Friday, February 26, 2010

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!

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

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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. . .

4 comments:

Maren said...

I love soup, that sounds yummy! I've never tried red lentils but you are making it sound very tempting. I was about to suggest poorgirleatwell.com for more recipe ideas, but then I remembered it was red quinoa that she uses alot. Maybe she has red lentil recipes, too.

Unknown said...

I recently tried a red lentil soup that we all enjoyed. I love the creamy texture of red lentils too. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lentil-Soup-with-Lemon/Detail.aspx
I'll have to try your recipes now! They look good!

Molly said...

That looks divine. And I've never done that with mashed potatoes...gonna have to give it a try.

Mirien said...

I'm going to have to look harder for red lentils. I've been wanting to try them, but my favorite store for grains, etc. doesn't carry them. I did discover yellow split peas there, though, and use them to make a curried split pea soup with cauliflower. That stew you made looks so good--I want to try it.