Category Archives: lentils

Paleo-Friendly Lentils – The Traditional Way

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So I am big on traditional foods and the ways that they were prepared hundreds of years ago.  Often the only way to find this is by going back to the village and asking the oldest grandmother still alive how her grandmother used to prepare dishes. Unfortunately, going to a village in the mountains of Crete, where I have perfect cell phone service, along with super-fast 4G mobile data, it is getting harder and harder to find out how our ancestors used to prepare lentil soup in Greece.

So, I did some digging on the internet and I found a very simple method:

  1. Take 2 cups of lukewarm water (slightly above room temperature) and place 1 cup of lentils and place them into a bowl.
  2. Add one and a half tablespoons of yogurt with live cultures in the bowl.
  3. Cover and repeat steps 1 & 2 every 12 hours.

Then cook your lentils as normal, and observe if it irritates your stomach.

Thanks and for those celebrating Clean Monday Happy Lent!

(Για αυτους που γιορτάζουν  την Καθαρά Δευτέρα, Καλη Σαρακοστή!)

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Sources:

  1. http://eugenia.queru.com/2012/04/19/fermenting-lentils/
  2. http://www.culturesforhealth.com/fermenting-lentils-for-soup

Home is Healthy

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 Lentil-Soup

Today, April 8th, 2013 is Food Bloggers Against Hunger Day!  This means we are donating our blog post to this wonderful cause.  We and 200 other food blogs are part of this.  This has hit the mainstream media which makes it even more exciting!  There are two call to actions by you the readers at the end of this post.

Good food is not just about being tasty and looking attractive.  It's also about being healthy.  Healthy, organic, local food tends to be more expensive and harder to access by all.  Today we are providing a low-cost, healthy recipe for this cause.  Our recipe is a traditional Greek lentil soup provided by our loving mother, someone who always strived towards healthy home cooked foods.  She is among the inspirations for this blog.  Growing up, she made sure we ate healthy which meant we would eat at home.  After all, Home is Healthy!  Lentil soup is high in iron & protein and doens't cost an arm and a leg!

Lentil soup

Ingredients

  • One pound lentils

  • ½ cup olive oil

  • one medium onion shredded

  • 3-4 cloves garlic chopped, two bay leaves

  • half cup fresh tomato puree (4 plum very ripe tomatoes)

  • 4 cups water

Instructions

  1. Wash the lentils well in strainer (sourotiri)

  2. Put the olive oil, onion, and lentils in a 6 quart pot

  3. Start stirring them with a wooden spoon (koutala) until the lentils are well coated , with the olive oil.

  4. Add the tomato puree, the garlic and continue cooking for a few minutes longer.

  5. Total time 4-5 minutes

  6. Add water, two bay leaves, salt to taste and continue cooking until they are tender soft but not over cooked.

  7. Add more water to make the soup more watery or thick, the way you like it.

 

We've done our part, now you do your part.

1) go to this link https://secure.strength.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=113 

and 

Tell Congress: Federal nutrition programs are crucial for hungry children!

2) Check out the film A Place at the Table in select cities, iTunes, or Amazon.

 

P.S. Thanks mom for the recipe!