Weekly Recipe: Curried Lentils with Yams & Swiss Chard

Mmmmmmm… Happy Valentine’s Day. Here’s a nearly plastic-free recipe that Michael first made for Thanksgiving and then I recreated this weekend. Enjoy.

Curried Lentils with Yams & Swiss Chard Based on this recipe from the NY Times.

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 1-1/2 teaspoons ginger powder (Recipe calls for fresh ginger, but we didn’t have any in the house.) 1-1/2 teaspoons garam masala 1-1/2 teaspoons curry powder 4 cups “Better Than Bouillon” broth mix 2 pounds yams, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups) 1-1/2 cups dried lentils 1 bay leaf 1 pound Swiss chard, center ribs removed, leaves thinly sliced 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper Finely grated zest of 1 lime Juice of 1/2 lime

Notes on ingredients packaging: 1) Lentils purchased from bulk bin at Rainbow Grocery. Zero packagin… Read the rest

Weekly Recipes: Lentil Loaf & Turnip Mashed Potatoes

I tell ya, vegan-hood is not far away. We made this lentil loaf over the weekend and served it to a couple of friends. Let’s just say, there weren’t any leftovers. The only animal products were one egg in the lentil loaf and a bit of butter in the potatoes, which could probably have been omitted. You’ll see why.

Recipe 1: Red Lentil Loaf (Based on this Food.com recipe.)

1 cup dried red lentils (Purchased from bulk bin at Rainbow Grocery w/ my own bag. Zero packaging.) 1 cup rolled oats (Purchased from bulk bin at Rainbow Grocery w/ my own bag. Zero packaging.) 1 whole egg (Carboard egg carton. Usually I can return these to the guy at the farmer’s market when he’s there.) 1 cup cooked quinoa (Purchased from bulk bin at Berkeley Bowl w/ my own bag. Zero packaging. The original recipe calls for brown rice, but we were out and the quinoa worked out fine.) 1 cup grated carrots (Purchased naked. No bag.) 1/2 an onion, diced (Purchas… Read the rest

Weekly Recipes: Vegetarian Split Pea Soup and Beet and Cabbage Borscht

I thought I’d start a new weekly recipe post here. I’m realizing that each week when I post my plastic tally, you get to see what foods I consumed that were packaged in plastic, but you don’t get to see all the delicious things I got to have that weren’t. So these posts will focus on the positive aspects of living without plastic and demonstrate that, aside from missing cheese and Haig’s spicy hummus, I’m not really living in deprivation here.

Disclaimer: I’m not a gourmet cook. I’m learning new techniques, but I wasn’t raised on homemade bread or home-canned preserves. I can follow basic recipes and sometimes will simplify them for my own skill level and sanity. In other words, don’t expect Martha Stewart or Crunchy Chicken. Just one person trying to eat basically well while avoiding as much plastic as possible. Here goes.

Last Saturday, I cooked up a big pot of Vegetarian Split Pea … Read the rest