LENTILS– WHOLESOME AND FIBER RICH

Tags

Food, Green Lentils, High Fiber, Legumes, Lentil Burgers, Lentils, Nutrient Rich, Red Lentils

In the past 30 plus days I have had to adjust to so many different things living in a new area, one of those and the worst is a total dietary change. I was used to a very high fiber diet, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits, soups and stews.

I will admit that when this move came about I never gave a thought that cooking would not be the same or with very little change. How wrong can a person be?

The lady that I room with eats a totally different diet from me, (high carb, low fiber) one that I used to live with 5-6 years ago, before I had a diabetes scare, now albeit I had sugar in my diet I still at fiber rich foods, just not in the quantities that I should have been consuming, the dreaded word diabetes changed all of that.

Now even though the kitchen is small and refrigerator space at a premium where fresh foods are concerned I have had to become used to daily shopping or at least every other day, buy it and eat it. So soups and stews are out of the question in the current situation, making 4-6 quarts of soup, and eating on it for the week just cannot be done where I am at.

Hence I have found the miracle of the LENTIL, I have had lentils over the years, and split peas, however when you look at the wealth of goodness packed into these little dried legumes, I decided that I could make dishes such as lentil burgers, lentil loaf, and small batches (make today eat today) lentil soups.

Lentil burgers I have found while researching recipes are as varied as meatloaf, the main thing to remember is to try to be sure you have enough binder in the burgers to hold them together. In the burgers I was given from WHOLE FOODS, they used Spelt flour as a binder, since I am neither vegetarian or vegan, I will use egg as an additional binder also. Many recipes call for Panko (Japanese Breadcrumbs) or rolled oats (I will use rolled oats)

In the coming month I am hoping to get my recipe written down and posted to the blog. Along with additional nutritional information on lentils and possible variations.

I will admit that the lentil burgers are the only thing that I have found that both fills me up and satisfies me with no meat in the meal, and actually sticks with me through the evening. I am looking forward to experimenting with lentils and seeing how many different ways I can come up with to prepare them

Today for me no recipe exists for the lentil burgers, except in my own mind. kind of a mixture of recipes to be combined into one. So far the burgers will contain the following:

Red Lentils, Green Lentils, chopped green onion, yellow onion, grated carrots, green pepper, fresh chopped spinach, celery, garlic, Chipotle Chili powder, celery salt, oregano, thyme, Amaranth grain, 7 grain mix, rolled oats, sprouted spelt flour, wheat bran, cayenne.

The first attempt will be the trial and error recipe for me, I am sure it will require tweaking. but it will be interesting to see how many variations I can come up with.

 

Spiced up Ramen Noodles

Tags

Cayenne, Corn, Country Sausage, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Food, Fresh Mushrooms, Quick Meals, Ramen Noodles

In an effort to try and Spice up Ramen noodles and make them into a more homemade meal, I have been searching over the internet looking at various recipes and trying to make up a recipe of my own.

The other day at a local market in Charlottesville VA (Reid’s Market) I bought a pound of country sausage, with no real idea of what I was going to do with it, other than eat it or make sausage gravy. I decided to put something together to dress up ramen  noodles.

I fried in the bottom of my sauce pan, a small portion of the sausage, a sprinkle of cayenne, some salt and pepper (being careful with the salt) as everything has salt in it especially the ramen seasoning packet.

I added a small can of corn (which did brown a bit) but I wanted something colorful, , and added some diced onion. After the sausage was browned, I added the water to the pot to cook the noodles,

After the water had cooked down a bit and the noodles were done, I stirred in several tablespoons of cream of mushroom soup. to give the noodles a little sauce.

Add chopped or sliced fresh mushrooms.

This is not good home cooking but it is better than just eating Ramen noodles all the time.

I have found that any combination of foods added to ramen makes a good meal, I try to vary it each day.

I don’t eat ramen everyday but considerably more than I ever thought I would.

DRESSING UP – Ordinary Ramen

Curry Powder, turmeric, onion, sausage, bacon,hamburger,  cream of soups, canned vegetables such as corn, peas, lima beans, bean sprouts or fresh vegetables as chopped asparagus, spinach, now peas, really the sky is the limit, and experimentation is the key.

 

Blogging New Directions?

Tags

Blogging in New Directions, Mennonite Cooking. Ramen Noodles

As so many of you have come to look for in my blog posts, are posts on Mennonite Life and Cooking. I am now faced with an extreme changes in my cooking habits with my recent move.

The kitchen in the place that I am living in about 4 times smaller than what I had before, and it is shared with another person. I am not complaining should they read this post, it is what it is, and I need to learn to adjust to the current situation. However there is no room for cooking like I used to do.

I cannot imagine baking biscuits, baking bread, or making soups that will feed me for the entire week or to freeze. There is absolutely no room to do home canning. Kind of discouraging, but it is what it is for the time and I need to learn to adapt to the current situation as it  stands now.

There are many recipes that I still have notes to make posts to the blog like the baking/cooking mixes for the busy life, the only part is that I usually make my meals, dishes mixes and take my own pictures for the blog, and this probably will not be possible during this time.

I may post recipes believe it or not on spicing up Ramen Noodles to take it from just a quick dish to something more of a quick entrée. Finding new ways to spice up quick foods and hopefully transform them into new dishes.

I also ask you the readers to help me out by suggesting new topics you would like to see written about.

I am hoping that this hiatus from good Mennonite and Amish Cooking is not of a long duration.

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

GOD HAS GIVEN US ALL THE SAME ONE LIFE TO LIVE!

Tags

Inferior Products of God, learning, Living, loving life, people, Single People, Unmarried

You know over my recent move, I have listened and watched other peoples reactions, to me as a single person never having married and have been surprised  at just how many people both married and single seem to believe that an unmarried single man should not own more than an apple crate and a chair or two.. How sad  that these people have such narrow minds.

The way I see it, is that we all are given only one life to live in this world be our God and creator, and it is up to use to make the most of our lives while on this world.

It does seem that the feelings of most people that a single person (in their adult lives) are unworthy of everything that a married couple has, almost to the extent that one could say they are inferior products of God, not worthy to have anything in their lives more than just a room, with a kitchen, bed and bathroom, they are not worthy to know the joys of house keeping, the chores of daily life.

I am fortunate in my life that I do not have a narrow mind and believe in living life to the fullest, no I am not a party animal, but rather find simple joys of life in Art, Music, and homemaking. My life as an Old Order Mennonite taught me how to work hard and live for today, to make the most of each and everyday that God has given us to live.

More over what are our lives, if we don’t want to learn anything else  other than to simply exist in life. The joys of reading and learning in life believe it or not is life long, it does not stop in the 8th or 12th grades of school or even collage, “A Mind is a Terrible thing to Waste”

I cannot imagine my life without all that I have learned to do up until this as of 50, I seek to make my life as full as any married couple on this planet, not to just exist, not to have belongings past down from my great grand parents down through the ages. What a waste of a human life when we cease to learn, grow and in both knowledge and spirit just because we are single.

I talked to several guys the were more than kind enough to give their free time to help me by moving my  today, I know they were shocked at what I had in home furnishings, cooking and cookware and art supplies, so thinking about writing this post this afternoon I asked them, being single themselves  and in an age frame of 30;s to 40’s, and I was shocked at how little they had. somewhere in life I must have missed the memo that single people do not need to have anything in life.

Don’t get me wrong I am ever grateful to them for moving me and helping me in the ways that they did today. I truly am grateful more than they can ever know.

It is just my feeling that when we cease to grow and learn the I should wish to cease to exist. but that is not my call, that is God’s.

I am sure that all the people that have commented on these things mentioned above, all have made choices they are completely happy with. It is just not my cup of tea to simply exist in life. owning nothing, doing nothing.

With this move I did get rid of a lot of old baggage that I have hung onto for years, and lots and lots of things that I had not where to go with, about 70% of all my cooking supplies which bothers me greatly as cooking and baking is a daily part of life. Also being conservative, the great joy I get from home canning I have found that I must get rid of most of them, which saddens me greatly. When the day comes to replace these items it will only cost 3-4 times what I originally paid for them., Oh Well Life Goes On.