Curried Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew

Thankfully I redeemed myself tonight. After the seitan disaster of last night, I considered making a tried and true standby, but bravely went with what I had planned. For tonight I had planned Curried Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew from Easy, Everyday Vegetarian. I figured curry, sweet potatoes, and lentils, what could possibly go wrong?? Not a thing, that's what. And yes, we did have soup that involved lentils twice this week. It's winter, I love soup, I love lentils, what more can I say?? Expect to see a lot more lentil soup variations over the next few months!

The stew (which came out thinner than stew in my case, because I added more veggie stock than what was called for.......doesn't Rachel Ray call that a Stoup??), anyway, the stew/soup was very hearty. There was a hint of curry flavor in every bite, yet it didn't over power the taste of the individual veggies (which include carrots, green beans, onion, and well, sweet potatoes of course). Rob and I both loved this dish, the kids of course weren't crazy about it, but they did at least try it. I served the stew/soup with a side of steamed broccoli drizzled in toasted sesame oil, and some quartered Jonagold apples.

There won't be any cookin' in Carrie's kitchen this weekend (except maybe breakfast). We have a very busy weekend ahead of us, it'll be leftovers of whatever's still hanging out in the refrigerator for tomorrow. Sunday Mairin has a dance program for the holiday's and we've promised her pizza.

Live and Learn

Have you ever eaten seitan?? I hadn't until tonight, and if you want my advice, don't!! If anyone ever offers it to you politely decline, and then run, run far away.

You guessed it, the barbequed seitan I had planned for tonight was a bust. I'm ashamed to admit that almost every bit of it got thrown in the trash. I was so excited, I had made the seitan from scratch. It was going to be this wonderful new thing that we were all going to love. I'd had a bad day and I was so looking forward to this wonderful meal that had been simmering in the Crock Pot all day. Instead, I dished it up, and wanted to cry. I couldn't even bring myself to bust out the camera and take a picture for you.

The dish I made was Barbequed Seitan and Layered Vegetables from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. The barbeque sauce was fine, the veggies were fine, the seitan, well, it really didn't even taste that bad. The problem with this dish was the way the seitan felt in my mouth. Even thinking of it now makes my stomach turn. Yuck! And on top of that, I just couldn't get over that it was really a big lump of soggy bread.

So, what was for dinner you ask. Well, I ate some rice and all the barbequed veggies I could muster, then I went to bunco, ate a big piece of chocolate cake and had a few drinks. Rob and the girls ordered a veggie pizza from our local pizza delivery. As they say, live and learn. Lesson learned, seitan is not for me.

Maybe I can redeem myself tomorrow with curried sweet potato and lentil stew.

Lentil Soup

Tuesday is upon us once again, and you know what that means, the Crock Pot was a cookin' today. If I want my family to have a homecooked meal on Tuesday's it's got to come from the slowcooker. We've done the Slow Cooked Ziti several Tuesday's now, so it was time for a change. Besides needing to be cooked in the slowcooker, our other Tuesday night requisite is that it has to be something the girls will eat without giving Rob too much hassle since he has to feed them on his own. There's not a lot of time for dinner before dance class starts, so our meal needs to be something that they will eat quickly and that won't require Rob making them a different meal.

Tonight I decided on one of my favorite quick and easy soups. This lentil soup is based on this recipe that I found at The Fat Free Vegan. The soup is pretty good as the recipe directs, however I've made some additions to it that I think make it taste quite a bit better.

1 1/2 C. Puy lentils
1 Large can of crushed tomatoes with basil
2 C. Vegetable broth
1 medium onion chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
1 Bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp sea salt (I use homemade veggie stock that is salt free, so if you are using canned stalk you may need less salt)
fresh ground black pepper.

Put it all in the crock pot, add 4 cups of water. Cook on low 8 hrs or until lentils have softened.

This soup is delicious served with some crusty bread for dipping, but tonight we had it solo.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Tonight was something I just kind of made up and hoped that it turned out ok. We had grilled portabello mushroom caps stuffed with a spinach ricotta mixture. Some short grain brown rice and a spinach salad.

For the mushrooms, preheat the oven to 350. Remove the gills, drizzle with olive oil and place gill side up on grill pan (or outdoor grill if weather permits), turning once the tops of the mushrooms are grilled. While the mushrooms are grilling you can whip up the stuffing. For 3 good sized mushroom caps you will need one 15 oz container of part skim ricotta cheese, one 10 oz box of frozen spinach, thawed, and about 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, plus salt and pepper to taste. Once the mushrooms are grilled transfer them to a baking dish, fill each mushroom with equal parts stuffing, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and plain bread crumbs and bake until tops are beginning to turn golden brown.

The rice was left over from my chickpea patties last night, I just nuked it with about a cup of veggie stock. When it was heated through and stock was absorbed I added in 3 pats of butter and salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkled with dried oregano to serve. And, well, the salad is self explanatory and was dressed with a slurry of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

The mushrooms were fantastic, just as I had hoped they would be. True to her nature, Mairin refused to try them, and because of Stella's dairy issues I couldn't even offer them to her. But, Rob and I both liked them and I will be preparing them again in the future, as they were so quick and easy.


I also cooked some seitan today, for a barbecued seitan dish I will be making later in the week. I've never cooked seitan before (actually, I've never even eaten it before), so I don't know if this is what the finished product is supposed to look like or not (anyone else know?). When it was cooled I cut a little piece off of the corner to taste, and it tasted really good, but I think it will be better barbecued. If it turns out well I'm going to be making some fried "chicken" with it soon.

And finally, those chickpea patties Rob forgot to take to work, well guess who ate them for lunch. You guessed it, me. The leftover gravy had kind of solidified and looked really yucky, so I threw it out and ate the patties on a whole grain bun with some dijon mustard and sliced onion. They were incredible, and will be served this way next time I make them.