin!