Here in Portland, we love our meat... but anyone who reads Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, or Grant Butler knows, you can have a terrifically healthy lifestyle, and a positive impact on our world by reducing the amount of meat you eat.
Lots of bloggers have been promoting Meatless Monday or Meat-Free Friday for a while now. One of our favorite meat subs are lentils, which are a cheap and versatile protein source. On nights when you are pressed for time, just throw some lentils in a pot, along with a bunch of onion and garlic, and about twice as much broth as lentils... then just let the whole thing simmer for about 15 minutes. Add some aromatic spices, steam some veggies, heat up some rice, and you've got a tasty dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes!
Most people limit lentils to lentil soup, but these legumes have a lengthy list of uses. Here are some other things to consider doing with them...
- Mix cooked lentils into meatballs, meatloaf or burgers. Add a cup of lentils and a cup of water when browning ground beef or turkey.
- Add pureed lentils to chili, soups or stews to thicken.
- Toss cooled French or green lentils with vinaigrette and some chopped peppers and onions for a quick salad. Or add lentils to your favorite pasta salad.
- S ubstitute lentils for half or all the ground beef in your favorite pasta dish. In meat sauce, lasagna or stuffed shells, the texture is the indistinguishable.
A half-cup of lentils have 115 calories, less than half a gram of fat, and 366 mg potassium. They contain 9 g each of protein and fiber (about a third of your recommended amount of fiber), and 45% of your Daily Value of folic acid. Lentils are frequently included on lists of the world's healthiest foods.
Check out this great recipe in the Oregonian's Mix Magazine for Lentil Stew with Cumin & Pomegranate Molasses.
