January 4, 2010

Today I embraced lentils.
Feeling bad about basically just lounging around the house since I've been back in Colorado, I volunteered to cook dinner. I love to cook so this wasn't really a big deal. Anyway, I'm tired of meat dishes. Every time I turn around there is lamb or turkey or ham everywhere! I think that's in the nature of the season, but I'm ready for a break.
In the spirit of doing something meatless and trying for adventure, I turned to "How to Cooking Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman. May I just say that if I had enough time and/or money I may pull a Julie and Julia type stunt with Bittman. That however, is not likely. Back to the lentils.
After deciding on a pasta dish I came upon one including lentils. I have never cooked with lentils nor did I ever necessarily plan to, but after happening upon this dish I thought "why not?".
It was a very successful dish, if I do say so myself (with the agreement of my family). Then, of course, I began to contemplate the lentil. What is a lentil exactly? Who even cares about these weird mini rocks masquerading as beans?
Well, I consulted the Internet and here is what it (they?) had to say...

According to Wikipedia (no I could not find a better lentil source than Wiki...), the lentil plant was one of the first domesticated crops of the Near East. "lentils have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any plant-based food after soybeans and hemp, and is an important part of the diet in many parts of the world, especially in the Indian subcontinent which has large vegetarian populations" (Wikipedia)
Lentils are one of the best vegetable source of iron too!

Who knew there were so many reasons to eat lentils?!