But now it’s . . . → Read More: Mujaddarah (or How the Heck is This so Delicious?)]]> Happy Monday! Except for the fact that Erik stayed in NYC, this weekend was fantastic. The kind of fantastic that involves watching bad movies with a pint of ice cream and playing card games with friends over strawberry-vodka slushies. The kind of fantastic that alternates staying up too late with avoiding the gym at all costs. The kind of fantastic that ends with perma-heartburn and a squishy-squashy tummy that makes unhappy noises.

But now it’s Monday – the favorite day of resolution-makers – so I need to get back on track before I have to buy a whole new wardrobe. However, as I’ve mentioned before, I struggle with healthy eating when Erik’s gone. It’s got to be super tasty, easy to cook, require minimal clean-up, and reheat well or I just won’t do it. Luckily, I ordered delivery from a Middle Eastern restaurant last week and remembered how awesome mujaddarah is – a delicious, simple, two-pot, perfect-for-leftovers rice and lentils dish. You won’t believe me until you try it, but the final meal is so much more than the ingredients imply. Somehow, sauteing thin onion slices in a pool of olive oil until they’re brown and crispy adds an incredible amount of flavor to rice and lentils. It’s earthy and satisfying and totally not guilt-inducing.

This makes a great lunch or dinner – add a salad or sauteed greens if you want some veggies. My FAVORITE way to eat this, though, is topped with scrambled eggs and a drizzle of sriracha or plop of yogurt. Yum yum yum!!

[Please excuse the iPhone photos!]

Mujaddarah

Makes about 5 cups (4-6 servings)
From Simply Armenian

Directions

1. Pick through the lentils to remove debris. Sometimes little rocks and sticks hide, which aren’t fun to chew on. Rinse them well.
2. Add the lentils and 3 cups of water to a pot, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat so that the water simmers gently for 20 minutes.
3. Rinse the rice well and let it drain while the lentils cook.
4. While the lentils are cooking, slice the onions into thin rings. Heat the olive oil in a skillet (not non-stick) over medium heat and add the onions. Stir them every now and then until they’re dark brown. It should take about as long as the rice and lentils.
5. After the lentils have cooked for 20 minutes, add the rice and cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the rice and lentils are tender
6. Add the cooked onions and salt to the lentils and rice. Pour in any oil that’s left in the skillet, because it’s tasty. Mix well and serve hot, warm, or cold.

My brother was in a band in high school called The Unmundane. They were pretty good and had a nice little following. I have a couple of their CDs and a t-shirt I wear running. I also have the word “unmundane” in my vocabulary now. It snuck in there at a time in my life when I used either “random” or “sketchy” to describe just about everything.

I probably also used “wicked” a . . . → Read More: Unmundane Lentil Soup]]>

My brother was in a band in high school called The Unmundane. They were pretty good and had a nice little following. I have a couple of their CDs and a t-shirt I wear running. I also have the word “unmundane” in my vocabulary now. It snuck in there at a time in my life when I used either “random” or “sketchy” to describe just about everything.

I probably also used “wicked” a little too much, as in “lentil soup is wicked boring”. Because of that narrow mindset, I almost didn’t make this one from Art of the Slow Cooker, probably because the combination of spices seemed random. But, I was trying to eat less meat and this seemed to fit the bill. I was prepared to choke down a bowl in the name of self-righteous healthiness, but I was surprised on the first bite by its unmundaneness. It wasn’t common, ordinary, banal, OR unimaginative. Instead, it was thick and full of spices and lemon.

Now that we’re definitely entering winter in Boston, it’s time to pull out the slow cooker and some tasty soup recipes. I think the smell of soup cooking all day warms up the house. Can a smell make you feel warmer? Why not? So this afternoon, I’m sitting on the couch covered with a blanket recuperating from a cold and watching The Usual Suspects, smelling the onions browning, because my awesome husband is making dinner for me. I’m counting the hours until I can dig in with a spoon and a big piece of crusty bread. It’s supposed to warm up on Sunday, which is good, because we’ll be out of soup by then.

Unmundane Lentil Soup

Makes 6 servings

Directions

1. If you want to get fancy, use whole coriander and cumin seeds. Toast them in a hot skillet for a couple of minutes, until slightly browned and fragrant, then grind. I don’t usually get fancy and the soup is still great.
2. Chop the onions.
3. Heat the sunflower oil in a large skillet and cook the onions over medium-high heat until starting to brown. This is the foundation for your soup, so take a little time, maybe 5-8 minutes.
4. In another pot, heat the broth until boiling.
5. While the onions are browning, measure out and combine all the spices except for the red pepper flakes.
6. Add the garlic and spices (except for the red pepper flakes) to the onions and cook until you can smell the garlic.
7. Add the tomatoes and juice to the onion mixture. Break up the tomatoes and cook until the juices boil.
8. Once the onions and broth are boiling, dump both into the slow cooker. Heating the ingredients to boiling speeds the cooking time and keeps the food away from the Danger Zone, e.g. the temperature range in which nasties thrive. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-10.
9. When you’re ready to serve the soup, stir in the red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and fresh herbs. Top with a dollop of yogurt, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Regarding the amount of stock: Red lentils disintegrate and really thicken the soup, so if you use a full two cups of red lentils, you’ll want to use 7 or 8 cups of broth. More broth = soupier soup. Less broth = stewier soup. If you use red lentils and another type of lentils, you can use 6-7 cups of broth.

To make this work on a week day, I cook the onions, garlic and spices the night before, letting them cool down before covering and storing them in the refrigerator. In the morning, I add the tomatoes to the onions and bring them and the broth to a boil while I’m eating breakfast and getting ready for work. Pour everything in the slow cooker, plug it in, leave the dishes in the sink, and run out the door.

Besides the excitement, which I think stems from Mom occasionally buying bulk yogurt pretzels when I was a kid, here are the . . . → Read More: How to Navigate the Bulk Foods Section to Survive the Dark Days]]> Let me just get this out of my system. If you haven’t explored your supermarket’s bulk food section, you are missing out! It’s a smorgasboard of tasty bits and pieces. You can get a HUGE sack of oats for oatmeal or a tiny nibble of chocolate-covered raisins right in the same place!

Besides the excitement, which I think stems from Mom occasionally buying bulk yogurt pretzels when I was a kid, here are the rational, adult reasons for loving the bulk foods section:

• There is very little packaging, so you cut down on waste. You can even bring your own containers.
• It’s almost always cheaper than other options, especially since you can buy exactly the amount you want.
• It allows you to have more variety in your pantry, since you can buy smaller amounts of more things, rather than getting a gigantic bag of black beans or settling for just raisins in your oatmeal for two weeks.
• You can try new things without the committment.

I like to think of all choices as a hierarchy. If not this, then this, etc. My food hierarchy goes something like this: I prefer to buy food from a local farmer I’ve talked to, so I know how he or she runs the farm. If I can’t get what I need that way, I’ll buy food from Joe Schmo local farmer either at the farmers’ market or a grocery store. If I still can’t get what I need, then I probably don’t really need it. But, if I do really need/want it, I’ll buy organic produce from the US (since at least it hasn’t traveled as far as, say, Chilean strawberries) and almost everything else from the bulk foods section. In the Dark Days, we get down to the last level pretty often.

Our supermarket carries several different types of rice, grains, beans, nuts, and dried fruit. It also has a few flours and varieties of granola and trail mix. We can get some beans, flours, and grains locally, but we get all our dried fruit and nuts there.

Here’s how it works:

1. There’s often a roll of thin plastic bags nearby. Grab one or pull out your own container. If you bring your own, make sure it’s pretty lightweight. Some supermarkets will tare (zero out the weight of your container), but others won’t. If the store tares, remember to do it before you fill the container.
2. Find what you want. This can be the confusing part, since the aisle might not be organized in a logical way, so ask an employee if you can’t find something. They usually know exactly where everything is. Even though we go every other week or so, I feel like the section is constantly rearranged!
3. Fill up your bag or container. Sometimes there’s a scoop and sometimes the food comes out of a shoot that you open with a lever. Go slowly if it’s the lever kind, so you don’t take too much.
4. Take a look at the bin and find the product number. This is usually pretty conspicuous, but ask someone if you’re unsure. Some stores let you weigh your own and print a label with the amount and product number. Some just want you to record the number on the fastener, so that they can weight and price it when you check out. If you don’t see a fancy scale where people are printing labels, assume it’s the latter.

That’s it. Now go to the grocery store and try something new!

This is one of our favorite recipes, going back years. This time we made it with as many local ingredients as we could get.

Admittedly, it can be a bit of a bear. Luckily, it yields a LOT and it freezes well, which makes for both left-overs during the week and frozen dinners for the future. It’s not nearly so bad if you sequence the steps correctly, but when we get it wrong . . . → Read More: How to Make Turkey Meatball Stew]]>

This is one of our favorite recipes, going back years. This time we made it with as many local ingredients as we could get.

Admittedly, it can be a bit of a bear. Luckily, it yields a LOT and it freezes well, which makes for both left-overs during the week and frozen dinners for the future. It’s not nearly so bad if you sequence the steps correctly, but when we get it wrong it can add 30 to 60 minutes to the process. Documenting it correctly, so that we never flub it again, is one reason this post has taken so long!

Be sure to read through the recipe entirely first (always a good idea). There are a lot of moving parts and hot pans with liquid on the stove, so you need to keep on your toes and never take your eyes completely off the stove top! This is also one of those recipes where it helps to have multiple kitchen timers.

Don’t let all that scare you. Give it a shot on a chilly, wet Saturday. You’ll be glad you did.

We’ve broken the ingredient lists down separately for the three components: the meatballs, the stew itself, and the dumplings. If you want, you can skip either the meatballs or the dumplings, but it works best as a team.

Turkey Meatball Stew
Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients: Meatballs

Ingredients: Stew

Ingredients: Dumplings

Directions:

1. If using dried beans, soak them overnight, or at least for a few hours. Whether using using dried beans or from a can, at this point drain them, rinse them, and set aside.
2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
3. Pour the beef stock into a sauce pan and place on medium heat. The purpose is to get the stock up to temperature, but we won’t need it for a bit. Keep an eye on it, as you continue with the steps below, and when it comes to a boil, turn down the heat and just let it simmer on low until needed.
4. Start the work in earnest by focusing on the meatballs, otherwise this will hold up the other steps in the stew. Place the ground turkey in a large mixing bowl (we recommend grinding your own). Be sure to wash your hands after each time you handle the raw meat.

   

5. On a separate deep plate (we used a glass pie dish), create a generous layer of flour.
6. Next, come three steps that each involve about 5 minutes of waiting, so line them up together. Break up the bread and place it in a bowl with the milk. In a separate bowl, soak the golden raisins. Last, place the pine nuts on a small baking sheet and put them in the middle rack of the 400 degree oven.

   Check on the pine nuts after about 3 minutes to make sure they don’t burn. Take them out once they are lightly toasted, which will be no more than 5 minutes, and add them to the mixing bowl with the ground turkey (and turn off the oven).

   Let the bread soak for 5 minutes, then squeeze it out and add it to the bowl. Drain the raisins and add them as well.

   

7. While waiting during the previous step, chop the parsley, beat the egg, and add them to the meat bowl.
8. Chop all of the onions at once (one small from the meatball ingredients and one large for the stew itself).
9. Heat 2 TBsp of oil and 1 TBsp of butter in a dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onions for 5 minutes until they are soft. Remove about 1/3 of the sautéed onions and place them in the meatball mixing bowl.
10. While the onions are cooking, chop the carrot and celery. Add the carrot and celery to the remaining onions in the pot and cook for 3-5 minutes. Once the vegetables have softened, add the stock, assuming it’s already been simmering; if not, you’re going to need to wait for the stock to come to a boil and simmer before adding it. Once you add the stock you can just leave the dutch oven on the heat for now and go back to focusing on the meatballs.

    

11. In a cast iron pan, pour a layer of vegetable oil between 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch deep. Place it on low heat to get it up to temperature. You may want to cover with a splatter guard. Keep an eye on it.
12. Once you have added the onions, your meatball mix is ready. Fold everything together until well mixed, but don’t overwork the meat.

    Using your clean hands, scoop up a two-finger amount of the mix and shape into a (golf) ball. As you shape them, roll them in the flour pan to coat, and add them directly to the cast iron pan full of hot vegetable oil. That pan will be full before you are out of meatballs, so place the extra ones on a separate plate.

    

13. After 3-4 minutes the first side of the first meatballs should be browned. Flip them using tongs and keep them in for another 3-4 minutes. Getting the meatballs nice and brown is key to getting best results from this recipe, but at the same time they will continue cooking in the stew, so it’s OK if the meatballs are still somewhat raw in spots. As the meatballs are done browning, remove them to a separate plate and add new meatballs.

    

14. Once you are done creating the meatballs and handling raw meat with your hands (and while the meatballs are frying), wash your hands. Measure out the lentils and barley, add them to the stew/stock, stir, and cover. Let it cook for 5 minutes.

    

15. Add the beans and let cook for 5 minutes.
16. If the meatballs are all done at this point, add them to the stew now. If not, add the ones that are done and keep going with the frying, adding them as they are done browning.
17. Finally, begin on the dumplings. In a mixing bowl add together the flour, salt, baking powder, and Dijon mustard. Add the water sparingly, only about 1/4 tsp at a time, folding it all together until it forms a dry dough. If it’s TOO dry, add a tiny bit more water and mix, but be careful not to get the dough too moist. Use two tablespoons to scoop and shape the dough into dumplings slightly smaller than the meatballs, and as you shape them drop them directly into the stew pot.

    

18. At this point we generally realize that we are playing a game of chicken with our Dutch oven because we’ve brought it right to the brink of its capacity. As it cooks, the level of the liquid will reduce, but at the same time the dumplings will expand (see the difference between the pictures below).

    This last time we made this we finally decided that we were cutting it too close, and we ladled 2-3 ladles full of stock (mostly just liquid) into a separate pot. You can see it peeking out on the back burner in these pictures. After everything was cooked and we served ourselves for dinner, we added this stock back in and it became part of our leftovers. No harm, no foul, no risk of boiling over.

    

19. Put the lid on and let the stew continue to simmer on medium for 25-30 minutes. During this time, we recommend that you get a head start on your dishes. You will have a lot to clean! But it you do it right, everything but the stew pot can be clean (or in the dishwasher) by the time dinner is served!
20. To serve, ladle into bowls and be sure to include a mix of all the ingredients (you might have to dig to the bottom to get the lentils and barley). Turn off the stove and leave the rest of the servings in the pot to cool.

    Once completely cooled, ladle the leftovers into storage containers, but we recommend using containers that hold no more then two servings each. This will help you distribute the various goodies evenly (meatballs, dumplings, vegetables, grain), and it will make it easier to throw the excess into the freezer after a few days. Make sure to have some freezer-read containers handy. In a pinch we have thrown it into Ziploc bags to freeze it. Freeze anything that you are not sure that you will eat within 5-7 days.

Teamwork tips: we advise that you tackle this recipe with two people (like we do). If you have the luxury of a helping hand in the kitchen, split the tasks accordingly:

• Person 1 focuses on getting the stock up to temperature, chopping the vegetables, and starting ASAP on cooking the onions.
• Person 2 focuses on getting the meatballs started ASAP, first by preparing all of the other ingredients and then by tackling the raw meat and combining everything.
• Person 1 then acts as Person 2′s clean hands assist until the raw meat is over (getting the flour dredge ready, preparing the frying pan for the meatballs, frying the early meatballs as Person 2 continues to shape the rest.
• Person 1, once cleaned up, pulls the stew together and makes the dumplings as Person 2 focuses on browning all of the meatballs.
• While it’s cooking, Person 1 can clean the counters while Person 2 tackles the dishes, but that’s really a matter of personal preference.

I made this dinner solo yesterday, and it was the easiest meal I’ve ever made. It took less than 10 minutes to prep. Despite the fact that it looks like brown mush, it was very good. Today for lunch the leftovers reheated well in the microwave.

The one downside is that I had to cook dinner at 8:00am. It’s a slow cooker recipe. It takes some forethought and commitment, but the slow cooker . . . → Read More: How to Make Slow Cooker Honey Lentils]]>

I made this dinner solo yesterday, and it was the easiest meal I’ve ever made. It took less than 10 minutes to prep. Despite the fact that it looks like brown mush, it was very good. Today for lunch the leftovers reheated well in the microwave.

The one downside is that I had to cook dinner at 8:00am. It’s a slow cooker recipe. It takes some forethought and commitment, but the slow cooker makes cooking so easy.

Slow Cooker Honey Lentils

Ingredients

Directions

1. The night before put the beans in a bowl and fill it with water. Leave to soak overnight. Be sure to go through the dried beans beforehand to pick out any pebble beans or actual pebbles (see here). If you use canned beans, skip this step and reduce the water to 3 cups.
2. Using a mesh strainer, drain the beans and rinse them thoroughly. Put them in the slow cooker.
3. Using a mesh strainer, rinse the lentils. Add them to the slow cooker.
4. Dice the 1/2 red onion. Add to the slow cooker
5. Shred the carrot. Add to the slow cooker
6. Add everything else to the slow cooker, except for the bay leaf. Stir to mix.
7. Add the bay leaf to the top of the mixture. (Just place it on top.)
8. Put the cover on the slow cooker and set it for 6-8 hours on low or 3-5 hours on high. When it’s done you can leave it on warm for as long as you need to. I left it on warm for 2 hours before eating dinner.

10 minutes + 8 hours = a great meal!

I was shocked by how easy and tasty this meal is.

The hardest part is peeling, seeding, and chopping the butternut squash, which isn’t that hard at all. If you can manage that step, you’ve got this meal. It’s also almost impossible to screw up, which is good since I was doing it on my own (see last week’s pasta that needed to be rescued).

Equipment