Hearty Winter Fare

So, we went from brutal summer heat to winter overnight. We even had over an inch of rain (that's slightly less rain than we had all of last year!), which is highly unusual in that we normally don't have rain between April and October.

It's been like winter here. That was enough for us to break out the flannel house-pants and hearty winter recipes. Jane made a recipe called Lebanese Style Lentils with Pasta for dinner the other night. It's from the Dr. Neal Barnard Book on being a vegan. The pasta seems a little weird to me, but it all tasted yummy. It's got lentils and spinach and onions, etc. Next time, Jane said she'll skip the pasta and have a loaf of some crusty whole grain bread along with the dish.

What's Cooking?

Jane is the head of this household. So with her decision to become vegan, she took on the monumental task of re-learning how to cook. So far, she's doing pretty well. In the month that we've been "doin' the vegan thing" as she calls it, there's only been one "let's not do this again" meal. I don't recall what that was, and she tore up the recipe.

Last night we had Turkish Lentil Stew, a great big green salad, and a hunk of whole wheat french brad from Ralph's. For those not familiar with the store, Ralph's is a Southern California supermarket chain. Yeah, I know.... Ralph, food... not the best of connotations, but the market is close by, good, and surprisingly, stocks a large variety of vegan items.

Because it's just the two of us, we often have the same meal two or more nights in a row. Hey, I'm not cooking, and I'm not complaining! Besides, I often say, when it comes to food, I could be a cat, as I'm willing to eat the same meal over and over and over again.

The Turkish Lentil Stew is from Ann Gentry's book "The Real Food Daily Cookbook." Apparently, the are a couple of Real Food Daily restaurants in and around Los Angeles. The restaurants are our list to try, but they're a little further than we normally travel. However, if the cookbook is any indication, the trip will be well worth it. When we go, I'll let you know our impressions.

Lane