Simply Lentils

Posted by wardeh

by Wardeh Harmon

I grew up loving and enjoying Middle Eastern food. My namesake, Tata (”Grandmother”) Wardeh, taught my mom how to cook the traditional foods from the Middle East. Olives, rice, lentils, fava and garbanzo beans, lamb, cinnamon, cardamom, goat cheese, pickled vegetables and fresh yogurt — just to name a few. As an adult, I look back on my upbringing and wish I’d paid more attention to the preparation of these incredibly nutritious and flavorful foods. I know and love the flavors, but now that I’m grown, I’m working hard to merge our whole food diet with those traditional, rich and healthy staples of the Mediterranean diet.

Healthy lentils are a staple food in the Middle East and other eastern countries, such as Africa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Turkey. I see that more and more health-conscious people in our country are beginning to favor lentils and other legumes. The legumes — lentils, beans and peas — are the fruit of leguminous plants. According to World’s Healthiest Foods,

[Lentils] grow in pods that contain either one or two lentil seeds that are round, oval or heart-shaped disks and are oftentimes smaller than the tip of a pencil eraser. — World’s Healthiest Foods

For more in-depth information on their history and nutritional information, please visit World’s Healthiest Foods.

In our family, we love lentils. I will tell you why –

1. Lentils are highly nutritious. Lentils are high in fiber, protein and complex carbohydrates, while being low-fat. With almost no fat, one cup of lentils offers good to excellent amounts of six important minerals — molybdenum, folate, tryptophan, iron, copper, and phosphorus; two B-vitamins; and protein.

2. Lentils are easy to cook. They do not require soaking and cook up in 30 to 40 minutes. To those of us used to spending all day cooking up a pot of pinto, kidney or black turtle beans, this seems incredibly speedy!

3. Lentils are a great meal-stretcher or meal-filler. I routinely add lentils to main dishes to stretch out how far our meat goes. This offers a financial benefit since lentils are much cheaper than meat. It also adds a nutritional benefit to the meal; meat has little fiber, so adding lentils boosts the fiber content of the meal.

4. Lentils make a fantastic meal on their own. They are high in protein. They are mild tasting themselves, but readily absorb other spices and flavors, for a very satisfying main dish. When combined with a grain, such as rice, barley or quinoa, they can make a complete protein offering optimum nutrition.

5. Lentils are a food in the Bible. When the Israelites were under seige, the Lord saved them from starvation by giving them a recipe for bread-making. One of the foods that was to be ground into flour was lentils. To our family, this is an endorsement by the Creator that lentils are a good food to eat.

PURCHASING LENTILS

Lentils are available for purchase either in packages or in bulk. You’ll find the greatest cost savings by purchasing in bulk. However, choose a store that has good turnover in its bulk department which will ensure that you are buying fresh, bug-free lentils. Before dipping in and scooping out a bagful, check the bin for bugs. Whole lentils are preferable to cracked. For the maximum health benefits, choose organic lentils. They’re better for you and the way they are grown is best for God’s world.

PREPARING TO COOK LENTILS

You will not need to soak the lentils before cooking. However, it is a good idea to spread them out on a tray and pull out any little stones or debris. Also, take the time to rinse them under cool water for a few minutes.

COOKING LENTILS

Incorporate lentils into a main dish. Add a cup or two of lentils to your stew or sauce and let them cook along with the other foods. Be sure to add enough liquid to sufficiently cook the lentils and the other foods in the dish. One cup of lentils requires three cups of liquid and about 30 to 40 minutes of cooking time.

Pre-cook the lentils. Using three cups of liquid for every one cup of lentils, bring the lentils and liquid to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Consider adding another grain (and sufficient liquid to cook its quantity, too) such as brown rice or barley, as well as spices such as onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, salt and pepper. Add these cooked lentils to finished dishes or store in the refrigerator for up to three days.

I like to keep a large bowl of cooked lentils in the refrigerator and I will add them to meals over the course of a couple days. These meals include — stew, chili, Sloppy Joe’s in a Bowl, or spaghetti sauce, to name a few. As I mentioned before, they readily absorb other flavors, so you’ll hardly know they’re there. Except, as a mom, you’ll notice satisfactorily that your meal stretched further than usual!

Consume lentils warm or cold. Obviously, lentils in a stew or casserole should be served warm. But cold, cooked lentils are delicious added to a pasta salad or rice salad.

A FEW NOTES

Adjust the cooking times to your desired degree of doneness. A shorter cooking time will result in firmer lentils while a longer cooking time will result in softer lentils.

If adding lentils to a main dish recipe, increase some or all of the seasonings to account for the increased volume of the main dish.

Experiment, experiment, experiment! If your family resists drastic changes, just use a small amount of lentils in a meal. Wait until they acclimate before increasing the quantity of lentils.

For recipes using lentils, please visit my Such Treasures blog:

• Mujadareh — Arabic Lentils & Rice
• Garden Lentil Patties
• Ginger Chicken, Rice & Lentil Soup

Enjoy those healthy lentils — and feel the satisfaction that you’re eating one of God’s favored foods!

I always welcome your comments, questions or suggestions. Write to me at wardeh@t2chk.org or comment below.

© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon. Used with permission from the author.

New Year’s Cleaning and Organizing Encouragement

Posted by Sylvia

Every year, January through April, it seems like the whole country is on a mission to organize and clean their house and surroundings. Those of us who grew up with early year organizing and a Spring Cleaning week know that this is a natural response to the revelry and clutter of Thanksgiving, Christmas, other holidays and the comfortable clutter of winter.

Once the sun starts peeking through the heavily shaded winter windows of my home, I want more of it. And the warmth of the sun spurs me on to cleaning. Not to mention the fact that the sunlight makes the dust and smears show up more vividly. (Look, there’s Traci’s signature from her visit here in October!)
I have found over the years of housekeeping I’ve done ( several at home with my Mother and 26 here with my own home) that beginning early in the year, and working at my own pace is best for me. I can go with someone else’s cleaning schedule, especially if I’m behind or need motivation, but I work best at my own pace, with my own set of goals.

The first thing I do is make my list of goals. I start with BIG jobs like painting or repairing things. Then I move to Whole Room Decluttering. Finally, I list what needs to be done in the way of general deep cleaning and organizing in each room. I also make a Honey-Do List for my Hubby. He likes a list that he can work from and check off when he’s finished. Since I am here all day long without him, he realizes that I am more up to speed on what the house, yard and garden needs. So we sit together and make his list for Spring.
Armed with my own list, I start delegating. Oh you didn’t think I cleaned this whole house by myself did you? I have an 8 year old, an 11 year old and a strapping 15 year old girl who all do their part in keeping the family manse clean and organized. They live here, they take responsibility for their personal space and whatever else needs to be done in the house side by side with me.
I learned long ago that allowing children to take part in cleaning and organizing is the best thing all around, but I did have to lower some of my standards for what it means to be organized. Cleaning jobs are sometimes done over and over until they are done correctly, that’s part of learning. The towels in the linen closet are not perfectly straight very often, the cds and videos are not always perfectly aligned on their shelves. However, the children learn how to clean and organize, they like the feeling of a clean organized house and eventually they learn how to do the work as well as I can do it. If its something I want done in a way I know they cannot succeed in well enough to please me, I do it myself, often with a child by my side, learning the ropes.

I’ll be making my spring time lists this month. By February, I’ll be working on closets, cabinets and shelves. Then in March I will start on decluttering whole rooms. April is usually the time I get around to the more typical Spring Cleaning jobs like carpet cleaning, wall washing and window cleaning. I normally wait for the best opportunities to do the BIG jobs when I have money budgeted and time to spend on them.

Since I started working on Spring Cleaning and Organizing about 15 years ago, I have noticed a yearly improvement in my house and a proportional improvement in how easy it is to get my house into shape. I certainly hope it doesn’t take you that long! But with homeschooling and new babies every few years, it has taken me a while to get my act together. Finally though, after much effort and determination, I have a home that is easy to clean and whip back into shape after winter holidays.

© 2007 Sylvia Britton