Lentils

Lentils are a legume that is fairly new to me.  I've eaten them only a few times before, in Indian food.  They are known as daal, and in the dishes I've tried, they were extremely tasty.   A few weeks ago, I tried to make lentils a meat replacement in shepards' pie.  Not good!  Not because they weren't good, but because the recipe I tried stunk.  I actually didn't even attempt to serve it to P because I knew he would hate it.

This weekend, I decided to sprout the remaining bag of lentils, which really took less than 24 hours.  Its so super easy to do, really.  You should give it a try!  Briefly, soak the lentils overnight, drain and let sit, moist for 12 hours.  If not sprouted yet, rinse and let sit for another 12 hours. Anyway, I found a great site about lentils that had a few recipes that I decided to give a try.

Tonight's dinner: Middle Eastern Lentil Soup
Ingredients:
2 cups of sprouted lentils
1 onion, diced
1 box (4 cups) veggie broth
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
scant 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp pink salt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Directions:
I didn't have time to mess around with doing it the prescribed way, so this is what I did:  In a pot, saute one diced onion in some water.  After the onion is transparent, add the spices and saute for a minute.  Add broth, bell pepper and lentils, cover and bring to a boil.  Drop to a simmer for 20 minutes or less, until the lentils are soft.  Add the lemon juice, parsley and yogurt.  Serve with a dollop of yogurt, if desired.

P and L had 2 bowls.  And the girls?  Well, they ate it...even though all my kids despise red bell peppers.  Oh, and I mean despise!  This recipe is another keeper, but I will have to double the recipe because I only had a small bowl, since there wasn't enough.

With the rest of the lentils, I made the lentils and rice.
Ingredients:
2 cups of brown rice, soaked and drained
7 cups water
2 onions, diced
3 cups sprouted lentils
2 tsp pink salt
2 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp garam masala
2 Tbsp curry powder
2 tsp oregano
4 tsp basil
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
4 bay leaves
Directions:
Saute the onion in a little water until transparent, then add the spices and saute for about a minute.  Add water, rice and lentils, bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce to a simmer until rice cooks, about an hour.

The recipe, as recorded, has too much salt and garlic, so I reduced the amounts in the above ingredient list.

The kids aren't loving the texture of the lentils, but they are nutritious and a quite easy legume to cook up (read: it takes 20 minute to cook, not 2 hours).  And, more importantly, they ate them :-)

How Rigorous should we go?

This past week has been met with a lot of questions about our diet...oh, and must I not forget...success, too.  That's right.  I am now down 9 pounds, to date without really working hard on the exercise front, and frankly, just staying away from animal products.  I must admit, I've had more than my share of sugar and crap, thanks to parties and stress.

Each time we've gone to a get-together, I've been asked about what we're eating these days.  People have been more than willing to try to accommodate our family's new plant-strong lifestyle.  Its much appreciated.  I must say though, I've been really lax about it when we are outside of the home.   Too funny, but L's teacher thinks this makes me the coolest mom.  Not really.  Its part laziness, part not wanting to be confrontational, part not wanting to be a hassle to our family and friends and lastly, not wanting to burden my children with always having to think about food.

What's that mean?  Let's see if I can make that a little more simple.  When we are out, I want my kids to be able to choose whatever they want to eat.  If L and J are at school, I don't want them to feel as if they can't have the same foods that the rest of their classmates are having.  I don't want them to have to explain to other kids that they don't eat meat or drink milk.  This is a decision they can make themselves as they grow.  I don't want my kids to feel uncomfortable, or my friends and family, when it comes time to eat.  Food is already such a stressor for people; why should we make it even more so?!

I've read tons of literature on healthy eating and seen tons of documentaries.  All you can really be certain of is that nothing is the definite right way to go.  Many people say veganism is unhealthy.  Many people say that consuming meat is unhealthy.  Dairy is unhealthy. Others say consuming grains and legumes is unhealthy.  Wow!  That sounds to me as if there really is nothing that is healthy to eat.  Right?  Confused yet?  I know I am.

Here's how our family has decided to proceed and tackle the each food groups.

Dairy: P and the kids still consume milk in tea.  I use almond milk which has more calcium and equal vitamin D as cow's milk.  We sometimes consume cheese, like when we are out (read: pizza) or when a dish that I've cooked really needs it.  I still have some butter, and yes, we've buttered our bread for toast twice since our new way of eating.  Oh, let's not forget the occasional ice cream. hee hee

Legumes and Grains: We are sprouting our grains and legumes in our to increase their nutritional value and their digestibility.  This requires a lot of planning, which I'm not great with, so when I don't plan properly, we eat unsprouted beans and grains.  Oops.  I've got to get better with that.

Nuts:  (Before you read this part, get all your giggles out.  Okay.  Done?  Continue)  We've started soaking our nuts over night, and then drying them in the oven to more easily digest them.  The kids and I love our nuts.  They are great as snacks, on salads, or ground up with dates and some coconut as a treat.

Animal Flesh:  We have not purchased nor consumed meat in our home since we have started our plant-strong approach to eating.  Now, that being said, P has been on business trips and ordered steak.  L has ordered hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken at school.  Every Sunday, the kids consume meat and eggs at my grandparents' house for brunch.  Tonight, they had pepperoni pizza, chicken wings and dairy based dips at my brother's Superbowl party.  Last night, pizza and hoagies at a birthday party.

Processed foods:  We stay away from processed foods as much as possible.  What's that mean?  We don't really buy anything that's already made in a box.  That being said, I will buy a couple boxes of organic cereal this week, just in case I don't have oatmeal made for breakfast or stuff for a green smoothie.  With this class of foods, I will add tofu and all non-animal animal products (vegan cheese, tofu, vegan meat).  I'm pretty certain that God didn't create those things, so why should we eat them?!

Soy:  This goes for soy milk, tofu, edamame and any other soy products.  If its not organic, I'm not purchasing it.  That's it.  Non-organic soy is not healthy, especially for developing reproductive systems.  Hmmm...Monsanto, maybe you should stop poisoning your consumers!  You can read about the dangers of soy here or here or just do your own Google search for dangers of soy.  Organic soy, especially when fermented, and served in small condiment sizes are safe.  So, occasionally, I will offer soy to my family, in organic form only.

Eggs: I'd say that we consume eggs once or twice a week, typically on Sundays and in baked goods.  Eggs are hidden quite well, and frankly, I don't have the time, energy or inclination to search for them.  Who does? Sheesh.  We've got lives to live.

Fruits and Veggies: These are always available to my kids, and they typically choose to snack on fruit.  We try to eat as many as possible, though some of us are more successful than others.

Healthy Fats: There is a big debate about healthy fats.  Some say that no fats are healthy, some say you need healthy fats to live and lose weight.  One argument made is that there was a big fat free push several years back, and as a result, our culture got fatter.  To the arguer, this means that fat free is bad.  Let's look at this a different way.  During the fat free fad, the items that went fat free were mostly processed foods to which extra sugar was added to make up for the lack of taste. We know that processed foods and excess sugar contribute to weight gain, so we can not be certain that the fat free diet caused the weight gain.  The Engine 2 Diet pushes no fats, or very little.  For my family, especially with an infant, toddler, preschooler and kindergartner that don't have weight problems, we feel that healthy fat is fine and don't shy away from it.  We offer avocado, nuts (preferably pre-soaked), coconut milk and unsweetened coconut.

In a nutshell, at home, we are striving to stay away from meat, increase our veggies and fruits, sprout our legumes and grains, soak our nuts, reduce our dairy and in general, stay away from as much sugar as possible.  Outside of our home, we have decided to just allow our kids to make their own decisions. As far as the adults?  P chooses meat occasionally.  I have only eaten meat once, out of desperation and sheer starvation.  We have just resolved to try to make healthy decisions, but indulge when it is appropriate and in the appropriate manner.  

Let me be honest here.  If you invite me over and have baked goods, I'm going to try some.  Okay, I've said it!  The sweet tooth reigns supreme.  But, if you come to my house, you shouldn't be surprised not to find those same items here.  Instead, we will be more than happy to offer you our fruit, veggies, legumes, nuts and grains.

Making our food more Digestible

Ever heard that eating healthy is expensive?  IT IS!  Holy hannah!  In an effort to save money, I started looking into beans.  Not only are they inexpensive dry, but they are a great substitute for meat.

PROBLEM!  Sorry, but I have to say it.  Beans make our home one stinky place.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I'm sure I don't need to elaborate any further.

Briefly, our bodies have a hard time breaking beans down.  They get stuck in our intestines where they begin to ferment, causing a build up of gas which we release.  Not good.

One way to combat this is to sprout your beans.  Essentially, you allow the bean to sprout, to grow another bean before you eat it.  For more information, click here.  Basically, you soak the item over night, then you rinse and keep damp for the next 1-3 days, rinsing once every 12 hours, until the little sprouts form.  Its pretty easy.  To date, I've sprouted brown rice, chickpeas, black beans, oats and lentils (I think).

Do they taste different?  I'd be lying if I said no, but not too noticeable.  Does it help with the fermentation?  Yes.  Yes, it does.  I defiantly have noticed when I've eaten canned beans, as opposed to sprouted beans.

When I was reading about sprouting, I also read that you should soak your nuts, too.  Okay, are you done giggling? hee hee.  Get your mind out of the gutter.  The other day, I decided to do just that and soaked our raw almonds over night.  After soaking, I dehydrated them in our oven.  Yum!  These tasted so much better than unsoaked almonds.  The flavor was more developed and they weren't as mushy, if you could describe a nut that way.  Okay, I think I should just call this topic done.  Eek! hahaha


I'm interested in whether or not anyone else sprouts/soaks their foods to improve digestibility.  Does it work for your family?

Veggie and Chickpea Curry

Yes, yes, yes!  I used my sprouted chickpeas and they didn't taste any different from the others, except that they didn't taste a strong.  I made a veggie and chickpea curry with it.

If you want to give it a try, here's what I threw into the crockpot on high for 6 hours:

1 onion
1 cup of frozen french cut green beans
3 Tbsp curry powder
2 Tbsp cumin
4 chopped cloves of garlic
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
3 cups chickpeas
2 carrots, sliced
1 chopped red pepper
1 (14 oz) can of veggie broth
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp brown sugar

A couple of minutes before serving, I threw in 3 handfuls of spinach and 1 can of coconut milk.

This was so good!  The original recipe called for no cumin and only 1 Tbsp of curry powder, but believe me, it needed more.

I even threw a ladle of the curry into the food processor so that Q could have some.  And guess what, she liked it!  Yay! The other kids though, they whined and whined and whined about having to eat it.  Ugh!  C was going to eat hers until she noticed the other 2 refusing, then she joined in on it.  Eventually, L decided to try it and then ate the whole bowl.  I had to throw J and C's in the food processor like Q' s to get them to eat it.  It was frustrating, but they ate it, so I was thrilled.

Give it a try!

Adventures in Sprouting: Chickpeas

There is a nutritional school of thought known as essential eating.  Briefly, the idea is to eat only real foods and in their most nutritious form.  This means buying organic and eating your legumes and grains in a sprouted form.  The idea is that when you sprout legumes and grains, they become easier to digest and increase their nutritional value.  If you want more information, click here or here.

Since P and I have decided to reduce our animal consumption, we need to increase our consumption of legumes for their protein.  One of our favorites is garbanzo beans, aka chickpeas.  I have a recipe for a chickpea curry that I really wanted to try, and I want to make some hummus, so I figured I would give this sprouting a try.

2 days ago, I opened a bag of Full Circle Organic Dried Garbanzo Beans, rinsed and then soaked them for 12 hours.

Next, I rinsed them in a colander and laid them in a pyrex baking dish, still moist, and set them in my oven so they'd be out of the way.

12 hours after that, I came to give them another rinse when I noticed that my garbanzo beans had sprouted.  WooHoo!

As P said, I am really boring.  This has truly excited me.  They are cutie patooties; chickpeas with little white tails.

I also have black beans that are currently in the oven, hopefully sprouting.  Every 12 hours, I will rinse them and drop them back in the dish.  I'm hoping that in another 36 hours, they will be as beautiful as my chickpeas.

Oh, and let me not forget my brown rice.  I soaked them overnight and now, they too have little white buds on the ends, too.  I feel like a sprouting queen princess.  Those black beans are still iffy.  I'm going to store my babies in the fridge for 3-5 days in an airtight container.

Next, I am going to try to sprout some wheat berries and make my own sprouted bread.  Now, to find some more time....