Ever since Gena’s cookbook introduced me to the combo of lentils and roasted cauliflower I have been super into it.
For this meal, the only real effort in terms of prep was roasting the cauliflower and making the dressing. Beyond that it came together quite quickly, especially since I cooked the lentils in the rice cooker.
The dressing was a cross between a vinaigrette and a creamy dressing, thanks to the tahini. I basically kept the ratio I typically use for vinaigrettes, but used tahini instead of oil. I used apple cider vinegar as my acid and sweetened it lightly with maple syrup. It was creamy yet tangy and went great with the salad.
To build the salad, I started with lentils, then added greens, followed by roasted cauliflower, red onions (for the people who wanted it), sunflower seeds, feta, and finally the dressing.
Here it is listed out if you want to recreate it:
- lentils
- mixed greens
- roasted cauliflower
- red onion
- sunflower seeds
- feta
- tahini vinaigrette
Next on the menu was grits…something Kyle requested!
I topped them with soft boiled eggs, avo, and cheese.
I should really remember to do AM in the PM more.
This beef stew was super comforting. I should have written down exactly what I did. I was going for a pot roast kind of flavor when I made it and it turned out beautifully. First, I sautéed aromatics in olive oil, then I added the meat to get a sear on one side of it, finally I added some glugs of red wine and beef broth and let it cook for ~40 minutes on high pressure. After the meat was done, I threw in some yukon gold potatoes and carrots to cook under pressure and left it on the keep warm setting until dinner time.
So rich and delicious. I begrudgingly gave Kyle the leftovers. But that’s only because I had planned on making extra tofu the next day for myself.
We are now at the point where I have to buy POUNDS of tofu to keep everyone happy and not fighting over seconds and thirds. It’s cheaper than buying pounds of meat, but I do wonder about how our grocery bill is going to increase over the next decade. At the rate we are going I’m going to need to find a more lucrative gig!
Anyway, the tofu went with a broccoli and cashew stir fry and white rice. I added the typical tamari sesame and ginger flavors that I love for seasoning.
Final meal to share is this delightful kale salad that I came up with with the help of my mini chefs.
I asked them what they felt like and they just started throwing out ideas, and what do you know, they all sounded pretty decent when I combined them so that’s that.
The dressing was a basic vinaigrette with half lemon juice/half apple cider vinegar. I typically punch up the acid portion of my vinaigrettes (sometimes nearing a 1:1 ratio even!), but in this case I left the ratio more to what a classic vinaigrette is (3:1 oil to vinegar).
I didn’t measure exactly, but I know that it was roughly:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pepper to taste
The rest of the salad was:
- 2 sweet potatoes, diced and roasted
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 fuji apple, diced
- 3-4oz unexpected cheddar cheese, crumbled
This cheese is confusingly parmesan like!! I guess I should have gathered that from the label, but I honestly didn’t read it. I think I would have preferred a more cheddar-like flavor (because that goes with apples ebtter in my opinion), but of course it was still amazing.
You could add salted roasted pepitas for an extra crunch and I wouldn’t be mad about it.
Also, FYI, I haven’t skipped a night of dessert in mayyyybe 50+ days, so don’t think my chocolate game has slowed just because I haven’t been posting it.
