Curried Red Lentil Stew with Winter Veggies

So, it's the beginning of flu season. This means people around me are sick. And by people around me, not even necessarily people I know -- in the grocery store the other day, I saw someone who looked like she was about to pass out (pale features, sheen of sweat, red nose, bundled up far more than the temperatures outside called for). Cold and flu season makes me want to eat things that are going to help boost my immunity (and, let's face it, that are just plain good for me).

And, since the days are more frequently cool / cloudy / wet, I want to consume warm things -- stews, soups, bakes. teas & coffee, etc.

This is where a curried red lentil stew comes in. This particular stew has onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, lentils (hooray protein!!), dark green veggies*, and more immune-system boosting goodness. Regardless of whether any of these actually help me stay healthy during the winter months I like to imagine they do -- and it creating a large batch of this stew provides me with several days of quick, healthy meals.

I ate this alongside a gluten-free flat bread (that turned out crispier than I would have liked), but it would also go well with brown rice or a nice pliable flat bread, like pita. If you want to up the spice (again, this might depend on the curry powder you choose), add a pinch of red pepper flakes at the same time you add the lentils.

Thick Red Curry with Winter Veggies

Curried Red Lentil Stew with Winter Veggies

2 teaspoons oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium sweet potato, chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1-inch piece ginger, minced

1 cup fresh cauliflower florets

2 tablespoons curry powder**

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (optional)

3 dried curry leaves (or 1 bay leaf)

1 cup red lentils

3 1/2 cups water

1 cup fresh kale, chopped

Warm the oil in a medium-sized soup pan, over medium-high heat. Add the onion, sweet potato, and salt, and saute 4-5 minutes, until the onion and sweet potato begin to brown. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic and ginger. Saute another 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients except the kale, bring to a boil, and reduce the heat to low. Cover and allow to simmer 18-20 minutes, until the cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and lentils are soft. 

Stir in the chopped kale and remove from the heat. As soon as the kale has wilted (this took less than a minute for my curly kale), taste and add salt, if necessary. Serve hot.

Special Notes:

*I also chopped some of the green parts of the cauliflower -- about 1/2 cup worth, and added those. Biting into them was a bit like biting into a piece of cabbage in the stew, and something I would do again, but this is definitely up to you. If you do add them, add them 2-3 minutes before you add the kale and before you take the stew off the heat.

**I use a medium-hot curry powder with a moderately high ratio of turmeric. If you use a sweet curry powder, start with 1 tablespoon and add more toward the end, if you desire. As always, it's easier to add than to take away!

Chocolate Mint Granola

You might say that I'm on a bit of a granola kick. This is, as I explained in a previous post, partly because I now live in an area where my GF cereal of choice isn't as cheap as I'm used to and I'm living on a fairly small budget. Granola, of course, is a little more expensive to make than just eating oatmeal, but it's also more satisfying when I want something crunchy (or if I just don't want hot cereal). Plus, during these cooler months of the year, it's an excuse to turn on the oven for an hour or so while creating something useful.

I'd been wanting to make a chocolate mint granola for a while -- in part because I love mint patties, but no longer eat them for a variety of reasons, and in part because I have mint extract from my green-mint smoothie phase earlier this year. I wanted to make it gluten-free, of course, and also vegan since I've embarked on eating mostly vegan.

This granola, like my others, isn't overly sweet, but if you drink vanilla soy / coconut /almond milk it is just sweet enough, and almost exactly the flavor of eating mint patties. For the record, I use organic spearmint extract when I make this granola, but I imagine it would turn out similarly using a peppermint extract. Note, these are both different than using mint oil. Baking Bites has a great article about the differences, that I won't rehash here -- but you should check it out. I like adding lentils to the granola, to increase the complexity of my morning meal, but you could omit them if you wanted (just skip those steps in the recipe below). I also like eating this with pumpkin seeds or sunflower kernels.

This would make a wonderful surprise breakfast for your kiddos who really, really want that chocolate sugary cereal from the grocery store since it's pretty much fat-free, doesn't contain much sugar, and still tastes like chocolate. Or, you could make a double-batch and wrap it up in pretty jars and give it as a holiday gift. Or, you could just make some for yourself, a small indulgence.

Yum! Chocolate Mint Granola (with red lentils)

Chocolate Mint Granola
1/3 cup split red lentils, boiled in 1 cup of water for 5 minutes and allowed to rest in hot water for 20-30 minutes (optional)

3 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure mint extract (note, this is different than oil)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Mix together your oats, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium-size mixing bowl.

Dry Ingredients

If using lentils, add the mint extract and agave nectar to the lentils and mix well (otherwise, mix the agave and mint extract together in a separate bowl with 1/3 cup warm water). Add the lentils, and their liquid, to the oat mixture. Stir until the oats are evenly moist.

Spread the granola on a baking sheet, and place in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour, stirring every 15-20 minutes, until the oats have turned dry and crispy* (in moist climates, this may take a little longer). Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

*Note: As with other granolas, it's important to remember that the oats will continue to turn crispy as they dry. If you have some oats that are not completely dry, but others that area, you can turn the granola once more time and then turn off the oven. In another 20-30 minutes, your oats should all be crispy.

Product Review: Whole Foods Grind-Your-Own Chocolate Peanut Butter

On a whim, I recently bought a small container of Whole Foods' grind-your-own chocolate peanut butter. Why, you might ask?

Why not?

At my Whole Foods -- and maybe this is the standard -- the grind-your-own chocolate peanut butter uses vegan, gluten-free chocolate chips (hooray!). The balance in the machine appears to be mostly peanuts with a handful of chocolate chips -- you can see there is chocolate in there, but it doesn't look like nearly enough to produce anything chocolatey.

But, when I hit the start button on the machine, the peanut butter that came out was a lovely dark brown.

The peanut butter itself isn't overwhelmingly chocolate-flavored, but there are distinct chocolate notes -- in fact it's moderately chocolatey (unless you're a dedicated choco-holic) which is nice for a small I-want-something-different treat (especially on banana chips!). The grind for the machines I used was set to create smooth peanut butter, which meant that however many chocolate chips I got were well-incorporated. It's definitely less chocolate-flavored than something like Nutella or the chocolate peanut butters by Peanut Butter & Co.

The price: reasonable at $3.99/lb -- the same price as the other grind-your-own nut butters (almond, peanut butter, and honey-roasted peanut butter) on the day I visited.

Would I buy this again? Possibly. While I love chocolate & peanut butter (when I'm in the mood for either), this is an indulgence as I don't see a practical use in my life for chocolate peanut butter on any regular basis. I can mix chocolate into peanut butter on my own, if I really want it right this minute, and I prefer almond and sunflower seed butters. I like that it's vegan and gluten-free (some chocolate chips aren't). I like that this peanut butter can be made ground fresh and bought in whatever quantity I desire.

But, those probably aren't enough things to cause me to run back to Whole Foods as soon as I'm done with the chocolate peanut butter I currently have, or to push me to purchase more at any point in the near future.