Vegetarian Quinoa Lentil Patties

One of my boys used to date a vegetarian. When deciding what to feed them for dinner one night, I realized my vegetarian cooking repertoire has become somewhat limited. I feed meat eaters now, and my vegetarian cooking has kind of gone by the wayside these past few years. (We were vegetarian for probably 12 years, not a new way of cooking for me at all, but I do admit, I am kind of rusty!) So, with frozen lentils and quinoa in my freezer, I set out to make something that she would enjoy while we were having some leftover rotisserie chicken. I think they turned out pretty tasty!

The curry in these patties is mild, but if you are not a curry fan, feel free to substitute any herbs of choice for the curry powder.

Vegetarian Quinoa Lentil Patties 

2 tbsp coconut oil

½ cup finely diced onion

½ cup grated carrot

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp madras curry powder (or curry powder of choice)

1 cup of cooked lentils (mine were French lentils)

1 ½ cup cooked quinoa

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

½ cup grated Parmesan

cheese

Heat the coconut oil over medium high heat in a cast iron or other (NOT non-stick) heavy bottomed frying pan. Sauté the onion, carrot and garlic until the vegetables are just starting to soften and brown, approx 8-10 minutes, stirring often. Add the lentils and the curry powder, and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Allow this mixture to cool to room temperature before proceeding!

Preheat Oven to 375F

Add the contents of the cooled frying pan to a bowl with the quinoa, eggs, salt and cheese. Mix well.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper, and shape the mixture into 8 patties, approx 1/3 cup each. Press them together as best you can, it helps hold them together.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, remove from oven, and carefully flip the patties over to the other side. Bake for another 10 minutes, or until the patties start to brown slightly, and hold together well.

Serve as is, or in a burger bun, wrap or lettuce leaf with toppings of choice. 

Moroccan Chicken and Lentil Soup

These last few days of cold spring weather have left me craving soup. Salads on a cold day just don’t seem to warm your insides the way a nice bowl of soup does.  I had a big bowl of bone broth waiting to be bagged for the freezer, so I decided to make some soup for our lunch tomorrow with some of it. These spices are used together in a rub that we love on chicken. ( I think that recipe came from one of those old smaller sized  Chatelaine type recipe magazines that you see in the grocery store check outs?) We have used it here forever, and had it on some drumsticks on the grill this past week.  I thought these warming flavours would go really well in a soup, and my intuition was bang on. The lime definitely makes it...although it is not the first thing you taste, it pulls all of the flavours together beautifully.

I added the cooked lentils at the end, they were kind of a last minute inspiration, but they seemed to compliment the Moroccan vibe going on in the soup pot. I imagine you could add them dry when you add the stock and water to the soup and cook them at the same time, as they generally take about 20 minutes to cook on their own .

You can easily convert this soup for vegetarians by using veggie broth  and leaving out the chicken.

Moroccan Chicken and Lentil Soup

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 onion, chopped

1 ½ cups chopped carrots

2 cups purple cabbage roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp allspice

4 cups chicken bone-broth

1 cup water

Juice of 1 lime

1 cup pre-cooked chicken

1 cup pre-cooked lentils**

Sauté the onion in the coconut oil over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the carrots, cabbage and garlic. Continue to sauté for 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until the veggies are getting some nice brown colour. Stir in the cinnamon, cumin curry and allspice and sauté for another minute.  Add the chicken broth, salt and water, and the juice of the lime. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Add the chicken and the lentils and simmer another 8 minutes, until everything is nice and soft and fragrant.

  Serve hot!

**To cook lentils on their own, rinse 1 cup of dried lentils, pick out any debris or stones. Place in a pot with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil and reduce right away to a simmer. DO NOT ADD SALT until they are cooked! Cook  for about 20 minutes or until they are just softened. Drain any extra liquid, and use as desired.

Multi-Cultural Lentil Salad

So, what do you get when you mix coconut oil from the tropics, spices from the middle east, French lentils and Italian balsamic vinegar? This yummy salad of course!  I woke up this morning with a craving for a lentil salad. Weird, I know, but true! I did as I always do when I want to cook something, I scanned the internet for recipes to see what I could make with the ingredients I had on hand., and there wasn't one. So, I winged it, and made my own. The result is an awesome marriage of cultures, that can be enjoyed warm, or eaten cold.

 Feel free to substitute the greens , I had beet greens sitting on the counter from some beets I had just roasted, they were a last minute addition, but a very tasty one, I wouldn't  leave them out!

Multi-Cultural Lentil Salad

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 large carrot, diced

1 med onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp coriander seeds (crush both seeds with a mortar and pestle, or a spice grinder, or use powder in a pinch!)

1 cup shredded beet greens (you could substitute any green, like kale, chard, spinach, collards)

2 cups cooked French lentils

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (Ideally a nice thick already reduced one, to give a nice deep flavour)

Salt to taste

Heat the coconut oil in a large pan (cast is always preferable. Add your onions and carrots, garlic, and the crushed seeds or powders. Cook over medium heat  till veggies are starting to brown and soften, and spices are fragrant.

Add the beet greens and saute til wilted. Add pre-cooked lentils and balsamic, and stir to combine. Add salt to taste. Heat thru if serving warm, or remove from pan and chill for a cold salad.