Lentils are what all of the cool kids are eating.

My main inspirations for my cooking are also my main limitations: time, money, and a need for real nutrients.  My husband and I are both studying for the Bar Exam right now.  Yes, it was a ridiculous thing to do to ourselves.  This means that it has never been so important that we both stay healthy and so imossible to actually take the time to be healthy.  In order to maximize our health, minimize our "footprint," and stay efficient, we eat a whole lot of fruits and veggies and have to do a little extra planning (and chopping).  I stick to a vegetarian diet (confession: I just ended a pescatarian phase) and my husband only eats meat when we aren't at home (by choice of course).  But this kind of a diet can easily become very time-consuming and expensive if we aren't careful.

I really couldn't compromise our health or the opportunity we have to be good humans today rather than when we are richer and wiser, so we try really hard to eat sustainable, local foods whenever we can afford to.  Did I mention we are broke?  Funny, we haven't been able to convince anyone to pay us to study yet.

More importantly for you, this lentil recipe is probably the easiest thing I have ever made in my life, except maybe for a bowl of cereal.  It is also terribly budget-friendly and will make you sound cool when you tell people what you eat.  Also, all of the ingredients can stay in your pantry for weeks until you decide to cook this.

(Only $0.87??!  Hello!!!)

Here's what you do! 

Get out your crock pot, a small bag of dried lentils, and a carton of low-sodium vegetable broth.

For every one cup of lentils, add two cups of broth (or water when you run out of broth).  I topped with about a half-cup extra of water just in case (I burned the beans really badly once and have been pretty scarred ever since**).  Give it all a stir, put the top on, and set it to low for about 6 hours.  You might add a little extra water if you know you need it to wait a little longer for you.

When you come back home, your kitchen will smell lovely.  Also, the top of your concoction will look gross and you will say curse words because you will think you burned the beans again!  But never fear!  After I let fly a flew choice words and put in two panic cups of water, I gave those lentils a stir and they were actually perfect!  The darker beans from the top layer mix in so nicely to give you a beautiful mosaic of flavor.

(Apologies for the photo quality; these are from my phone camera)

After the panic, add about two grinds of a sea-salt grinder and four good shakes of paprika.  Stir and flip the crock pot to warm.  It's ready when you are!

These are delicious simply from pot to mouth, but also with almost any other vegetable.  Later this week, I will post about the yumtastic wraps where these lentils found a cool, hipster home.

I got the 1:2 ratio and the courage to cook my beans without soaking them first from Lori at Laurel of Leaves.  Thank you!

The rundown:

• 16 oz. (1 Lb.) Lentils 
• 32 oz. Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
• 3 Cups Water
• 2 twists of Sea Salt OR a dash of Salt to taste
• 4 shakes of Paprika OR about 1 teaspoon 
• Optional for the brave: a dash of red pepper flakes to kick it up

1.  In a crock pot, combine 2 parts liquid (starting with the broth) for every one cup of lentils. Give it a stir. 

2.  Cover it and set it to low.

3.  Leave it alone!  For about 6 hours. 

4.  Come back and smell it.  Add your salt and paprika and any other seasonings you want.  Stir it up.        If all of the liquid is gone, but you aren't serving it quite yet, add another cup or so of water.  

5.  Switch the crock pot to "warm" or turn it off.  Your deliciousness is ready!

** When I burned the beans, I wasn't using a crock pot.  And I was living in a foreign country... No need to worry, kids!


With love,
R