Sweet Lentils

Life has been so crazy. I feel like I never cook anymore, which is a lie, I just haven't been making new dishes. I've been in a cooking slump. Which is strange, because that does not often happen to me. I blame the fact that my food co-op stopped offering pick ups in my city. Come on SLC. And so now, I just seem to buy the same things from the grocery store every week. Sad day...

Other than that, the holidays have treated me well. We spent Thanksgiving in Bear Lake in a big house with my mom's ENTIRE side of the family. SO FUN! Especially because all my cousins are vegtarians and my uncle is the first vegan I ever knew (used to think he was straight crazy) so there are so many tasty things I can actually eat.

And I had to do a nice long run in the mountains in order to find ANY SNOW in BEAR LAKE in NOVEMBER. Something is wrong.

Speaking of wrong, want to know something else sad? The fact that I can't go outside because if I breathe the air in SLC right now, I will get cancer. No joke. This is what we breathe...

They have a scale of green = good, yellow = moderate, orange = unhealthy of sensitive groups (I'd say everyone), red = UNHEALTHY aka DEATH stick a cancer warning in the sky. It has been RED for 4 days. Orange for a few days before that. AH! I had to drive up to Park City this morning just to see the sky and breathe fresh air and run outside. It is so bad. We need to do something. Like get rid of all of our refineries. Or stop expanding. Or push cleaner transport. Or all of the above. Someday....someday...

Anyway, back in the summer, I posted this awesome Quinoa Tabbouleh recipe and I said that it paired well with this lentil salad. It only took me like 4 months, but I am not posting the lentil salad recipe. Can I get a woot woot?

Anyway, this is a great fall/winter meal because sweet potatoes are CHEAP and more delicious. Also, it is ready in 30 minutes. Hooray.

Ingredients

1/2 c green lentils, rinsed

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

1/4 c pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

5 dates, seeded and diced

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp maple syrup

salt and pepper to taste

cinnamon to taste

spinach to serve

Directions

1. Cook lentils in a pot until tender using 4:1 water to lentil ratio. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook 30 minutes on low.

2. Meanwhile, peel and dice sweet potatoes and spray with a little oil. Sprinkle with cinnamon, salt, and pepper, and bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. (stir halfway through)

3. Chop dates and toast pecans (I honestly throw them in the microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute...)

4. Combine mustard, vinegar, and syrup and whisk together until smooth (I often double this part and just add slowly.)

5. When lentils and potatoes are done, toss everything together and serve over spinach. Or without spinach if you are pairing this with the Quinoa Tabbouleh

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