Thursday, October 14, 2010

Lunch Time Blahs, Part Two

In my search to beat the Lunch Time Blahs I have discovered another yummy recipe to share with you. Parts of it happened by accident, but it turned out delicious! I like to call it, Sprouted Lentil Tacos. Here is how it happened.

I was soaking lentils overnight for a lentil taco recipe I was going to try and something happened the next day and they didn't get cooked. Later that night I panicked because the lentils were still soaking and I didn't know if they would turn to mush, so I drained them and left them in the colander overnight. The next morning I had cute little sprouted lentils! As most of you probably know, soaking and/or sprouting grains, legumes, nuts and seeds make them much more nutritious, so I was thrilled when I saw they had sprouted.

You may make the following recipe with non-soaked, soaked or sprouted lentils, it is your choice. This recipe is based on a recipe I found online called, Red Lentil Tacos. Here is my adaptation of it, as you can see, it is really only based loosely on her recipe.

Sprouted Lentil Tacos


1/2 to 1 whole onion, chopped
1/2 chopped bell pepper
chopped garlic
2 cups soaked or sprouted lentils
about 2 cups chicken broth or water
1 cup can tomato product of choice
salt and pepper

Saute the onion, peppers and garlic in a little olive oil until softened and slightly browned. Add the taco seasoning, salt and pepper. Saute for a few seconds to release the flavors. Add sprouted lentils, chicken stock and tomato product. You want the lentils covered with liquid but not drowning in liquid. Let simmer, uncovered for about 15-20 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed and mixture has become thickened. You might need to keep checking to make sure there is enough liquid. I usually don't measure, so the above is my best guess. Proceed with caution! ;-)
We serve this Sprouted Lentil Taco mixture in flour or corn tortilla wraps with lots of shredded cheese. It was very yummy. Healthy and Frugal!
As promised, here is my list of Lunch Ideas from my Meal Planning Notebook



Lunch Ideas


Spaghetti Sauce Pasta (Easy Tomato or Mine)
French Toast
Quinoa Burgers
Grilled Cheese
Lentil Burgers
Refried Beans and Rice
Saucy Black Beans and Rice or Quinoa
Muffins or Bars and Smoothie (yogurt or green)
Sandwiches
Lentil Chili and Cornbread or over rice or quinoa
Broccoli Pasta
Pesto Pasta
Bean Dip and Chips
Pizza Pockets
Taco Pockets
Hard Boiled Eggs and Veggies
Mock Sloppy Joes
Pizza
Fried Rice
Stir Fry w/ rice or quinoa
Taco Salad
Tacos
Taco Soup
Meatless Chili
Chili
Chips and Cheese
Egg Frittata (veggies)
Eggs and Hash browns
Goulash with rice pasta or over rice or spaghetti squash
Wild rice pilaf
Breakfast pizza with rice as the crust??

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would have thought Oh how cute ....! Enjoyed this and just may have to try this out ...love your recipes ...

primitive ole frugal mumma said...

yum i will be trying that recipe for sure i was thinking i may add some kidney beans to it as well ,we are starting on our no spend period tomorrow for 2 weeks so i will be looking for lots of ways to use up food from our deep freeze,pantry ,and stokepile cubard.....instead of running to the supermarket for this and that wish me luck ;-)