I think I went on a garlic overload tonight. I personally love garlic, and the more the merrier. Even so, I took into consideration that my family, while they do like garlic, aren’t the fanatics that I happen to be.

For dinner tonight, I decide to raid the cupboards and make something from whatever I found. I took inventory of the ingredients I had on hand and went surfing to find a recipe that would work with those ingredients. As I’m trying hard to eat more healthy meals, I wanted to do a vegetarian dinner, and in a house full of carnivores, that can be tough to do! I stumbled across two different recipes for lentils with an Indian-style theme. The first was from www.feedmephoebe.com and her Red Lentil and Spinach Masala. The other recipe was from www.wholenewmom.com and her Indian Red Lentils recipe. Of course, I had to make it my own, so I combined parts of each recipe, and I liked how it turned out.

Indian-Inspired Lentil Stew

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon dried cilantro
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 quart Roma tomatoes (home canned). Can substitute 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
2-1/2 cups lentils, rinsed
1 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 15-ounce can coconut milk
3-1/2 cups chicken broth
Approximately 5 ounces fresh spinach, chopped
Approximately 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

In a large stockpot, cook onions and garlic in the olive oil until the onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in the cumin, garam masala, cilantro, and turmeric. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add in the tomatoes, scraping up any of the brown bits that formed on the bottom of the pan. Add the lentils and coconut milk. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to keep from sticking. Turn down the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for approximately 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Right before serving, stir in the spinach and basil.

While I love Indian food, this was my first attempt at making it myself. I thought it was really good. This is a vegetarian dish, although it would be equally good with some shredded chicken breast and some chopped jalapenos for extra heat if you like a spicy dish. All in all, I’ll be making this again.

I made the Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread again to accompany this (see previous posts). This time I used only white whole wheat flour and baked it in a small cast iron Dutch oven. I really liked how the texture turned out when baking it this way, so I know it will be done this way a lot more in the future.

We also had tons of loose leaf lettuce from the garden to use in a salad tonight, and I wanted to make a creamy garlic salad dressing. This is where I think the garlic overload happened…again, I love garlic, but I was kindly told at dinner to cut back on the amount of garlic next time 🙂

Creamy Garlic Dressing

1 tablespoon loosely packed, minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used Miracle Whip as I ran out of time to make homemade)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (fresh or from the green can is fine)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Smear the garlic and salt together with a chef knife to form a paste. In a blender, combine the garlic paste, mayo, sugar, pepper and Parmesan cheese together. Add in the vinegar and the olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using. The dressing will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.