Curried Lentil Sweet Potato Stew

Curried Lentil Sweet Potato Stew (Wholeliving.com)
Cook Time: Approx 45 mins

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons oil (I use avocado or coconut)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

• 2 medium celery ribs, chopped (I've used dried celery flakes instead)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 garlic clove, minced (or more... more garlic is always better!)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 cups dried brown lentils, rinsed
•  2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch dice

1 package (9 ounces) frozen cut green beans

 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (optional - the kid hates cilantro, so we leave it out)

Coarse salt and black pepper

Plain yogurt (or sour cream), for serving

Directions

• In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high.
•  Add onion, carrots, celery, and bay leaf.
• Cook, stirring, until vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add garlic and curry powder and cook until fragrant - about 1 minute more.
• Add 7 cups of water and lentils.
  Bring to a boil
• Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 10 minutes.
• Add sweet potatoes and continue to cook, covered, until lentils and potato are just tender
   (about 15 minutes.)
• Add green beans
• Add diced tomatoes
• Cook until warmed through, 2 to 4 minutes.
• Remove bay leaf.  
• Add cilantro (if desired) and season with salt and pepper.
• Serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream

My meat-loving husband loves this dish. It's very filling and quite delicious!

My favortie pancake recipe...

From Kim Cahill's No Guesswork Cookingbook...

Image courtesy of NoGuessworkCooking.com

Chicken Enchiladas

Tonight we had Chicken Enchiladas with white cream sauce (out of my beloved NoGuesswork Cooking book) for dinner! It turned out SO tasty!! And was so filling, we have enough for a second meal!

Shepherds pie...

Last night we were blessed to be given some food... and though most of it was non-pershiables... tucked in the top, was a little 1lbs chub of ground turkey! So tonight for dinner, I made a very simple & delicious Shepherds pie...

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground turkey
  
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• Garlic powder
• 1 can cream soup (recipe calls for cream of potato, but I used Onion or mushroom, and it was just as good!)
• 1 small bag frozen mixed vegetables
  
• Mashed potatoes (enough to cover a 9 x 13 pan)
• Grated Cheese (cheddar, colby, jack… your choice)

Instructions:

Brown turkey on stove top, add onions during the last 3 minutes of cooking, I also season with some garlic powder. Mix turkey and onions with the cream soup. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick, then spread the turkey mixture in the bottom of the pan. Then layer the corn on top of the turkey, finally spread the mashed potatoes on top of the corn. Bake covered for about 25 minutes @ 350 degrees. During the last 5 minutes of cooking uncover the casserole and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Stovetop Bratwurst Dinner

What does one do with Bratwurst, besides sticking it on a bun like a giant hot dog, squirting the same old monotonous condiments on it, and eating it with a side of beans and/or coleslaw? That was the question I faced with, when making dinner tonight. We don't normally eat sausages... but since that is how God provided for this week... I ran to one of my favorite recipe websites, http://allrecipes.com, and set out to find something that would work with the ingredients I had on hand. The result? Stovetop Bratwurst Dinner (original recipe here) - not bad!!

Ingredients:

• 1-3/4 cups and 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1-1/4 pounds fully cooked bratwurst links, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  (I had & used Turkey Bratwurst)
  
• 2-1/2 cups frozen cut green beans (Picked & frozen straight from the garden - thanx Marmee!!)
  
• 5 ounces processed cheese food (eg. Velveeta), cubed
• 7-1/2 cups hot cooked noodles
  
  I also made a few additions...
• 1/4 c. minced onion,
• some garlic
• 1/2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce.
• and I sprinkled the top with Colby Jack cheese when it was done.

Directions:
In a large saucepan, combine the milk and soup until blended. Add bratwurst and beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until heated through. Stir in cheese until melted. Serve over noodles.

Once again, DH liked it enough that he took seconds... and it made enough for two meals!

Tacos a la creativity....

I am stating to find that I really do enjoy cooking.... and am even becoming braver in the creativity department. Tonight, tacos sounded really good, but I didn't have any shells. (hm...) So I decided to make homemade Mac & Cheese. Then I suddenly got a great idea! I browned some ground beef and made some taco seasoning to put on it. Then I layered the Mac&Cheese, seasoned ground beef, and some cut up some lettuce & tomatoes... then I topped the dish with a dollop of sour cream! It was so easy... and turned out SOOO tasty!! My hubby liked it so much, that he even took seconds.. something he only does, if it something he *really* likes!!