Wonderfully Delicious Lentils!

What's for Dinner...Lentils?
What is that?!?

THIS IS MUST READ ARTICLE...
and a very informative link to click on to
see the wonderful health benefits AND nutritional values of lentils:
click here


It's been over 15 years since I was introduced to Lentils.
(although, Tracy has been eating these since he was a kid as his mom cooked up many legumes for her family)
While I was pregnant with Jade "Folate" was a hot topic for pregnant moms to make sure the you got enough folic acid to prevent "Spinalbifida" and so I read LOTS of books on health and nutrition and came across great information on eating plenty of lentils to add folic acid to your diet.

Tracy and I have always been frugal, but nutritious and healthy with our eating habits and so while I was pregnant with Jade is when I first started "sprouting" lentils to provide some LIVE food in our diet and at that time I also came across this great Lentil Stew recipe
(recipe shown below after the sprout information).

Sprouts have been a wonderful thing to make up in the winter time as sometimes we don't have as much "fresh" produce" as we would like to have and this adds "LIVE" food to your diet.
I have sprouted many different seeds/beans, and I always come back to sprouting LENTILS because they are just SO easy and you don't have to let them sit in the sun to get chlorophyll...
in less than 3 days you can have sprouts to enjoy and the only supplies you need are
a wide mouth mason jar ** cheese cloth ** rubber band.
How easy could they be to make...as easy as
---soaking overnight
---rinsing 3 times a day
---and at the end of day 3 you can enjoy them!!

At the first of the summer when we got so much rain, I was seriously thinking our garden may not grow and we would be grateful we had could at least make up sprouts!!

So, here is some helpful information to show you how easy these sprouts are to make up. I made these up weekly when we lived in a 1 bedroom apartment with the tiniest little kitchen ever and so if I could do that then... then ANYONE can do it!!

BTW...1 cup of lentils costs .48
and so since you only use 1/2 cup of lentils
to make sprouts,
it costs .24 for a mason jar of sprouts...
very thrifty, healthy, nutritious and a
wonderful way to use your food storage in times of need!!

IF YOU CAN'T read the writing
on the photos they are ALL clickable so you can see the wording better!

As far as the taste of sprouted LENTILS....
they remind me of the taste of "fresh peas".
They are crunchy and oh so yummy
and great to put on sandwiches, to eat plain,
to add to salads, or to throw in a pot of soup.

What do you get when you combine the above ingredients...
Delicious, Hearty Lentil Stew

Delicious Lentil Stew

1 cup dried lentils
4 cups beef OR chicken broth
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
2 large stalks celery
4 carrots
4 medium potatoes
1 can “Mexican” stewed tomatoes
1 can “Italian” stewed tomatoes
(cooked brown rice AND chow mein noodles)

Combine lentils, broth, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes and tomatoes.
Cook til veggies are “crisp-tender”.
When “crisp-tender” add celery.
Cook til celery is tender.
Serve over brown rice AND chow mein noodles.

GREAT low calorie,
but make you feel full kind of meal!
(You will never know it’s meatless)

How frugal is this meal?
lentils--- .48
broth--- .25
onion/garlic--- .20
carrots, celery, potatoes---.50
stewed tomatoes--- $1.38
Rice/chow mein noodles---$1.00
................................................
Total---$3.81

We fed 4 people 2 dinners and
2 people 1 lunch for this price!!

Gotta love the thrift of cooking from scratch with legumes.