Curried Lentil Stew

As you can tell we are on a lentil kick. We have combined a couple of recipes to better fit our taste and help get rid of our stuffy noses.
The Ingredients are as follows:

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp curry powder

• 1 onion (chopped)

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 1 red bell pepper (chopped)

• 4 cups vegetable broth

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 cup red lentils (dried, rinsed with water and drained)

• 1/2 cup  broccoli

• 1 carrot (chopped)

• 2 sticks chopped celery

• 1 zucchini (chopped)

• 1 cup chopped mushrooms 

• 1/4  cup chopped cilantro

• 1 tsp. ground cumin

• 2 Tbs. lemon juice

We sauteed the vegetables in the sesame oil and curried. We then added the lentils and vegetable broth it was brought to a boil, stirred, the heat reduces and the pan covered.

We make our own curry powder using this recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/curry-powder-blend-recipe/index.html 

Indian Dahl

While on vacation during the summer we went to the Laughing Seed  http://laughingseed.jackofthewood.com/ , we highly recommend this restaurant. Although it is a vegetarian restaurant with raw dishes, my husband found a dish he LOVED, the Indian Thai Plate with flat bread. The Dahl was chickpea based instead of lentil. Lentils are easier for our son to digest.

We found this recipe and everyone LOVES it. We added a cup of celery to the recipe and reduced the vegetable broth from 4 cups to 3. Our son doesn't do well with thin stews or soups.
http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/soupschilistews/r/lentildahl.htm

INGREDIENTS

• 1 T. sesame oil or, alternatively, olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped white onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 T. finely chopped fresh ginger
• 4 cups water or vegetable broth
• 1 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1 t. cumin
• 1 t. coriander
• 1 t. tumeric
• ¼ t. cardamom
• ¼ t. cinnamon
• ¼ t. cayenne pepper
• 1 t. salt, or to taste
• 2 T. tomato paste

The flatbread was so easy to make while the Dahl was cooking. We used a gluten free flour(Pamela's mix at a 1:1 replacement). The tahini was homemade, no oil added  (2 cups of sesame seeds in a high speed blender. With the Blendtec it was a couple of rounds at 1 and then a round at 3). The leftover bread froze well and was used for other meals. Our son does better with the raw onion bread.
http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/breadsbakery/r/chzflatbread.htm

Raw Onion bread

We use raw onion bread for hummus, sandwiches, dipping breads, pizza crusts, and even raw burger buns. The raw onion bread is 3 large sweet onions finely sliced (2 1/2 to 3 pounds), 1 cup ground flax seed, 1 cup ground sunflower seeds, 1/3 cup olive oil, and 3.5 tablespoons coconut liquid aminos. We use a coffee grinder to grind the seeds and the food processor to thinly slice the onions. Once this is mixed, we put half back in the food processor with an "S" blade to puree. It is mixed with the thinly sliced mixture. It is spread on a non-stick dehydrator sheet. This makes about 2.5 dehydrator sheets. We dehydrate it at 105, for several hours. When the top side is non-tacky, it is flipped onto a dehydrator screen and finish drying, another couple of hours.

To make crackers, we score it when it is flipped. When it is still flexible we break the crackers at the scored sights and dehydrate until crisp.
We usually triple the recipe using three sheets for crackers.

As a side note, this will make your home smell like onions.

Chia pudding

We are always looking for nutrient dense calories to add to our son's diet. This is so easy and so good. We added a couple of berries.
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 cup almond milk (we make our own almond milk see below)
1/4 tsp liquid vanilla stevia (or to taste)
We used a hand emulsifier and allowed it to set-up for 1/2 hour.
For chocolate add 2 tablespoons of cacao powder. It, too is delicious.

Almond milk
1 cup of almonds soaked overnight, drained, rinsed and drained. Then we add 4 cups of filtered water to a high speed blender with the almonds and a couple of pitted dates. For milk, we drain it through a nut milk bag, saving the pulp for chocolate chip cookies.

Christmas Cookie #12: Key Lime Truffles with Chocolate Ganche

Here is our twelfth Christmas Cookie: Key Lime Truffles with Chocolate Ganche
We doubled this recipe and were able to make 3 dozen truffles. We did not need the water, the juice from the limes was plenty. We added 1 TBS of Lucuma powder and dipped them in chocolate. Prior to the chocolate drying, each truffle was dipped in dried coconut. Here is the recipe
http://www.damyhealth.com/2012/02/healthy-truffles-chocolates-and-raw-cookies/

Christmas cookie #11: Raw Almond Cookies with Jam

Here is our eleventh Christmas cookie: Raw Almond Cookies with Jam
These are very good and quite a bit of work just in peeling the almonds. Peeling the almond is mindless and can be done while watching TV or a webinar. We had to refrigerate the dough and coconut "floured" the paper prior to rolling the dough. The dough was very sticky. We used agave as the sweetener. The recipe made 2 dozen cookies. We used organic cherry preserves, no sweetener added.  Here is the recipe link.
http://natureinsider.com/2011/08/raw-cookies-with-jam-the-white-marble-beaches-of-thassos/

stuffed peppers

We wanted a grain/pseudo grain free stuffed pepper. We sauteed onions, mushrooms, garlic,peppers, and the last of our tomatoes from the summer in broth and a Mexican seasoning mix (see below). We added black beans and black olives. This mixture was stuffed into the red bell pepper, topped with Daiya cheddar cheese. We baked it for 30 minutes at 350.
For the hubby, we sauteed a chicken sausage link, onions, garlic, peppers, and a jalapeno pepper. We added black beans and topped his with white extra sharp cheddar cheese.

The Mexican seasoning mix we use is made in bulk, using as much as you like by taste. We use 1 tablespoon per person.

6 tablespoons of chili powder
5 tablespoons paprika
5 tablespoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons onion powder
3 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper