Vegetarian Dinner Week Begins!

On Saturday, Adam and I were talking about what I should make for dinner this week, and he flat out said “How about those black bean burgers again? Those were awesome!” So I agreed; we’ll have bean burgers. Then I said “We have a ton of lentils to use, I could make a lentil casserole.” He agreed, and then said “How about we just do vegetarian dinners this week, just for the heck of it.” And I agreed. (This was a very agreeable conversation!) We actually started the week last night with leftover spinach lasagna, but I’m not counting that, since it was technically cooked last week.

Vegetarian Dinner Week is starting with a recipe loosely based around Caitlin’s Red Lentil Casserole over at See Bride Run. So many of the flavors sounded fantastic, but alas… 2 stores and no red lentils, so I decided to just go with our plethora of regular brown lentils. I did adapt the recipe a little bit, but its mostly hers!

I was having camera issues. Sorry for the bizarre pic!

Lentil and Bean Casserole

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. dry brown lentils

3 cups water

1 can Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed

1 small sweet onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. garam masala

1 tsp. black pepper

1 c. shredded parmesan cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions

In a pot, cook the lentils in the 3 cups of water until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain off extra water. While lentils are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic, green pepper, and onion and sauteé until “relaxed” and the onion is translucent. In a large bowl, mix the lentils, beans, vegetables, spices, egg and cheese together. Pour into a greased (or sprayed) casserole dish and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden.

It smelled absolutely fantastic in our house while this cooked. I know the curry/garam masala/parmesan combo sounds strange, but trust me, it’s not! The flavors melded very well, and the ONLY complaint I have is that it was a little bit dry. Next time, I may add some liquid before baking. There was a little heat from the curry powder, sweetness from the veggies… all in all a fab dinner!! I highly recommend this one!

I also, in case you didn’t notice, had a glass of my favorite Polka Dot Riesling with dinner. Just what I needed on a Monday!

Happy almost-Inauguration!

Tagged as: beans, vegetables, vegetarian