My Whole Deal

This is a stew born out of leftover quinoa and a dream. And perusing yet another one of the thoughtful X-mas gifts my badass husband gave me. He loves words like badass. And appies. And guac. And he loves when I falsify information about him in a public forum. He’s so weird.

The gift part is true though. Along with a swizz-nizzle Marcato Atlas 150 Pasta Maker, I got Vegan Italiano, by Donna Klein. This book is full of yummy ideas that are easily adaptable to whatever you happen to have on hand. Unless it’s animal products. Don’t sully this woman’s life work. That’s just plain mean.

Yummy Vegan Italiano Recipes. Italiano. Italiano. It's just fun to say.

I was inspired to make my “Tuscan” Tomato-Lentil Quinoa Stew after reading Donna’s recipe for “Split-Pea and Tomato Soup With Spinach” (Klein, 29). But we wanted something heartier as our family is born of hearty stock and there is five of us. I have no affiliation with Tuscany. I have never been there, nor do I believe that what I made is actually Tuscan in origin. But it sounds nice, no?

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 small onion, diced fine
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 med-small carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 large potato (or 3 small), diced
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups red lentils
- 3 cups vegan broth- unchicken, unbeef, or veg–boulian cube plus boiling water works best in this recipe!
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp dried Italian Seasoning*
- salt, pepper and hot sauce, to taste
- 1-2 cups quinoa**, cooked
- 1/2 cup flat leaf Italian Parsley, chopped
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves

METHOD:

1. Boil 4 cups water in your kettle. Place lentils in a medium large bowl, add a veggie boulian cube and pour boiling water over lentils. Set aside while you get your chop on.

2. In this order, place onions, garlic, carrots, celery, potato, tomatoes, lentils (with stockificated water), herbs and seasonings in your pressure cooker. You may need to add a weensy bit more water if your stubborn veggie tidbits insist on breeching the surface. Bring to high pressure, reduce heat and cook for 11 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and execute a quick release. Stir in cooked quinoa (preferably cold so you can bring the stew to eating temperature post haste), spinach and parsley and adjust seasoning to taste. Serve with crusty Italian bread or sourdough.

Bread? Pish shaw! We serve ours with Play Dough.

NOTES:

Being kind of a jerk, I’ve provided no instructions for yummy-ness derived from anti-pressure cooker means. But, I bet you could do it. I bet you could!

* Fresher is better. Packaged fresh herbs are rampant in every grocery store in this neck of the woods. Most stores offer a “Pasta Blend,” chock full of basil and rosemary and oregano and marjoram and such. Use the whole pack in lieu of the piddly pinch of dried stuff.

** As I stated, this recipe was born out of leftover quinoa and it is SO SO SO good at bulking up this stew. Having said that, cous cous, rice or orzo will work fine as well. But I stand by my pre-cooked and cooled recommendation. My poor, innocent mouth hole has suffered the wrath of my eager tummy too many times.

NUTRITION FACTS

Servings: 10

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 199
Total Fat: 0.64g
Cholesterol: –
Sodium: 348mg
Total Carbs: 38.07g
Dietary Fiber: 12.78g
Sugars: 5.61g
Protein: 10.59g