Baked Lentils with Cheese

1 3/4 cup lentils, rinsed
2 cups water
1 whole bay leaf
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp sage
1/8 tsp thyme
2 large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups canned tomatoes
2 large carrots, sliced 1/8 inch thick
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Combine lentils, water, bay leaf, salt pepper, spices, onions, garlic, and tomatoes in a shallow 9x13 baking dish. Cover tightly and bake 30 minutes.
3. Uncover and stir in carrots and celery. Bake, covered, 40 minutes until vegetables are tender.
4. Stir in green pepper and parsley. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake, uncovered, 5 minutes until cheese melts.

Source: More-With-Less

Try #1 - August 25, 2011
This sounded gross, but was actually very good. It was the cheese that did it for me. :) Nothing like a nice layer of melted cheddar... mmm...

Corn Chowder

1 16-ounce bag frozen corn
1 15.5 ounce can corn (and juice)
1 quart chicken broth
1 small onion, diced
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese
salt to taste

1. Empty both corns into your crockpot. Add chicken broth, onion, and pepper. Drop in cream cheese. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours, or until onion is translucent and the soup is fully heated.
2. Stir well. Use either an immersion blender or ladle the soup into a blender and pulse.

Source: Let's Eat!

Try #1 - August 15, 2011
I added carrots, potatoes, green peppers, peas, and a small amount of chicken. This was good, although for some reason chowders with corn always taste really rich to me. Maybe it's our Trader Joe's super sweet corn... But all and all, a good and easy soup.

Tzatziki #2

2 English cucumbers
6 cloves garlic, peeled
Salt
2 lbs (4 cups) Greek-style yogurt
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
4 Tbsp olive oil

1. Grate the cucumbers and place in a colander, weighted down with a plate for 15 minutes, so that some of their liquid drains out. Gather up in a some muslin and squeeze any remaining liquid out.
2. Place the garlic cloves and a little salt in a mortar. Crush with the pestle until the garlic is pureed.
3. Put the cucumber, garlic, yogurt, vinegar, and pepper into a food processor. Blend until smooth, slowly adding the oil while the blades are running. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Source: Modern Greek

Try #1 - November 2011
Yummity yum yum yum! I love all things Greek.

Slow Cooker Mexican Black Beans

1 pound black beans, soaked overnight, then drained
6 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
6 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, or 2 cups fresh chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder

1. Put the drained beans into your slow cooker, then add the chopped garlic, broth, tomatoes, cumin, and chili powder. Stir well to combine.
2. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Source: A Year of Slow Cooking

Try #1 - August 4, 2011
This was just ok for me. To be fair to the recipe, I forgot to add the garlic. That probably would have added quite a bit of flavor. :) Also, I found the 6 cups of broth to be way to much - the beans were very soupy. Next time I would only use 4 or 5 cups of liquid. Nathan really liked this dish, so I'd probably make it again. It's super easy in the crockpot, which is always a plus.

Chickpea Fritters

2 3/4 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight (8 cups cooked)
1 large yellow onion, peeled
1 large potato, peeled and boiled
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Olive oil for frying
1/2 lemon

1. Drain the chickpeas and place in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil, skimming off any froth with a slotted spoon. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Drain and allow to cool.
2. Put the chickpeas, onion, potato, flour, egg and parsley into a food processor. Blend until smooth, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Heat about 1/2 inch of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet. Shape the mixture into fritters (about 15), adding a little more flour if the mixture is too wet. Cook several fritters at a time for 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Using spatula, transfer the fritters to paper towels to drain. Set aside in a warm place while you cook the remaining mixture. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.

Source: Modern Greek

Try #1 - June 21, 2011
Delicious! I used previously-cooked frozen chickpeas (about 5 cups), which made it much faster. This also meant that I didn't need to let it refrigerate for 30 minutes before frying. Since I used fewer chickpeas than the recipe called for, I only used 1 cup of flour (and I used whole wheat). Everything else was the same. One very valuable lesson I learned: blenders are not the same as food processors! I mean, I know this, but I tried to blend everything in a blender... and it didn't work so well. I was able to puree some of the chickpeas, but I ended up having to mash it all together by hand. So there were some chunks in the fritters, but it didn't really seem to matter in taste or even texture - they were still pretty smooth. I kind of liked the fried onion pieces that were on the outside of some of the fritters. If I were to make this again (assuming I still don't have a food processor), I would put only the chickpeas in the blender (and thaw them first), and cut the onion and parsley very fine so I could just mash it all together in a bowl. The frying went great - I had my heat at 5:00 (medium high). Nathan LOVED this. It went well with some ketchup, although next time I'd like to plan ahead enough to make some tzatziki to go with it.

Chicken-Pineapple Skillet

2 or 3 chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 10-12 strips
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, halved and sliced
1 cup celery, sliced diagonally
1 green pepper, cut into strips
2 cups pineapple chunks, drained (reserve juice)
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

1. Combine pineapple juice, cornstarch, cinnamon, and soy sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet. Over high heat saute strips of chicken. Sprinkle with salt and stir constantly for 3 minutes.
3. Add onion, celery, and green pepper and continue to cook, stirring constantly 2 minutes.
4. Add pineapple, then juice mixture. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook just until clear. Serve over hot rice.

Source: More-With-Less

Try #1 - June 20, 2011
Easy, yummy, a crowd-pleaser - William gobbled it up!

Hearty Lentil-Sausage Soup

1 lb pork sausage, broken into chunks
2 medium onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 medium parsnips, cut in chunks (optional)
2 cups lentils
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 tsp marjoram
2 cups cooked tomatoes or juice
2 quart water
1 loaf Italian bread
Tabasco sauce

1. Brown sausage in 5 qt. kettle. Remove meat and pour off all but 1/4 cup drippings.
2. Add onions, garlic, and parsnips. Cook 5 minutes or until onions and garlic are tender.
3. Add lentils, salt, marjoram, tomatoes, water, browned sausage. Simmer 30 minutes or until tender.
4. Cut Italian bread in diagonal slices. To serve, place a bread slice in each soup bowl and spoon soup over bread. Pass Tabasco sauce.

Source: More-With-Less

Try #1 - June 19, 2011
So, I made some significant changes to this recipe - I discovered I only had 1 cup of lentils left, not 2, so I added a russet potato. I also used carrots and celery instead of parsnips. I only used about 1/3 lb of sausage - I think this was enough. Because I was had less lentils, I reduced the amount of water to 1 quart. In general though, this dish was well received! It was great with Peasant Bread.