Day 10/11: Loving Lentils!

Another combo post today.  Friday was full of work events, basketball games, and basic survival logistics. 

Today was an incredibly fun Saturday!  My best friend Brandi and I decided to take our toddlers to the zoo for their free family day.  Everyone told us that we had lost our minds when they heard we were going with the temperature predicted at a whopping 4 degrees, but we went anyways.  Let me tell you that I believe we stumbled upon a new tradition.  The normally chaotic zoo was nearly empty, the animals were active, and the kiddos loved it! 

It was also a terrific way to celebrate the end (almost!) of the winter sports season.

When we got home Jett was exhausted, but in a pretty decent mood.  He helped me take out all the spices out of the cupboard and check expiration dates.  It wasn't actually as frightening as I had thought and I only ended up throwing out about five little jars.

I had two jars of curry and cumin from an Indian food kick I pursue every couple of months.  I always forget which spices I have, and which I don't and end up with multiples. With the spice rack discovery and a quandary about what to do with lentils, I did a little bit of searching and found a really great recipe for Indian Summer Stew by Aarti Sequeira one of my favorite new Food Network stars. 

I was close to following the recipe but made a few of my own adaptations based on what I had available.  It is Use-It-Up February after all!  I omitted the coconut, although I'm sure that would have been fabulous, I just didn't have any. In place of the butternut squash I used acorn squash that I roasted with a little bit of butter at 350 degrees for about one hour.  I didn't have a Roma tomato, but did have a can of diced tomatoes which substituted nicely.  In the recipe where it refers to "tempering" I did not have mustard seeds or red pepper flakes, but I did have about 1/4 of a white onion that I wanted to use up. 

The result was hardy, filling, healthful and delicious!  Who knew lentils could be so good!  It was a great way to end a wonderful day. 

What I Used-Up:

1/2 bag of lentils

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 acorn squash

1/4 onion

1 clove garlic