Snacking on Lentils
by Cindi Sutter, Founder of The Spirited Table®
I am a self proclaimed fan of Trader Joe's. And a big fat NO, no one is paying me to say that. In my opinion, if you hear someone say..."I don't really like Trader Joes", if you dig a bit deeper it might be they haven't walked each aisle, slowly, one time and read the labels, tried things they didn't know how to cook, or better yet...have some good old fashion Trader Joe's tip sharing conversations. I just did this with a group of women, some of which were in the hhmm I don't know how I feel about Trader Joe's non-fan club. But then we took a little outing...wanta have some fun on a boring night? Stroll the store with 7 women and just see what happens.
I was not a self proclaimed fan of Lentils...just the opposite, they fell into the YUCK category. Until I did the 7 women strong stroll through Trader Joe's. Now I've concoted all sorts of Lentil based snacks, lunches and dinners; I even add them as a side to my scrambled eggs.
So here are a few items that landed in my recipe below; but they can be tweaked in countless ways. Share your recipe tips for Lentils.
(Excuse the Lentil box, extra dirt and smears aren't provided on all boxes, just mine, since I decided to do a post on this after the box was, well empty and in the garbage.)
Serving Size 4 - This can be a main course or on the side. You can just eat the lentils alone for a snack out of the box and be very satisfied.
Ingredients
2 sweet yellow onion or 7-9 scallions chopped
6-8 stalks of celery chopped
1/2 cup Sun-dried tomatoes (or to taste)
2 cups lentils (Trader Joe’s are cooked)
1 1/2-2 cups left-over Turkey chopped
1/3 cup (roughly) Thai yellow curry sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Sauté onions or scallions, but don’t over-cook them. Add celery and sun-dried tomatoes till they are fully heated. (I like to leave the celery a bit crunchy-but cook to your preference). Then add lentils and turkey until heated. Add curry sauce at the end.
- Serve hot.
Cook's Note
Other options are only limited by your imagination.
Artichoke Hearts
Black or green olives
Pimentos
Bok choi
Fennel
Mushrooms
Parmesan Cheese
Your favorite sauce