Friday, August 9, 2013

Red Lentil Chili with Quinoa and Sweet Potatoes


This was inspired by a Forks over Knives recipe, but I made it my own.  I know I post a lot about sweet potatoes on here, but in reality I'm not a super huge fan of them.  If I do make them, they have to be a savory dish and not featured to actually be "sweet."

This time, I wanted to add sweet potatoes to the chili, but decided to roast them separately with some red bell pepper.

Anyway, this is what I did for the whole meal:

Ingredients
1 cup split red lentils
2 cups vegan chicken broth
3.5 cups water
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon each of the following spices:  cayenne, smoked paprika, chipotle chili powder, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, salt

For the side dishes
1 sweet potato, roasted
1 cup red quinoa, cooked according to package

Directions
In a medium soup pot, cook the onion, red bell pepper, carrots, and garlic in a little bit of olive oil for about five minutes.  Add the spices and stir well.  Add the dry lentils, stir well before adding the broth and water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are soft, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, roast the sweet potatoes and make the quinoa.

When ready to serve, you can add the potato and quinoa right into the chili or eat them all separately.  I added them to the chili and it was delicious!  Not too spicy, but very flavorful.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Fresh Heirloom Tomatoes and Pasta


I went to the new farmers market in San Marcos on Sunday for two specific reasons:  1 -- I wanted heirloom tomatoes, and 2 -- I wanted fresh fruit.

Yes, I can get these from the organic section at Sprouts, but they are seriously not as good as the farmers market produce.  Yum.

Tonight I made a no-cook sauce for some whole wheat pasta.

1 large heirloom tomato, chopped into bite-size pieces
Green olives, sliced (as many as you want)
1/2 package whole wheat pasta

While the pasta was cooking, I blended the following ingredients in my tupperware chopper thing:

(about) 1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves
Few sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves
(about)2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of salt

When the pasta was done, I first mixed the tomato pieces and green olives with the oily-basil-garlic sauce, then poured the entire tomato mixture into the pot of drained pasta and mixed well.

I added a little bit of black pepper and red pepper flakes.

Delicious!  A delightful, easy, simple summer pasta dish.