Red Lentil Dahl

Hey ~

Today's recipe is a warm, comforting, delicious vegan meal!

Red Lentil Dahl.. which is an Indian dish that my son and I love!

Red Lentil Dahl
This recipe makes enough for 4 people plus leftovers. You can always half the recipe or double it. What ever works for you and your family!

1 cup carrots diced however big or small you want them
1 large onion diced sm to med dice
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 tsp salt or to taste
4 Tbls tomato paste
2 cups red lentils rinsed and picked over
8 cups vegetable broth
2 cups coconut milk
If you like cinnamon and cardamom you can add 1/2 tsp of those ea.  We don't like them in this dish so I omit them

saute onions, carrots in a little olive oil or coconut oil until onions are translucent. Add in garlic and saute for 1-2 mins. add in broth, lentils and seasonings. cover and simmer 20 mins or until lentils are tender. then add in the coconut milk.

If your vegan you can garnish with some soy sour cream or soy yogurt or coconut yogurt. If not Greek yogurt is good too.

I also made homemade Pitas to go with this and let me tell you, they were so easy and delicious to make I will NEVER again buy store bought pitas. It seems like every time I buy pitas I cut them in half and then try to fill them and they end up cracking and breaking all over the place.. WTH???

These didn't do that AT ALL!! I'm sold on homemade Pitas!!

Here is the recipe I used...Awesome homemade Pitas

I can't wait to make some Shwarma Tempeh to fill these Pitas.

Next time I make these I will try to add in some Whole Wheat flour. I will probably do half white half wheat to please my kids along with myself!

Let me know what you think of this Delicious vegan meal.

OX Sherice

Coconut Butter

Hey Hey ~ 

How's everyone? Good I hope. 

There have been a few changes around Potter Palace..

Potter Palace.. is my home, domain, kingdom, castle, safe haven.. well you get the point!!  

For about a year now I've been thinking about a vegan diet. When I began doing research about getting fit and healthy, I started watching documentaries and reading books. Everything from Food Matters to The Gerson Miracle. And reading books like Organic Manifesto and You Are Your Own Gym.

The more I started reading and absorbing the information I was finding, the more it got me thinking. 

I'm not going to go into why you should become vegan or change your diet. It's a personal choice But I think that if you start doing some research, you can figure it out! 

 I cut out meat and dairy from my diet 3 days ago, I'm not vegan as I still eat eggs and use honey. I can see myself giving up eggs in the future but honey is just to good and I don't think that the local raw organic honey I'm getting is hurting the bees. I did choose to cut out meat and dairy for health reasons. But of course I am a compassionate animal lover too! 

I do have a background in a vegetarian diet. My family being most my aunts, uncles and grandparents are Seventh Day Adventist and growing up did not eat any kind of meat. I've always been very picky about the meat I ate and would often times choose a vegetarian dish over a meat dish. At a young age I was introduced to Textured vegetable protein (soy) and gluten steaks and all kinds of different "fake" meats by Loma Linda, Morning Star and Worthington. 

Some of my favorite meals are meals made with TVP or "fake" meats.. Shamburgers, Steaks deluxe, I love the scallops made by Worthington, dipped in Nutritonal yeast and fryed in a little EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil),red pepper flakes and sea salt. The veggie links have a soft spot in my heart.. roasted like a wiener or mashed in a sandwich like my Grandma used to make. And the only sausage I will eat or my kids for that matter are morning star links. 

I know that Soy is a huge GMO crop in the U.S. I really try to get Non GMO and Organic when possible and I don't eat a lot of soy. It can mess with your thyriod and estrogen levels. I plan on eating a lot of plants, fruits, legumes, Quinoa, Tempeh, Tofu, and some "fake"meats.

I'm looking forward to experimenting and feeling good about what I'm eating. So that's a little bit about the changes going on in my kitchen. I'm sure I will continue to have wonderful delicious healthy recipes for you! 

On to the recipe I have for you today!

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Recently I began hearing about Coconut Butter. So I did some research and thought "I wonder if I can make it?"

We have a great Co-op organic market Called Main Market. You can read more about it here. They have a wonderful Bulk section so I got some unsweetened organic shredded coconut and today I made some Coconut Butter. 

Because I used unsweetened coconut I added in some agave and vanilla.. it turned out yummy.
Definitely is different but good. Since I have never bought any from the store I don't have anything to compare mine to so it's fine for me. I am curious about what the store bought kind tastes like and it's texture. I imagine I will buy some eventually.

Coconut Butter...

What you will need
Food Processor
2 cups unsweetened organic coconut
1 Tbls melted coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
a couple squirts agave

I put the coconut into my food processor and turned it on. I let it process for about 5 mins stopping once to scrape down the sides. Then I added in 1 Tbls melted coconut oil, 1/2 tsp vanilla and a couple squirts Agave. Started it back up and let it go for about 7-10 more mins stopping periodically to scrape the sides. 

 This is what it looked like at the end.. 

it still has a little texture, so it's not smooth like regular butter. but it's oh so yummy!! and instead of costing me almost 10 bucks, the coconut cost me about $5 for a lb. I had all the other stuff in my cupboard!

2 cups made 1 pint of butter.

I made a dip of Chocolate PB2 and Coconut butter to dip my banana in and OH. MY. HOLY. GOODNESS!!! 

But that's a post for another day! 

OX Sherice