Seasonal Sundays (Week 5) Leaning into Lentils

Seven recipes leaning on lentils, from suppers to soups to salads. Here's hoping that both lentil lovers and lentil learners will find at least one recipe destined to become a staple in your own kitchens ...

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

As ever, thank you for welcoming me into your InBox and RSS feed reader. All week long, I think about what you might find appealing, useful, interesting, compelling ...

It was another "Bitter Greens Moment" this week when a friend spied a bag of red lentils on the kitchen counter, purchased for photo updates for the red lentil-shrimp version of Two-Way Lentil Skillet.

"What are those?" she asked of the pretty little pulses.

She'd never heard of lentils!

And man-oh-man, is she missing out.

So it got me to thinking about the many go-to recipes I have for lentils, and not just lentil soup and the lentil salad that makes such a great make-ahead side dish but also serves as the base of so many impromptu supper salads.

Lentils are budget friendly, quick to cook, surprisingly meaty in texture, imminently variable ... all that for a healthy plant-based ingredient. Maybe my friend is really missing out?

But hmmm, this week I found only red lentils at the grocery. No black lentils, no green lentils, not even any usually ubiquitous brown lentils. Maybe I'm not the only one for whom red lentils are the least favorite, despite their pretty color?

Are lentils in your recipe repertoire? Do you have a favorite? Have you been leaning on lentils as grocery prices have gone up? Pray tell!

PS Here's a good guide to pulses, including lentils, dried beans, dried peas, dried chickpeas and more, Visual Guide to Pulses.

A QUICK HEADS UP I'm writing this on Friday morning, before the release of what's being described by those who have already seen it as "heinous" video of five police officers beating Tyre Nichols in Memphis. As the country braces itself for the response, I remember George Floyd and pray that this similar needless, senseless death continues the march toward law enforcement reform (definitely not de-funding). How Saturday ... and Sunday ... and Monday ... and ... shall look, we do not know.

About the Photo By Popular Request, a Little Insight into the Top Image: That silly snowman grin makes me grin right back! No wonder he (and he is a he, right?) makes a home on the kitchen table after Christmas every year ...

In Praise Of ...

• ... wakening Dark Early to the silence of falling snow: yes, silence is its own sound, albeit the absence of sound, like black is the absence of light
• ... returning to a years-back ophthalmologist (whew! hard to spell!) who keeps records from way back that show eye changes/stability over many years ... and offered a heads up that supply-chain issues are affecting contact lens manufacturers so much that they're not providing samples and orders are being filled much more slowly ... don't let yourself run low, order sooner than later, she advised
• ... the Adventure Challenge, 30 "date night" let's-cook-together recipes with surprise twists, we're doing one every few weeks, it's fun, it's interesting, it gets us out of our everyday dinner groove. Heads up, the recipes are good and very do-able but terribly written, be sure to re-write so that you can actually follow them. Jeez. Still, recommended! And there's a Valentine's coupon for 20% off! There are kids and family Adventure Challenges too ...

Made Me Think ...

• About That Gas Stove, a non-political look at the health and environmental impact of gas stoves and What to Know About Gas Stove Alternatives, both induction and electric (no paywalls, both from the NYTimes)

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SEASONAL INSPIRATION: Leaning into Lentils

• THE RECIPE Lentil, Pepper & Spinach Supper with Crispy Tofu & Indian Spices
• ANOTHER TAKE Sweet Potato Curry with Red Lentils, Roasted Peppers & Spinach

• THE RECIPE Veggie-Lentil Burritos with Cilantro Sauce
• ANOTHER TAKE Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes A little bit spicy, many rave reviews.

• THE RECIPE Simple Lentil Salad with Seasonal Vegetables A concept recipe for a supper salad.
• ANOTHER TAKE Red Quinoa Salad Your Way, a Quick Supper, Healthy grains, crunchy vegetables, fresh herbs & creamy cheese.

• THE RECIPE Falafel Burgers (Lentil Burgers) A Middle-Eastern favorite shaped in American-style burgers.
• ANOTHER TAKE Chickpea Cakes with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce A vegetarian meal in 30 minutes.

• THE RECIPE Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes A little bit spicy, many rave reviews.
• ANOTHER TAKE Minnesota Sloppy Joes Sloppy joes made from scratch in the crockpot.

• THE RECIPE Homemade Lentil Soup Comfort food for a crowd.
• ANOTHER TAKE Greek Lentil Soup Broth scented with a surprise ingredient, cinnamon.

• THE RECIPE Best-Ever Lentil Salad An unusual cooking technique, great for meal prep.
• ANOTHER TAKE Summer Lentils aka the "Great Big Vegetable Salad with a Few Lentils Thrown In Just for Fun".

What's New?!

Wondering about a recipe from the last while? Check Recent Recipes from Kitchen Parade and Recent Vegetable Recipes from A Veggie Venture.

• THE RECIPE Oven-Baked Brown Rice So good, make it every week.
• ANOTHER TAKE Oven-Baked Whole-Grain Pilaf with Quinoa, Barley, Kamut & Other Grains A concept recipe.

Looking Ahead ...
February 12 - Superbowl
February 14 - Valentines's
February 20 - President's Day
February 21 - Fat Tuesday / Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Night
February 22 - Ash Wednesday / Beginning of Lent

• THE COLLECTION Football Fever! Game-changing recipes for Playoff Games & Superbowl Parties.
• AND ANOTHER Chillin': Favorite Chili, Chowder & Cornbread Recipes Football friendly!

• THE COLLECTION Kitchen Parade's Fish Recipes, many Quick Suppers, many healthy meals.
• AND ANOTHER Kitchen Parade's Seafood Recipes including shrimp, oysters, lobster, crab.

• THE TRADITION How to Plant Lenten Grass (Easter Grass) An old Finnish tradition, good to mark the season of Lent with children.
• AND ANOTHER A Birthday Cake for Jesus: A Story My sister's gentle way of keeping the spirit of Christmas.

A Quick Peek Into a Real-Life Kitchen

Just so you know, everything's not all pretty pictures around here, in the background is a pile of dirty dishes. And just like many (all?) of us, come five o'clock, I too draw a blank about what to make for supper, despite so many recipes I so dearly love. Here's a quick peek from the last week.

• THIS WEEK By Wednesday, it was already feeling like a loooooong week. If there hadn't been a pound of hamburger already thawed in the fridge, I might've, I dunno ... punted. Instead, I remembered a few cans of tomato soup in the pantry leftover from when my dad lived with us, um, more than four years ago now. I checked the expiration dates, yep outdated. But I opened a can and it seemed fine. And it was! And dinner was even finer! Meatballs always "sound" fussy to me but these went together in a flash. And because they're baked, well, no splatters, no greasy smell. These tasted so-so-so good! I played up the tomato soup "sauce" (so retro, right? usually I use spaghetti sauce, it's wonderful too) with the last of some salsa and a glop of bbq sauce. We both l-o-v-e-d this supper. Later it occurred to me how the sauce is really variable, any kind of canned soup, any bottle of green chile sauce, Thai peanut sauce, etc. I predict lots more meatballs in our life!
• THE RECIPE Mini Porcupine Meatballs A retro recipe updated for contemporary tastes.

Just Updated!

• THE RECIPE Chicken Sybil My favorite Quick Supper, multiple personality chicken.
• ANOTHER TAKE Easy Margarita Chicken A quick supper from a surprising source.

• THE RECIPE Chicken & Veggies Baked in Foil, a Quick Supper, meat & vegetables cooked in foil for easy clean-up.
• ANOTHER TAKE Grilled Vegetables in Foil Who says a grill is just for meat?

• THE RECIPE Karelian Borscht (Finnish - Russian Beet Borscht Soup) Rich beet color, big earthy flavor, either meaty or vegetarian.
• ANOTHER TAKE Borscht Beets Roasted beets tossed with sour cream and horseradish.

• THE RECIPE Finnish Whole-Wheat Flatbread Hot bread to the table in just minutes.
• ANOTHER TAKE Grilled Flatbread Rye flour, fresh herbs. Great flavor, great texture!

Don't Be a Stranger ...

I'd love to hear from you. Comment, send me a quick e-mail (my current address is in the FAQs), dot-dash in Morse code, build a fire for smoke signals, launch a message in a bottle, send a Christmas letter, get the dog to yip, toss me a note wrapped in a rubberband, write a message in the sky, scratch a note in the sand, listen to a seashell, tuck a question into a plastic Easter egg, whatever.

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. When you make my recipes, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below or better still, on the specific recipe's page.

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