Completely Unauthentic But Pretty Good Tasting Dahl

This recipe has evolved over time from something completely different. It was originally a butter-less, chicken-less, butter chicken recipe but soy chicken is crazy expensive and lentils are just amazing. They are packed full of fiber, protein and iron and my son will actually eat them so they are perfect.

Ingredients:
1 cup green lentils
1/2 a large sweet onion (or a whole small one), chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
1 can of tomato soup
3/4 cup soymilk
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground ginger
olive oil
paprika
small handful of cherry tomatoes quartered

What to do:
1. Cook lentils according to package directions.
2. In a frying pan or wok over medium heat, fry onion for about a minute then add garlic and fry both for another minute. Add green pepper and fry until onions turn translucent.
3. Stir in the can of tomato soup, then stir in the soy milk.
4. Add all the spices and mix well. Strain the lentils once they are cooked and mix those in too.
5. Top with tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika. Serve with naan or rice.

Pizza Quesadillas

We did not start off intending to make quesadillas again so soon. The plan for tonight was pizza. We had dough left over from another meal that we intended to use but when I went to roll it out is smelled like booze. I guess we let the yeast act on it a little too long. On to plan B.

There were wraps so opted for pizza a slightly different way. I was not confident the wrap would provide enough support for the toppings as a single layer and quesadillas are faster to cook so that became the new plan. It worked well, my 4 year old liked them though we used a different vegetarian luncheon "meat" due to his hatred for anything spicy.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 wraps
• pepper chopped
• tomato copped
• pizza sauce
• Daiya cheese
• Yves vegetarian pepperoni

What to do:

1. Lay out the wraps. Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce over half of each one. 
2. Add a layer of daiya over the pizza sauce followed by the pepperoni, pepper, tomato and more daiya. 
3. Fold the clear half of the wrap over. Fry without oil on a clean frying pan on medium heat until the cheese melts and that side browns. Flip and fry the other side. Chop in half and enjoy. 

Quick Quesadillas

We had to eat, we had soccer coming up fast, we couldn't waste anytime so we throw together some quesadillas. I was introduced to quesadillas in undergrad. They are customizable so I could order the ingredients I wanted, watch them make it, and be certain there was nothing lurking within that I was allergic to. This was an amazing discovery for me because posting ingredients to prepared cafeteria food was not common back then and I would frequently have allergic reactions to foods that seemed allergen free.

We left university a long time ago now but have continued making quesadillas at home. This is a simple base recipe that can be added too. You could consider adding chopped snap peas, sweet onions, banana peppers, tomatoes, etc. The highly processed bologna could be replaced with seasoned tofu, beans or quinoa.

Ingredients for 1 quesadilla:

• 1 wrap
• daiya cheddar or mozzarella shreds
• 2-3 slices of Yves bologna
• 1/2 a pepper chopped
• salsa for dipping

What to do:

1. Lay wrap flat on a plate and sprinkle daiya over one side.
2. Lay the bologna over the cheese. 
3. Add pepper and any other toppings you like them top this layer with more daiya cheese. 
4. Fold the wrap in half over the toppings. 
5. Bring a clean, dry frying pan to low-medium heat. Add the quesadilla, cooking until the side browns slightly and cheese on that side melts then flip to cook the other side. 
6. Transfer to plate, cut in half and serve with salsa for dipping. 

Easy But Crazy Healthy Vegetable Quinoa Soup

If you have tomatoes, an onion, some sun dried tomatoes and other vegetables (almost any others really), you can make soup! Here is one such soup.

Ingredients:

• 3 pieces of sun dried tomato . 
• 2 large tomatoes- cut into large peices
• 1/2 a sweet onion- cut into large peices
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 2 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup of savoy cabbage, chopped
• 1 leaf of purple kale, chopped 
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 cups of water

What to do:

1. Put the sun dried tomatoes in a high speed blender with a bit of water and blend for about a minute. Leave them to soak for 5-10 minutes to soften the tomatoes then blend again until there are no large pieces. 
2. Add the fresh tomatoes and onion to the blender. Blend until smooth and pour into a large pot. 
3. Bring the tomato mixture to a boil on medium high then lower to medium. The soup base should turn from pink to red. 
4. Add the rest of the ingredients, boil until the vegetables are cooked. Add more water if needed to maintain a desirable soupiness. 

Bite into Bitters: Simple Dandelion Salad

I love dandelion greens but this has not always been the case. They are bitter, there is no way around that. We are not use to eating bitters anymore because the taste has been more or less breed out of the other vegetables we eat over a long long time. It's too bad because they are good for the digestive system. The first time I bought them I boiled them and was not able to eat them at all. This was 11 years ago and now I buy them when ever they look healthy in the grocery store. I had to learn to love bitters slowly. I was motivated after learning about how amazing bitters are for your health from an expert in herbal medicine.  I started consuming moderately bitter greens like escarole. I would eat it until I stopped noticing the bitter tastes as much and started to notice the sweet notes then I'd move on to another more bitter green after a few weeks.

The dandelion greens looked good today so I nabbed some for a simple, antioxidant rich salad. To my surprise my husband requested some and actually ate the whole bowl full. He did not claim it was enjoyable.

Ingredients:

• dandelion greens, washed well and chopped 
• 1 tbsp of hemp hearts
• 1-2 tbsp of slivered almonds
• small handful of raw cashews
• favorite dressing. Lemon with olive oil and herbs works well with the bitters. 

Directions:

• Mix everything together. 
• Consume  :)

This is easy enough that I am going to try to bring it as a lunch everyday for work to replace the nothing I currently eat for lunch. I buy these instead of wild sourcing because I live in the city and I am concerned with chemicals but if you had a good source you could collect your own :)