Disorderly Lentils

Finally, a new recipe post!

It's Disorderly Lentils from the McDougall Quick and Easy cookbook. I know I never made this in the past because for a long time red lentils were hard to come by. Now that our grocery store is carrying the Goya ones, I have no problem buying as many bags of these beauties as I want. It's so much nicer to pay under $2 instead of the almost $5 a pound that the HFS charges for organic red lentils.

Disorderly Lentils

Serving Size: 6    
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minues

2 cups red lentils
4 cups water
1 onion -- chopped
1 green bell pepper -- chopped
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 cups low sodium tomato sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce, low sodium
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon basil

Combine all ingredients in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. 

Recipe Hint: This recipe could also be served over baked potatoes or grains. This recipe freezes well and reheats well.

McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook
Mary McDougall
page 116

First of all, unless you're also serving a salad, soup and/or cooked veggies with this, don't believe the "serves 6" unless all you serve is a measured cup of this to each person. In this family of big eaters, this makes a comfortable 4 servings when served over large baked potatoes or large (2 cups or so) servings of rice, couscous or quinoa.

Now that that's settled, on to my changes.

Not many, really. I used the whole bag of Goya red lentils, and instead of water, cooked them up in a pot with veggie broth. 

I used half a bag of frozen diced onions and green peppers instead of fresh.

And I skipped the bay leaf. I'm not crazy about the taste of them, and I always forget to remove the leaf before serving, a real no-no unless the cook is trying to purposely injure one of the people she's cooking for.

I've been having bad luck with potatoes again, and just yesterday tossed out an entire 5 pound bag of red potatoes because each and every one was green under the skin. And I'm still re-introducing foods after hubby's gout flare so I wanted to avoid high protein quinoa for now, so I served this over plain old brown rice.  

Half a serving

Yes, I'm calling what's in the picture half a serving, because after I snapped the shot my husband insisted I add at least twice as many lentils to the bowl, completely covering the rice, and then some. After eating that, he asked for more, and still ate a bit more than what's pictured for his seconds but with less rice.

I'm glad his gout flare is over, because so far every food I've re-introduced he's tolerated well with no twinges to the toe.

This was a good tasting meal, but very gassy for some reason. Maybe because it was cooked in broth? Maybe too many onions? Maybe we're just not used to all the legumes and have to start our gut flora from scratch again? My poor husband said he was in agony waiting for his train to pull into the station the next morning so he could sneak off into an isolated area and let 'er rip. After that, he said, the rest of the morning was back to normal. Poor guy! LOL