Crafty Kitchen - Lentil Pasta

Let me be frank. This dish is not a looker. Hence, no photos. Take my word for it though, it is delicious. And simple to make. And very very satisfying, especially on chilly wintry nights.

You'll need:

• 1 cup lentils (Preferably the French Green ones, but brown work just fine, too)

• 1 can vegetable broth

• 1 onion, sliced into 1/4" half rings

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 head Swiss chard, torn into pieces

• 1 box orzo

Cook the lentils in the vegetable broth and water until done but still firm. (About 30 minutes) In another pot, cook the orzo according to the package directions. Meanwhile, in a deep sided skillet, brown the onion in the olive oil. I mean really, really brown it. Deep, dark brown. This takes awhile, but it's worth it. When it's starting to get deep brown, toss in the garlic. When the onions are done to your liking, put in the Swiss chard, and cook briefly to wilt. Add the cooked orzo and lentils, and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. DONE!

Serves 4 - 6. Freezes and reheats well.

5 Things to do with Yogurt

I'm sort of a yogurt fanatic. I can't get enough of it, especially the Greek kind. All those little cups can get expensive though (not to mention the ecological side effects), so I've come up with a few ways to make the big plain (or vanilla) containers a little more fun.

1. Add in jam! Exotic jam!
I have a weakness for collecting odd little jars of the stuff. Ginger spread? Apple cinnamon? Quince? Drop in a spoonful, swirl it around, and it's usually delicious. After all, that fruit-on-the-bottom kind isn't really that far removed from jam, is it?

2. Add spices.
Not a fan of putting in extra sugar? No worries. Try a little bit of cinnamon, or cardamom, or pumpkin pie spice. If you've got the plain sort of yogurt, try going savory. A little kick of cayenne and cumin, and you've got a whole different sort of treat. (Or dill! Or black pepper! Or...we could keep going. Experiment!)

3. Onion dip.
If I have one weakness (ha ha, only one!), it's onion dip. But holy cow, is that stuff ever bad for you. Try making it with lowfat or non fat plain Greek yogurt instead. It's still tangy and awesome, but a bit less likely to kill you. Of course, there's still the issue of chips. I guess you could always use raw veggies instead (ha! ha ha ha!), but let's not go nuts.

4. Oh, and speaking of nuts...
Yogurt + Peanut/Almond butter = delicious.
It's a freaking protein powerhouse. You will be UNSTOPPABLE!!

5. Yogurt face mask.
Okay, so we've run out of food ideas. A yogurt face mask is a traditional way to soothe dry skin and acne. It's antibacterial properties make it a great cleanser for troubled skin, and the lactic acid soothes irritation and softens skin.
To use it, wash your face like normal. Pat dry, and then apply yogurt to your face. Leave it on for 15 minutes, and then wash off with warm water.
Be sure to use plain, silly. And organic if you can - there tend to be more live active cultures in the stuff.

Your turn. How do you like your yogurt? Assuming, of course, that you like yogurt in the first place.

Crafty Kitchen - The End of Nothing To Eat

***Special note! It's not too late to enter the Road to 500 Giveaway!***

We have all been there. Some of us pretty much live there. "There" being the dreaded 5 pm "what are we going to eat for dinner" pang. Try as I might to plan meals, things happen. Ingredients that should have been bought fall through the cracks. Sometimes, it's as simple as nothing sounding good. But something struck me the other day (no, not a box of cereal as it fell out of the cupboard...well, at least not this time). A formula. For LIVING. Er, EATING!

It's an extremely basic formula:
Grain + protein + vegetable + flavors = dinner



Sounds ridiculously basic, right? It's all about keeping a small selection of things in the pantry, and picking up a few fresh things when you're out. Using this formula, you can go to the market and choose whatever is in season/ looks best.
First, a caveat: this is ridiculously simple because it's something highly individualized. What I'm sharing here is really just a loose pattern. To make it work for you, first you're going to need to compile a few quick lists. These lists are the framework that make food happen.

Here are my lists, to give you an idea. They're obviously skewed towards my own tastes, but that's the beauty of the system: it SHOULD be skewed towards your own tastes. Why bother eating some one else's idea of what delicious is?

Grains - keep in stock in pantry:

• Rice

• Pasta

• Quinoa

• Bulgur Wheat

Flavors (pantry):

• Sauces, pre-made

• spices

• garlic

• onion

• broth

• olive oil

• various vinegars (balsamic, red wine, white wine, rice...)

Vegetables (fresh is better, but keep some in freezer for quick fix/"emergency" meals):

• Whatever is in season and looks good!

• A can of tomatoes (You can get a crazy amount of mileage out of this.)

Protein (again- mostly buy fresh, but keep a few on hand in freezer for emergency meals):

• Tofu

• Tempeh

• Lentils

• More beans than one can shake a stick at

THE COMBINING:
And here's where all that hoarding comes together.
There's a tremendous amount of directions you can go with all these goodies, but if you're stumped:
Start with frying an onion and/or garlic. Add to this the vegetables and spices. Add to that the protein.

• With tons of broth/water, it's soup.

• Served over pasta, it's...pasta.

• Served over grains, it's a stir fry.

• Served in tortillas, it's burritos/tacos.

You get the idea. The secret to variety is in the spices. You might want to start keeping track of combinations you really like. Or maybe I should write some up for the blog. (I happen to have a recipe for an easy lemon dressing that knocks the socks off of more dishes than you'd think.)

What do you think? Have any spice/sauce combinations you'd like to share? Comment!