Lentils on my mind.

**What I did with lentils today... Explaination is below**

In Nutrition class, in the Toque, from teachers, and lately in life I have been encountered by lentils. A lot of people turn up their nose to them, especially when they think of split pea soup or something else like that. BUT lentils, pulse beans and beans in general are a very important part of our diet! Who knew right? (Actually I knew awhile ago because my friend Elizabeth started eating more of them and she told me how great they are)

Some info about lentils:

• Lentils are part of the legume family.
• They are a good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber.
• The high fiber helps prevent blood sugar levels from rising rapidly after a meal.
• Lentils have great amounts of minerals, vitamins, and proteins...heres a chart from www.whfoods.org

Cool hey?

**So heres the explanation of the picture above and what I made today.**

I was making some dinners for my friends Katie and Layne and their daughter Ava. Katie is expecting a baby boy any day now! So just made some bacon scalloped potatoes and a chicken and rice casserole and when putting in some vegtables into the casserole I stumbled upon my red lentils I've never used. So I added some into that and then I got thinking... I had :

-1 large sweet potato, peeled and small dice

-1 cup lentils

-3 cups water

-clove of garlic

-dried rosemary and bay leaf

-tablespoon of butter

-salt&pepper

(I added some carrot last minute too for color.)

Basically put the water, lentil, rosemary, bay leaf, and sweet potato in a big sauce pot and turned it on high. I put the lid on for a while too. Boiled , added the garlic clove, boiled, boiled until all was very tender(the water should be pretty absorbed too. You want to keep that because lots of your nutrients are in there! So dont drain, ok?). Then I took out the bay leaf and put in S&P and some butter and took my mixer and mixed mixed mixed until smooth. Thats it. It is like a super healthy creamy mashed potato. You could add more stock to make it more of a soup too. Its quite yum.

k. off to enjoy my lentils :)