Lentil and Vegetable Stew with Kale

I knew I jinxed myself when I wrote that I was going to always post on Sundays from now on... I got sick last Sunday and have been sick pretty much since then. Never have I been more annoyed at myself for missing the free flu shot at work this year. Every time I don't get a flu shot, I come down with the flu. At least this time it wasn't over Christmas. I am now mostly recovered, but haven't been able to workout and missed a lot of work. I probably should have missed more than I did, too, since everyone made sure to tell me how terrible I looked on Wednesday. Tomorrow will be my first run since last Saturday, and the Colfax Marathon is coming up on May 15! I had intended to get caught up this week before school started up again, and ended up further behind. Oh, well. Veg time watching bad daytime TV wasn't too bad in retrospect, and since Mom's in town, I got to have someone take care of me for once. 

Spring quarter of school started today. I can't believe the difference an extra quarter makes. I feel like I am fully in the groove of being a student. It makes me so much more productive all around too. I just don't waste time. During my week off (the week before I got sick), I feel like I was totally unproductive. I am taking IT Strategies and Marketing. We had to fill out a profile about our current knowledge base for IT. I wrote that I am friends with the IT group at work, and I really like the British TV Show "The IT Crowd." I also know exactly who I need to call whenever something computer related breaks. I have a lot to learn.

I bought French lentils almost two months ago now, wanting to incorporate more lentils into my diet. According to Wikipedia, lentils have the third highest amount of protein in a plant form after soybeans and hemp. 3.5 oz of lentils (100g) has 26 grams of protein. Not bad. Not bad at all. I also impressed myself with this recipe because it calls for two additional ingredients that I had never used before: kale and rutabaga. Well, if I'm being totally honest, there was a third ingredient that I forgot to put on my shopping list that would have been a first as well, celery root. I had eaten kale and celery root before, but never cooked it before. I am unclear if I have ever had rutabaga, and after tonight, I still haven't as I realized when I got home and was looking up how to prepare it online, I seem to have purchased a turnip instead (they're in the same family)... oops. 

This recipe was adapted from one found on Epicurious.com under the same name, and is originally from the March, 2011 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. For Original Recipe Click Here. The main changes I made were too add cumin and more herbes de Provence than called for, and I used French Lentils instead of brown. From what I can tell, French Lentils are more flavorful, and keep their shape and texture exceedingly well. They take about 10 minutes longer to cook, though, so that is reflected in my cooking times. I also decided to go without any oil. I've figured out that if I am cooking soup or stew, I can cook the onion and other ingredients for not much time without them burning on the pan, then I add the rest of the liquids, and am none-the-wiser for it afterwards. 

I am estimating that this recipe will provide 8 servings. If anyone is reading this who follows Weight Watchers, it has a Points Plus value of only 5. Almost too rediculously healthy for its own good. Start to finish was about an hour and a half for me because of all the prep for the kale and other veggies. Actual cook time wasn't bad.

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped 

2 large carrots, chopped 

1 medium celery root, peeled, chopped (in absentia in my case, but I'm leaving this here as a place holder to remember when I make this again...)

1 medium rutabaga, peeled, chopped (2 cups) (my turnip worked great - apparently the main difference is that the rutabage has a somewhat stronger flavor)

1 pound French Lentils

1 tablespoon herbes de Provence (used more than that)

1 tablespoon cumin 

8 cups water

1 large bunch kale (About 9 ounces), ribs removes, leaves coarsely chopped (took forever in my opinion. I'm wondering about the potential of using frozen in the future...)

1. In a large pot, combine onion, carrots, celery and rutabaga. Cook on medium heat until the veggies verge on sticking to the bottom of the pot (5 or so minutes.)

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, turn the heat up, and bring to a boil. (The kale takes up a ton of room in the pot until it cooks. I kindof freaked out about this and added an extra cup of water. Then the kale cooked down and I felt a bit stupid for freaking out...) (10 or so minutes)

3. Lower the heat, partially cover the pot, and cook for 30 minutes.

Done. Super easy recipe to make. The prep was the most annoying part. Will make again. I liked it a lot, and the lentils will add plenty of variety to what I've been eating. The cumin gives it a bit more of an Indian taste overall, and that doesn't go with the herbes de provence really, but it worked for me. I also read that the cumin is supposed to help with some of the less appealing side effects of beans/lentils... while I am immune to the effect that beans have on some people since I eat so many of them, I thought I'd add cumin, since this recipe needed more spice than what was originally included anyway.

Wheat Berries with Winter Squash and Chick Peas

It's interesting to me that I chose not to write this post on Sunday. I cooked this dish on Sunday. But I used the excuse that I had a take home final due not to write about it until now. I am not doing that again. From now on, posting on Sunday will be happening. Unless I'm sick again. That is an okay excuse I suppose.

The New York Times published a series of interesting recipes for people going Vegan during Lent (no, I'm not going Vegan during Lent, in case anyone was wondering). This recipe just seemed like it would be amazing so I gave it a go, and I'm really glad that I did, because besides finding another recipe with my new favorite cheapest grain product around, also known as wheat berries, I got to buy some new spices and now I'm excited to use them more often. Who knew that allspice was actually a spice in and of itself? I'd kindof always thought that it must be a blend of spices.

I also wanted to provide a status update on my health this week. Since the high blood pressure conversation with my doctor about four weeks ago, I've lost almost 10 pounds. I've cut out cheese except on limited occasions, and most salt. I've cut out as much sugar from foods as possible, and am trying to eat it only in it's natural form, so eating a lot of fruit. And I feel ten times better. It's amazing, because even as I was stressing around finals, the stress felt different. I didn't feel it in my chest the way that I normally do. I have also re-dedicated myself to working out, and ran almost 5 miles on Sunday without walking. When I stop to think about what I'm eating, it sounds pretty highly restrictive, even to me, but when I don't stop to think about it, it's just working. I really don't feel deprived at all. On the contrary, I am experimenting with new foods and recipes that I would never have considered before. And more importantly, I feel like I can keep doing this. I still have about 18 pounds to lose, and I want them gone by Summer. I'm also confident for the first time now that I'll really be able to run the entire Colfax Half Marathon on May 15. Yay!

Onto the recipe. As noted earlier, this recipe is adapted from one I found on nytimes.com ORIGINAL RECIPE. It states that this will serve 6. I think it's more like 4 if this is served as a main course. The only real change that I made was to reduce the olive oil called for from 3 tablespoons to 1. This recipe has a WeightWatchers PointsPlus value of 9 per serving (assuming 4 servings). The link to the original recipe includes a full nutritional breakdown with 6 servings and the extra olive oil. From start to finish this recipe took me just under an hour and a half. The squash can be prepped while the wheat berries are cooking.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (Okay, I changed that too... I used three. AND, very exciting, I treated myself to a garlic press at the grocery store! I'd never used one before. So much fun!)
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 cup wheat berries
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups water (the recipe initially calls for 5 cups, and then I think they forgot about the 5th cup, because they only mention 4 later... so anyway, 4 cups water)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill or mint (I used dill. Okay, and I cheated too. I used dried parsley and dried dill. There was so much flavor provided by the allspice and cayenne that I don't think it really mattered.)
1 pound winter squash (I used butternut), peeled, sliced and cut into small bite sized pieces
1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained

Note: This recipe did not specifically call for pre-soaking the wheat berries. I was surprised by this, and I think they're better for you and easier to digest if you do, so I still soaked mine ahead for about 6 hours. This also cut down on the overall cooking time, which I appreciated. If the wheat berries are note soaked ahead, I think step 4 will need to be 45 mins to 1 hour instead of 30 minutes.

Instructions:
1. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or similar pot with higher sides. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion just starts to cook.
2. Add the garlic and the allspice and cayenne. Stir together.
3. Add the wheat berries, 4 cups of water and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, with the pot covered for 30 minutes or so.
4. Add the winter squash, chick peas, half the overall amount of parsley and dill, and bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes more. At this stage the squash and wheat berries should be fully cooked.
5. Bring the cooking temperature back up to high, stir in the remainder of the parsley and dill (if not using fresh) and cook off the excess liquid until it takes on a syrupy consistency. I found that this took about 20 minutes (If using fresh dill and parsley, add the remainder at the end).

And that's it. This dish is meant to be served warm or hot.

The verdict: The more I cook butternut squash, the more I am learning to really like it. I loved how the cayenne gave this recipe a great kick, and the whole dish just tasted great. It was fun to make too. I'm somewhat disappointed in the photo that I didn't pick a bowl that coordinated better color-wise with the dish, but I'm learning. Won't make that mistake again. There's also a fair amount of protein in this dish from the combination of wheat berries and chick peas, and the portion that I had for lunch at work stuck by me all afternoon. I'm really glad that I came across this recipe.

Veggie Paella

So it turns out that going to the grocery store to do the weekly shopping, when I don't know what recipe I'm planning to make on Sunday, isn't the best idea. It's also not the best idea to buy the store brand Greek yogurt (It's disgusting, and for some reason, they felt compelled to add "natural flavors" to plain Greek yogurt. Whatever...).

I have one week to go before I have a week-long break from school. So far, I haven't resorted to throwing a frozen burrito into the microwave and photographing that as my weekly cooking masterpiece (I did have one in the freezer, just in case though... ). I had been pretty concerned that as I got closer to this part of the quarter I would be resorting to that. What I didn't count on was using cooking to procrastinate from doing homework. This is similar to last fall, when I somehow managed to find time to clean my whole apartment before finally sitting down to right my 20 page globalization paper... hmmm...

So anyways, I found this recipe yesterday mainly based off of ingredients online. It turns out, when you grocery shop on a weekly basis, you tend to have a lot more on hand than when you don't. Who knew? I only had to make a couple of substitutions on this one, but sadly, I didn't have a single spice that the recipe called for, so some improvisation was done. I have no idea what the spices in the original recipe were supposed to taste like, or what traditional paella spices are, but mine came out pretty darn well if I do say so myself.

There's a really interesting article on what a Paella is on wikipedia: Paella . Sadly, I didn't read it until after I had made mine, or I would have reconsidered its presentation. From the pictures, food is neatly laid on top of the rice concoction, to make it quite pretty. Instead, I omitted the final touches from what my recipe called for, and used whole wheat orzo instead of couscous (although traditional dishes use rice, not couscous). The pictures on wikipedia are quite pretty. Traditional paella is made with either meat or seafood or a combination of both. Since this is vegetarian, it pretty much goes against that anyway. But hell, I'm calling it Paella anyway. Sweet!

This recipe was found on epicurious.com, and is from Bon Appetit, 1997. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/4688 The ingredients listed below are what I used, not what the recipe called for.
I ended up adding more than the original recipe called for in almost all of the ingredients. And maybe that's why I am pretty sure that this will easily feed 8-10 people. The picture above is after I had removed my serving for dinner tonight. I was a bit concerned that the whole thing was going to overflow at points in the cooking process...


Ingredients: 
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chopped red pepper (I used three small red peppers. I am assuming that amounted to about 2 cups.)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (I actually used garlic instead of garlic powder. There's a first.)
5 tablespoons, or about half of a small can of tomato paste 
2 cups water1 15 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes with mild green chiles2 cups frozen peas (I only had frozen peas and carrots on hand, which worked out fine, except that I also added sliced carrots. So, lots of carrots.)1 15 oz can rinsed and drained garbonzo beans
1/2 cup chopped peeled carrot (I added 3 medium chopped carrots)
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
12 oz frozen package of quartered artichoke hearts, thawed1 1/2 cups whole wheat orzo


Directions: 
1. In a large pot, cook onion in the oil for about 3 mins. Add the red pepper, and cook until the onion changes color, about 15 minutes
2. Heat two cups of water to boiling, and stir in tomato paste (otherwise, you could substitute this step for vegetable broth. I've been trying to invent flavorful alternatives that don't involve so much salt. This worked for me in this recipe.)
3. Combine all remaining ingredients besides the orzo and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
4. Add the orzo, simmer for an additional 10 minutes, covered. Remove from heat, and allow any excess liquid to absorb for about 5 minutes.