1. Start with a tbsp. or two of yummy, grass-fed butter 2. Put an amount of the cooked lentils you are willing to eat
on your plate. (Lentil cooking instructions below.)
3. Add butter to lentils and mix in.
4. Sprinkle curry powder, to taste, over lentils and mix in.
Like so!
5. Then I add raw nuts or seeds of choice. Any nut or seed is yummy: pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, poppy, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, almonds, pine nuts, hazelnuts....
Tonight's taste sensation was slivered almonds and chopped cashews. Yes, I know these are far from local. I figure 85-90% of my food is from local farmers. A little nuts, once in a while, is a delicious indulgence!
I served it with a shredded carrot and purple cabbage salad that I dressed with some raw sauerkraut. Sorry, forgot to take a picture of the salad before I ate it! It was so yummy, I could not wait!
EASY COOKING OF LENTILS:
Boil 1 1/2 cups of water.
Add 1 cup of red lentils.
Bring water back to a simmer, gently.
Keep pot covered, shut off heat, and allow lentils to "steep".
Shred your carrots and cabbage to make your salad. Add shredded beets too for color, healing food, and another sweet taste in the salad. Chunks of chopped apples are fun too!
When you are finished preparing the salad, put the lentil dish together, and enjoy.
THOUGHTS ON SEASONAL FOODS AND SEASONAL EATING:
Eating seasonal foods makes meal preparation easier. When your choices are only what is growing locally, in season now OR what can be stored and eaten over the fall and winter, you save yourself from the tyranny of choices in the supermarket.
When we change our food with the seasons, meal preparation becomes simpler! No more standing in the supermarket, overwhelmed by every fruit and vegetable that grows in every season, from every corner of the Earth, available to us every day. It makes our heads dizzy with what we are supposed to create for a meal tonight and every night this week.
Go with local and seasonal. Your choices each season are slimmed down; planning and cooking becomes easier. The process, including eating, becomes more enjoyable. You will look forward to each season and what new taste sensations the season has to offer.
I also find myself looking forward to the end of seasons: NO MORE asparagus! (But I so look forward to it again next spring!) Funny, I am not certain I would ever get tired of fresh, local strawberries...
I am also ready to say goodbye to "green" salads in the fall and I welcome the hearty taste of cabbage and root vegetable slaws. When spring comes, I crave those green salads again. The cycles of life are a beautiful thing!