Lentils?

Do either of you have a good recipe that uses lentils in a salad? Or at least isn't a soup? (besides the obvious lentil recipe below).

Just a note that I made Helen's ChickPea Cutlets tonight and they were DELIGHTFUL.

Quick and Spicy Tomato Soup

Sorry, I have no picture for this, but this soup is great and sooo easy! I got is off the food network though, so I can't really take much of the credit.

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (26-ounce) jar marinara sauce
  
• 2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, and garlic and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the jar of marinara sauce, chicken broth, cannellini beans, red pepper flakes, pasta, salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Sometimes I add meat, but its really not necessary.

Chickpea Cutlets

So my friend Betty made me this Vegan meal over the weekend and I HAD to get the recipe from her. SO delicious. And so simple to make.

• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
• 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth or water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated with a Microplane grater
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
  
• Olive oil for pan frying

1 - mash up the chickpeas in a big bowl with the Olive oil.
2 - ad the rest of the ingredients and kneed them till you get strings of gluten (3 min max)
3 - heat up a large pan with a decent amount olive oil while you form the "cutlets" with your hands. I formed them in my hands and then squished them on a cutting board.
4 - fry them till they are golden brown. I doubled the batch and am freezing the rest for later - sandwiches maybe. Man they are so so good.

I think next time I am going to bake them. YUM!

Installment 01 and 02

Fellow trouts and monkeys in kind:

Let's get started.

My friends Matt and Kerry gave me a pressure cooker a couple of weeks ago and out of gratitude, I shot my first 2 meals I created with it. Thus we have ready-made content.

So here we have them:

Installment 01 : Celery, Corn and Potato Chowder
AKA Amy's first attempt at using a pressure cooker.

Time in the pot: about 8 minutes

I kid you not. This thing is incredible. The potatoes where on the stove for 6 minutes. Without a pressure cooker, this would take more like 30 minutes. Better than ye olde microwave.

Mon dieu.

Installment 02 : Lentils with Squash