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The second new dish I made last week I made for our weekly potluck - Lentil Loaf. I baked it for just under an hour and it was perfect. Instead of French style green beans, I chopped up 2/3 cup of green wax beans, covered them with water in a glass dish, and microwaved them for 2 minutes. This was a yummy, yummy dish! I served it with gravy. Who doesn’t like gravy?

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups dried lentils
• 2 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup French style green beans
• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• butter, for coating
• breadcrumbs, for coating

Directions

1. Grease a loaf pan with butter and generously coat with breadcrumbs.

2. Put the lentils, water and bay leaf into a medium saucepan, cover tightly and simmer until water is absorbed and the lentils are tender.

3. Remove from heat and discard the bay leaf.

4. Preheat oven to 375°F.

5. Add the cheese, onion, green beans, breadcrumbs, lemon juice and egg to the lentils; mix well.

6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

7. Spoon mixture into loaf pan and smooth the top.

8. Bake, uncovered for 1-1 1/2 hours until firm and nicely browned on top.

Last week, I tried two new recipes for vegetarian dinners.

First, I made chickpea curry.

It was yummy! I can’t remember where I got it, but here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chick peas
• 2 onions
• 1/2 green pepper
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 carrots
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• ginger
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder or 1 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tomatoes
• salt to taste

Instructions:

• Peel and cut onion. Cut ginger into small pieces. Cut green pepper, celery, and carrots into small pieces. Saute over medium heat in a frying pan with olive oil with cumin.
• Add tomato, cook 5 minutes.
• Add chickpeas, 2 tbsp water, cinnamon, and turmeric. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.
• Serve over rice or potatoes.

It was very good! I actually used half the cumin and turmeric because I was afraid of them, but it definitely needs the full amounts to have the right taste! I also totally forgot the chili powder, so it wasn’t nearly spicy enough!