Lemon Lentil Salad

I've been eating a lot of Lentils with fried mushrooms and onion, which I love, but I wanted to try them as a salad to see how that would work. In the "Racing Weight Cookbook" I came across a "Lentil Salad" recipe. This is basically it but I added in the lemon to make it a little more "Summer-y".



Ingredients:
2 - Cups Water
1 - Cup Brown Lentils
2 - Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 - Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 - Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 - Tbsp White Vinegar
1/4 - Tsp Salt
1/4 - Cup Red Onion minced
1/3 - Cup Carrots minced

Directions:
Rinse Lentils under running water.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, then add 1 cup of Lentils and reduce to low. Simmer for 25 - 30 minutes or until the lentils have almost complete adsorbed the water. At this point you will want to add 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Let the lentils cool.

While the Lentils are cooking, mince up your carrots.

(I used baby carrots)

Mince up the red onion.

In a large bowl combined the Mustard, Oil and Vinegar.

Mix in the onion and carrots.

Once the Lentils are ready, add them to the onion / carrot mixture

Gently stir and then cool in the fridge for an hour or so. This will help the flavors combined.

Place some baby spinach leaves on a plate.

Top with Lentil Mixture.

Then pour a couple glasses of Chilled White Wine.

And enjoy on the back deck!



One of the thing you can do with the extra lentils is make Lettuce wraps. Using a head of lettuce, pull off large leaves, scoop in some of the lentils and eat. It makes for a very simple lunch the next day :)

Red Lentil Soup

My Red Lentil soup started out as an accident. I never really liked green lentils but then I found out that brown lentils cooked in beef broth gave a really "beefy" flavor and I've been eating them for a while now. I picked up some red lentils wondering what they would taste like. I cooked them the same way but the red lentils started breaking down and not absorbing the beef broth like the green and brown lentils did. I let them cook longer and longer but it still wouldn't absorb. At this point I looked up red lentil recipes and they were pretty much only used in soups so I decided to turn it into a soup!



Ingredients:
1 - Cup Lentils
4 - Cups Beef Broth
1 - Cup Water
3 - Cloves Garlic
1/2 - Onion Chopped
3 to 4 - Mushrooms Chopped
1/2 - Red Pepper Chopped
2 - Tsp Cumin
2 - Tsp Parsley

Directions:
Rinse lentil before using. This is important to help remove the bitter coating on them. In a Large Pot Bring the beef broth to a boil and add in Lentils. Cook for about 25 - 30 minutes.

In the mean time chop up the Garlic, Onion, Mushrooms and Red Pepper.

(Chop the Mushrooms thicker to make the soup more "meatier") 

Fry the Onion, Mushrooms and Red Pepper over a medium-low heat for about 8 minutes or until everything starts to get translucent.

Add in the Garlic, Cumin and Parsley then fry for another minute or so

Pour the mixture into the Lentils along with the additional cup of water.

Bring to a boil again then simmer for 10 - 15 minutes to allow the flavors to combined.

Ladle into bowls and enjoy with some soft bread :)

Rhubarb Crumble Bars

I've had Rhubarb in my vegetable garden for some time now but I've never done anything with it.

I decided to lookup some recipes and I came up with Rhubarb Cake and Rhubarb Crumble Bars. I really like Strawberry Rhubarb Cake but I wanted to try something a little different. This recipe comes from the Martha Stewart website (the video is located here) and I was actually pretty impressed with it. Take a look and let me know what you think!



Ingredients (Rhubarb Mixture):
1/2 - Pound of Rhubarb
1 - Tbsp of Brown Sugar
1/2 - Cup Flour

Ingredients (Crumble):
1/2 - Cup Brown Sugar
1 - Cup of Flour
6 - Tbsp of unsalted melted butter

Ingredients (Cake Base):
3/4 - Cup Flour
1/2 - Tsp of Baking Powder
1/4 - Tsp of Fine Salt
3/4 - Icing Sugar
1/2 - Cup of unsalted soften Butter
2 - Eggs
1/2 - Tsp of Vanilla Extract


Directions (Rhubarb Mixture):
Trim the ends of the Rhubarb and discard the leaves (they are poisonous or so I'm told).

(This is more than 1/2 lbs)

Cut the Rhubarb into small pieces and put into a bowl.

 (I only ended up using about a 1/4 of this and freezing the remained)

Measure out 1/4 Cup of flour.

Add it to the Rhubarb along with the Tbsp of brown sugar (not shown).

Mix together. The flour will help to absorb some of the natural waters in the Rhubarb and the Brown Sugar gives a tangy sweat balance.

Directions (Crumble):
Measure out a 1/2 cup of Brown Sugar.

Add to a bowl with the flour.

Melt 6 Tbsp of butter (about 100ml).

Add to the flour mixture.

Mix together with a fork until it forms clumps and everything starts to combined, then set it aside.

Directions (Cake Base):
In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Measure out 3/4 cups of icing sugar.

Add it to another large bowl with the softened butter.

Beat until combined.

Add your eggs one at a time making sure to fully mix after each one. Then mix in the vanilla extract.

Pour in the flour mixture and mix together.

Get an 8 x 8 baking disk. Butter, line with parchment paper and lightly flour. Make sure to leave enough paper hanging over the edges to allow for easy removal. Spread the mixture into the baking dish and spread evenly with a spatula.

Sprinkle the Rhubarb mixture evenly over the top.

Then the Crumble mixture goes over top.

Put into a 350 degree oven and bake for 40 - 45 minutes. A tooth pick inserted into the center should come out with moist crumbs.

Once the crumble bars come out of the oven you want to let them cool completely before removing them from the pan.

Cut up pieces and enjoy :)

 (I'm going to have a piece with some ice cream and I'll update the photo once I do)