mmmmmmmmm

[Trailpal]

I made a veggie lentil soup today. Hubby *skied* over the hill to the neighbor to give him some wine - a thank you for having plowed our drive and generally being a good neighbor. And just to ski (it's about 1.25 miles to the neigbor, so it was a 2.5 mile trip)

Anyhow, I made the soup - it's from my diet book and looked good and healthy and yummy. It turned out good, and hubby loved it! He was famished after his excursion and it hit the spot. He got to eat more than me, but I was quite filled after a reasonable portion. Oh - and leftovers so I have have some lunches!

I also made very simple yeast rolls to go with it. Out of about two and a half cups of flour, I used 1 cup of whole wheat. The whole recipe is just flour, water, salt, honey and yeast - with some olive oil on the outside during the rises. Sopping up the soup with those rolls was delish!

Even if I'm not able to do all the walking/exercise called for, I can at least eat properly ;D Someday the snow will go away, right

[cherokee]

mmm...sounds delicious!!!

[Chrisnstar]

Oh, I just loff lentil soup. Lentils are the bomb. You can make a good "vegetarian" meatloaf using lentils, and you can mash them and make them into patties like burgers.

[Deleted]

This may sound odd...I dont believe I have ever had lentils..

[MJ]

Have you ever had split pea soup? Split peas are lintils.

I like this soup but don't really care for other lentils.

MJ

[Chrisnstar]

Lentils are a little darker than split peas and have a little heavier taste. They are wonnerful!

[MJ]

So what are split peas? Probably a pea. LOL I've always heard they were lentils. Sorry.

MJ

[Deleted]

So it's a bean/pea? You buy it dried? cook it all day? add what?

[Trailpal]

Split peas and Lentils are different, but similar. Unlike most dried beans (navy beans, black beans, etc) Split Peas and Lentils don't need to be soaked first. Usually they will cook in about 45 minutes - bring to a boil and then simmer for about 45 minutes or until they are consistency you want.

The difference between them is that split peas tend to thicken whatever soup they are in while lentils tend to keep their shape unless you mash them on purpose. Lentils come in varieties - green, red, yellow, etc. Each variety tastes a little different and has a little different consitency. I used to go to an Ethiopian restaruant and they served many kinds of lentils, but I forget which is which anymore.

Usually they are part of something like a soup. I hardly ever have had them all by themselves like rice, though it can be done if you season them up. I'm an Alton Brown junkie - here is a show where he demonstrates a bunch of ways to use lentils tinyurl.com/33hhx8
And here is a show where he uses peas, including split peas tinyurl.com/2wz7yk

I hope this helps! Usually you can find good recipes in Vegetarian or Indian cookbooks (or on the internet!)