What Was for Dinner Tonight

I get an awful lot of questions from people about what I and my own family eat on a day-to-day basis. I have decided to start a new blog feature called "What Was for Dinner Tonight" and I will give recipes when we have a particularly good or interesting dinner. I hope this will give folks some ideas.

The recipes and meals I will present here will run the gamut from vegan, to raw vegan, to lacto-ovo vegetarian, as we are all of these things in turn. Sometimes we just eat scrambled eggs for dinner, so please don't think we are perfect. I have been known to throw lettuce leaves on the table and call it a salad. But sometimes I do get my act together in the kitchen and produce something we all eat and enjoy. Those are the dinners I'll tell ya' about.

Dinner Tonight was Lentil Loaf, Vegan Eggplant Rollatini, Brown Rice, and Salad. Raw Freezer Fudge was dessert, yum!

Lentil Loaf

Before you start this recipe, cook 1 cup of dry lentils in a pot of water with a strip of kombu seaweed for 30 minutes or until soft. Drain the lentils and discard the kombu. Set aside.

1 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 T curry powder
dash cayenne pepper
sea salt to taste
2 cups cooked and drained lentils
2 T natural peanut butter
1/4 cup whole grain bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 190 C (375F). Oil a loaf pan and set aside. Saute the veggies in the oil until they are soft. Add the spices. Put all into the food processor with 1 cup of the cooked lentils and the peanut butter. Process until smooth. Stir in the remaining lentils and the crumbs. Mixture should be very thick and pasty. If it's runny, add more breadcrumbs! Press into loaf pan and bake in oven 30-40 minutes or until firm. Let sit for 15 minutes before slicing.

Vegan Eggplant Rollatini
1 large eggplant, peeled and cut lengthwise into thin slices
1 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup whole grain bread crumbs
3 T Nutritional Yeast
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup prepared tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 190 C (375F). Lightly oil a baking sheet and place eggplant slices on it. Flip them over so both sides are lightly coated with oil. Cover with foil and bake 15 mins or until soft. Set aside. While the eggplant is baking, saute onion in the oil until soft, add in nuts, crumbs, raisins and tomato sauce. When eggplant strips are cool enough to handle, lay them on the counter to ready for filling and rolling. Place a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce in the bottom of a small baking dish. Place a few spoonfuls of filling onto the small end of each eggplant slice and roll up tightly. Place seam side down in the pan. Continue until all are rolled and packed tightly into the dish together. Top with any remaining filling and the remaining sauce. Bake 20 minutes and enjoy!

I think that's enough for today's post. I'll post another time with the Raw Freezer Fudge. We will be eating THAT all summer long!!!

B'teavon,
emily