I have a goal in life. Well, not just one goal but a small goal regarding cooking and recipe creation. I want to make something that impresses the Baker. Sure I can impress my mom, maybe my sister and perhaps a gaggle of friends on occasion, but it is a much harder thing to impress someone who is routinely surrounded by the best food you can get your hands on. Like is one thing, impress is another. I am sure he has liked at least some of the things I have cooked, but been impressed by, blown away by, running home to recreate over and over again? Not quite yet. Someday I will accomplish that. Until then, I am just going to work at it and create dishes and hopefully come up with enough good ones that I can make a cookbook out of them. Ha, right. Dreams are what they are…
On Friday, I was hankering for some lentils. Lentils are something I have not spent any time cooking, but definitely enjoy. When I bought a few bags of lentils at the co-op I was sort of wondering what the heck I was thinking. All I knew was that I wanted Lentils, Bacon and Sweet Potato. The combo sounded delicious. I poured over a bunch of recipes for ideas and technique, but found nothing exactly like what I was looking for. There are plenty of Lentil Bacon Salads, but I wanted something warm and warming.
While this recipe may not have taken down my small goal, it was pretty delicious.
Lentils with Bacon and Sweet Potato
Ingredients:
1.5 cups french lentils
1 large sweet potato, diced
water
1 onion , halved
1 carrot, halved
7 pieces bacon, cut into thin strips
½ tbsp. olive oil
½ cup red onion, diced
½ cup carrot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt
4 tbsp. whole grain mustard
1 ½ tbsp. red wine vinegar
Directions:
Place lentils, halved carrot and onion and sweet potato in a medium pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer until the lentils are cooked. Turn off heat, add a dash of salt. Remove carrot and onion.
Meanwhile in a large skillet before turning on the heat, place the bacon and the olive oil in the pan. Raise heat and cook bacon. Add diced carrots and onions and cook for 3-5 minutes, until slightly tender. Add a dash of salt and the garlic.
Drain lentils and add to skillet, tossing to coat (gently). Turn off heat. Add mustard and red wine vinegar. Adjust seasoning.
There is a huge secondary storm rolling into Seattle this evening and in preparation I headed to the grocery store in order to buy enough Brussel Sprouts to help me ride it out. Actually, I picked up my mom and took her to the grocery store because her car was already stuck in her garage which is at the bottom of a steep driveway. I did however want to pick up more Brussel Sprouts. I didn’t eat any yesterday and so I had to pick some up! When I got to the co-op, I learned the Brussel Sprouts were snowed out. Not snowed out as in destroyed, but snowed out of delivery (phew!). That meant I probably would be able to find some, somewhere. And I did, naturally. Thankfully, it was at the second grocery store that we needed to go to anyways. Otherwise, I would have raced against the storm clouds that were zooming ominously across the sky towards us to find some.
The love of my life: Brussel Sprouts
Bunkerdown Brussel Sprouts and Roast Veg
Ingredients:
1 sweet potato, chopped
2 small parnips, chopped
3 blue potatoes, chopped
10 cloves garlic
2 cups brussel sprouts
1 cup cauliflower
8 baby carrots, halved
3 mini bell peppers
1 cup button mushroom
2 tbsp. peri peri seasoning
.25 cup olive oil
Directions:
Preheat Oven to 375. Combine all ingredients in a large glass baking dish. Bake for 45-1hr, until the veggies are to desired level of tenderness.
Optional: 30 minutes into cooking, drizzle a combination of 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp grain mustard (mixed) over the vegetables and toss to coat. Return to cooking.
Roasted to Perfection
Cheers to Blizzard Warnings! - Gluten Free Cider, yum!
