Here is the transcript of the episode:
Welcome to The Sensitive Kitchen. Where home cooks are inspired to Cook to Enable Those You Love to Flourish.
I’m Cindy Sullivan, registered dietitian, passionate nutrition, educator, and accomplished home cook. Whether you’re changing, how you cook for food sensitivities, allergies, intolerances, or just trying to eat healthier on a budget, you’re in the right place.
Most episodes, I will share favorite recipes as well as modification tips, and nutrition benefits. Occasionally I’ll have a guest or special episode like modifying holiday favorites.
My favorite foods? They’re raspberries and homemade chocolate chip cookies. My latest cooking project was long fermented sourdough bread.
Today, we’re going to talk about an inexpensive lentil dish served over brown rice – loaded with fiber plant protein and easily made vegan.
But before we talk about food, I want to talk to you about the very first class Food Sensitivity Kitchen is offering.
It’s for you if you’re cooking for multiple food sensitivities and are looking for ways to make cooking dinner easier or taste better. If this is you, are you part of any groups or programs to help you create a personalized plan to get dinner on the table every night?
If this sounds interesting, I would love to talk to you about Cooking to Flourish: Meals Your Food Sensitive Family Enjoys. Go to foodsensitivitykitchen.com to schedule this free 15 minute consultation with Cindy (me) this week.
If it’s January, 2021, Cooking to Flourish is an intimate “cooking lab in your own kitchen”, and it will enable you to put delicious dinners on the table that your family enjoys, that they feel good after eating and ensure you don’t spend all day in the kitchen.
This is a beta launch offered for a special price. So for more information, go to foodsensitivitykitchen.com/cooking to flourish or food sensitivitykitchen.com/schedule, or email me at Cindy@ food sensitivitykitchen.com.
In case you’re doing the dishes or walking or driving right now, the links will be on the show notes for this episode.
Lentils and tomato sauce is a warm nourishing recipe with French flavors as it’s written, but the spices are easily modified. So if you prefer Southwestern flavors – chili powder, cumin, cilantro in place of the parsley would be good. Or for Indian with Curry powder and ginger.
This recipe is naturally top eight allergen-free plus lentils are inexpensive. So it’s easy on your budget as an added bonus. It freezes well.
Let’s talk a little bit about this recipe. Remember, you’re going to find the full recipe with ingredients at foodsensitivitykitchen.com/013. This is episode zero one three of The Sensitive Kitchen Podcast.
Lentils are legumes that don’t need to be soaked. So you don’t have to decide the night before that you want to make this for dinner,
Put your lentils in the colander and pick out any dirt or rocks or shriveled lentils. Rinse them well. Remember, although they come in a bag, these are raw vegetables. So you want to clean them.
Peel and chop your carrots and onions. Saute them in oil in a large pot over medium heat for about three to five minutes.
I use my eight quart stockpot. If you have a Dutch oven that works great. It doesn’t have to be quite as large as an eight quart, but you want probably at least six quarts.
Turn the heat down to low, add the spices. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds until the spices are fragrant. Then you want to quickly add some liquid so the spices don’t burn. You’re going to add the rest of the liquid and the lentils.
Add the parsley, if you’re using it. Cook for about 45 minutes to an hour stirring, occasionally. In this dish, you want the lentils to be tender, but intact. I use brown lentils, which I can easily find in the grocery store and they tend to hold their shape better than the red or some other lentils. You’re going to serve this either over brown rice or the whole grain of your choice.
This recipe not only freezes well, but it reheats well for lunches and dinners later in the week.
Let’s talk about modifications or substitutions.
You don’t need many in this recipe, but if you’re vegan or cooking for someone who’s vegan, just swap out the chicken broth for your favorite vegetable stock.
Like I said, we serve this over Brown rice, but substitute any favorite whole grain, whether it’s quinoa or amaranth or whatever you like to serve.
We tend to use shallots in place of the onions in my family. So I use two shallots, even though it’s less volume than two onions are.
Let’s talk a little bit about the wine. I modified this recipe about 20 years ago, and it called for one cup of lentils and one cup of wine.
Well, when I increased the lentils to a pound of lentils, I didn’t want to increase the wine – that was going to be too much for us. I actually decreased the wine a little bit and use one of the small little six ounce bottles because I buy those bottles – for cooking – in the grocery store. If you increase or decrease the wine from what’s called, just increase or decrease the water so that you maintain the same amount of liquid.
Spice variations:
As I mentioned, try different spice variations. If you like smoked paprika, for example, that might add a very interesting taste to this dish. I adore thyme and marjoram. So this recipe appeals to me as it’s written, but I mentioned Southwestern, Indian, the possibilities are really endless, and this is a great – think of it as a blank canvas to experiment with your favorite recipes – or your favorite spices that your family enjoys.
In terms of nutrition
This recipe makes about eight generous servings and for about 270 calories, about 15% of your daily caloric intake if you eat about 2000 calories in a day, you get
About 75% of the B vitamin folate that you need.
18 grams of fiber. Now the recommendation for adults for fiber is somewhere between 25 and 35 grams a day. This gives you 18. That’s a lot.
It gives you about 18 grams of plant protein, about as much as three ounces of meat. Three ounces of meat, it’s going to give you about 21 grams of protein. This gives you about 18.
You also get about 785 milligrams of potassium. That’s a lot. It’s about 25% of the potassium you need if you’re a man and about 30% of you’re a woman. Remember potassium is going to help lower your risk of high blood pressure, or can even help lower your blood pressure.
This recipe also supplies about all of the vitamin A you need in a day in the form of beta carotene, which is also an antioxidant.
If you use the parsley in this recipe, you also get about 70 micrograms of vitamin K. Now women only need 90 in a day in this gives you 70. Men need about 120. So it’s more than half.
Enjoy this recipe. Let me know how you like it. Shoot me an email or leave me a review on my website, foodsensitivitykitchen.com/013.
And that’s where you’ll find the link to the recipe with lots of pictures, as well as the ingredients and amounts as well as a transcript for this podcast.
Remember if you’re listening in January, 2021, Cooking to Flourish, the intimate “cooking lab in your own kitchen” is launching right now this week. It is our beta launch.
It’ll help you put delicious dinners on the table that your family enjoys, that they feel good after eating, and ensure that you don’t spend all day in the kitchen.
If this sounds interesting, I would love to talk to you about Cooking to Flourish. Go to foodsensitivitykitchen.com/schedule to schedule a free 15 minute consultation with me this week if you’re listening in January, 2021.
Thanks for listening. Keep Cooking to Enable Those You love to Flourish and keep serving those vegetables!
Have a great day. Bye-bye.
