Lovely Legumes

Well despite the growing list I have, I’m finding it difficult to motivate myself.  I only just finished creating my Christmas cards despite having the pictures and idea a month ago!  The good news is I can feel my motivation turning around… tonight I’m going to work on another project I’ve been procrastinating on.

Julius apparently wrote a list to Santa in preschool and he was really excited to tell me “there’s a magic mailbox!”  I asked him what he asked Santa for and he told me “a jelly cake”.  I asked what a jelly cake was, and he told me, “Santa will understand I drew him a picture.”  When pressed for more information none was forthcoming.  I might be doomed on that front unless I can convince him to write Santa a back up letter, you know, in case the magic mailbox doesn’t work.  I guess I’ll have to work on that.

Patricia is extremely good at speaking.  Almost completely understandable, even to strangers.  But there are certain words that she gets a bit wrong.  For instance, she always says “applesauce” in place of “octopus”.  And no matter how many times you correct her she says “shark” for “sharp”.  As in “That’s shark?”  This conversation is one of the best recently.

Patricia: (pointing at her hat) “My bugs are in the kitty hat”
Julius:  “It’s a bear hat Patricia, not a kitty hat”
Me: “Well if we’re working on accuracy they’re also called gloves, not bugs”

So I’ve been on a lentil kick lately.  Obviously the “turkey” lentils have been a hit in our house.  Wait.  I forgot to tell you the story about the Thanksgiving lentils.  The day before Thanksgiving I decided to make my thanksgiving lentil stuffed delicata recipe in preparation for Thanksgiving.  My sister in law was very sweet and sourced and purchased some delicata squash from Trader Joe’s, having never eaten them herself.  I was more than a little surprised when she brought home these football sized pudgy delicata squash.  They had their signature markings on them though, so I just figured it was a “things are bigger in the south” situation.

Well I made the lentil filling the night before turkey day, and on Thanksgiving morning I decided to cut a delicata squash in half to stuff.  It was HARD.  I have never had so much trouble cutting a delicata in half; this was like cutting a piece of wood in half.  I finally got one of them cut in half and scooped out.  I then heaped the filling in the two halves and put it directly in the stove.  After about an hour the squash did not feel even remotely done.  The skin and flesh was not getting soft.  I figured it was because the squash was so large.  So I returned it to the oven and cooked it for another entire hour until we had to leave for Thanksgiving and I’d given up.  The squash was brought to our host’s house and disappeared into the kitchen to I have no idea where.  So when it came time to eat, the squash was no where to be found (this was a blessing in disguise).  It didn’t matter because one of our friends had made a delicious lentil, butternut squash and goat cheese dish that was superb.

When we returned home later that evening I found someone had retrieved the squash from wherever it had been and returned it to my in laws’ fridge.  I decided to have myself a helping (in this case 1/4 of one of the enormous squash halves).  I noticed it was still incredibly hard to cut thru the skin, and when I went to eat a bite, the flesh came apart in strands… like spaghetti.  That’s when a everything clicked into place and I realized that these enormous squash were definitely spaghetti squash masquerading as delicata.  One bite confirmed it.  It also confirmed that spaghetti squash cannot be substituted for delicata squash in the lentil recipe!

Anyway I had a few lentil setbacks including burning a pot of lentils on the stove (did you know burned lentils smell like cannabis)?  Will came downstairs and said in all seriousness “one of our neighbors is smoking weed, who do you think it is?”  I would have laughed had I not been extremely grumpy since I’d only just the discovered the burned lentils after wandering back upstairs wondering where the smell of cannabis was coming from.  But these setback have not been enough to dissuade me from loving lentils (though I will never, ever eat burned lentils again).  They are an amazing meat substitute.  I love making Impossible shepherd’s pie, but usually I try to limit our intake of processed foods so I’ve been trying to do more with legumes instead.  Well this recipe is a great substitute for an impossible meat version, and it’s just as quick.  It’s also probably less than half the cost  I’ve made it several times and there have never been leftovers.  Also fun fact, I originally tried to make this with mashed squash as the topping – it was not as good as it sounded to me.

Vegetarian Lentil Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry green/brown lentils
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3tbsp soy sauce
• 1tsp of vegetable boullion/1 cup water OR 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2.5 cups frozen peas
• 2 packages instant mashed potatoes prepared according to package directions – I prefer to get the garlic version

Simmer lentils in a pot of water (about 4 or 5 cups) for 25 minutes until they soften, stirring frequently.  Add more water as necessary to prevent them from burning.  Drain.

In a large saute pan, saute onion in olive oil for 5 minutes or so until softened, add garlic and continue to cook for an additional 2 minutes until fragrant.  Add lentils to the pan and add the bouillion/water or broth and soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste.  Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.  Add peas, cover and cook an additional 5 minutes until peas are tender.

Move lentil mixture to a 9.5″ pyrex pie dish (lentils should have some liquid left but not an excessive amount) and cover with prepared mashed potatoes.  (I know the instant kind are a bit shameful, but to me they are a comfort food, like the Thursday canned turkey and instant mashed potatoes hot lunch from elementary school.  That slop was divine. If you are morally opposed to instant potatoes use your favorite fresh recipe).  Rough up the mashed potatoes a bit with a fork.   At this point you can store it in the fridge for the next day.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes (or an hour from cold).