New to Lentils?

lentils are great because they cook so quickly. sautee and onion some garlic and some herbs that you like like thyme or sage. You can fry up some sausages along with the veggies. Add the lentils a handful for each person eating or leftovers. Then add your liquid to cover the lentils.. Chicken, vegetable stock, wine or water. You can add tomatoes, garbanzos, curry, hearty greens . Add fresh basil right before serving, scallions, mushrooms. It'll take less than half an hour to cook. Just check periodically to make sure you don't run out of the liquid. The lentils can be a soupy stew or thicker which is good with rice or bread.

I adore lentils! I make a great lentil soup in the winter that uses 3 cups of dry lentils, 7 cups water, 2 teaspoons salt, 6 to 8 crushed garlic cloves, 2 cups chopped onion, 2 chopped celery stalks, 2 sliced carrots, 1 teaspoon dried basil, half a teaspoon each of dried thyme and oregano, and 3 diced red tomatoes.

Put the lentils and the water in a pot, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let them simmer for half an hour. Add all of the veggies, except for the tomatoes, and the herbs. Cook for another half hour.

Dip each tomato in a pot of boiling water for 10 seconds, take them out, and remove the skin. Squeeze out the seeds, then chop up the pulp and add it to the soup. Cook the soup for another 5 minutes, then drizzle red wine vinegar on top of each bowl before serving.

I got this recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook, by Mollie Katzen. Bon appetit!

There is a recipe blog I go to all the time at

http://allsecretrecipes.blogspot.com/

and they have a recipe called Red Lentils with Garlic. I made it for my family, and even the kids gobbled it up. It was really, really yummy.

We served ours as a part of a vegetarian meal, because the lentils themselves have a lot of protein in them. They might not seem heavy, so you may think they'll need meat in there, but this recipe totally didn't.

Good luck! :) Isn't it fun to try something new?