#FoodieFriday – Simple Vegetarian Lentil Chili

Let’s talk about food. Last week, I wrote about the need to eat less meat, and I was on a mission to find tasty vegetarian dishes, so I asked for recipe suggestions.

Lana of the Retirement Chapter suggested The best vegan one pot starring rice, coconut milk, chickpeas, veggies & spices, and Rebecca at Fake Flamenco suggested Quiero Cauliflower Tacos. Both sounded delicious, but I discovered I did not have all the ingredients. I needed fresh broccoli, cauliflower, and red cabbage to name a few. Normally, not a problem, but this week I wasn’t going food shopping.

Terry at Radically Retired suggested: Spaghetti Squash Supreme. It was in the “Company’s Coming” Vegetables book. Basically, you oven roast the squash until done, then transfer the strands to a casserole dish and add par boiled veggies of your choice, toss, and then top with cheese of your choice and bake again until vegetables are fork tender. The cheese is ok if you’re a lacto vegetarian. If not, you could leave it off and use a tomato sauce.

This sounds like another strong contender, but I’ve not seen (or at least I don’t think so) spaghetti squash here … I will need to research further.

And John at Bite Eat Repeat Stuffed Eggplant recipe seems fiddly at first read, but the finished dish looks delicious. I am also not great at cutting neat, thin slices of aubergine (eggplant), but I will also give this a try as I love eggplants. I even grow them in my garden!

Finally, Tracy of TZ Garden suggested: My favorite is probably roasted veggies, with garlic and onions. Roasted until they are crisped & brown

I then spotted a Lentil Chili recipe Laura from Notes from the Hinterland shared on her FB page. The recipe can be found here: https://www.noracooks.com/lentil-chili/ I checked the ingredients, and yep, I had them all in the store cupboard. I particularly liked this recipe because it could be cooked in a Slow Cooker, so perfect for a night when I go to Portuguese lessons and Mr P is in charge. AND as the ingredients were dried or tinned, a perfect emergency standby. NOTE: I did omit the Maple Syrup/brown sugar, and next time I will try using some of the frozen chestnuts I have in the freezer. I also added some chopped carrots.

Of course, Mr Piglet moaned that it had no meat (he had read my blog), so I cooked a few lardons as a token gesture. His verdict: The meal was tasty, and he loved the spices. …AND most importantly, he would eat it again and next time without the lardons. So this recipe is a keeper.

I am looking forward to trying all the other suggested recipes over the next few weeks, so watch this space!

Please keep your suggestions coming! Thank you!