Meal Monday
My son was admitted to the hospital overnight this past week. Nothing terribly serious, but the experience itself and the home treatments that followed took us off course. Thankfully, my son improved every day, but It was one of those weeks when nothing happened the way it normally does.
As I took a deep breath at the end of the week and attempted to plan the next, I felt the need to make up for the many meals out we had eaten. But I still needed comfort food -- the whole family did. And so I started looking around for recipes for healthy but reassuringly satisfying food.
Mark Bittman, whose Minimalist articles in the New York times are a simple pleasure, had a great article in the May Cookling Light about reducing meat in one's diet. His recipe for Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes looked tasty, and reminded me of a last-minute solution I had come up with over a year ago when making a crock pot recipe.
A nervous new mother, I was preparing to make a twist on shepherd's pie for my visiting in-laws made with ground chicken and squash. Apparently altered by my many years of being, in Bittman's words, almost meatless, I bought only one pound of ground meat, but the recipe called for two. And so, risking it, I turned to something that would serve as a bland filler -- Moong lentils. They soak in all the flavor, offer nothing bad and only good fiber. I was flabbergasted by the results.
Try it yourself. The recipe for Mother Hubbard's Favorite Shepherd's Pie is posted here. It's not your usual shepherd's pie, and it's flavorful and healthy. But try it as I did that night: Use only one pound of ground meat and add one cup of the yellow Moong lentils and an extra cup of broth when you put everything into the crock pot. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, and comforted.
Mmmm this sounds good -- I love shepherd's pie and I love lentils. Thanks!
And I hope your son is doing better. Those breathing issues can be so scary!
Posted by: Katherine | Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 10:06 PM