Gruel

What a week!  

To anyone who was negatively impacted by Sandy, I hope you are back to your normal.  My M-I-L in NY is still sans power and heat and it looks like it'll still be 5 or so more days before she is switched back on.  You are all and have been in my thoughts this week.  I hope the challenges are not / did not have too much of a negative impact on your weight management journey, and if it did (or is currently), run, don't walk to your meeting this week, lets get your head back in the game...  Throwing in the towel is not an option, right?

Halloween was a beautiful evening, if you walked with the kids, I am sure you enjoyed that part.  What about all that chocolate and sugar this week?   Come and tell your meeting buddies how you did with the candy temptations, the good, the bad and the ugly :)

This week I am posting a recipe that is a staple in my house in the winter months.  I mentioned it at my Sunday meeting,  and members asked me to post it; so here goes.

We (in my house) affectionately call it "Gruel".  Essentially it's a veggie casserole, in fact it's potentially vegan; leave out the cheese and crackers at the end.  If you want to add meat, feel free to saute some ground lean beef or turkey meat to add instead of the tofu, you'll have to rework the PPV if you do.  It keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days so make lots and have as leftovers a day or two later.  (Like many casseroles it improves with keeping).  It seems like a lot of steps, but to be honest with you, cutting and prepping the veggies is the most time-consuming task, but it is so well worth it!

INGREDIENTS:
1 C dry lentils (any color), rinsed
2 C cold water
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
Salt and Pepper and red pepper flakes to taste
1 bunch cilantro (use chives, parsley, basil or tarragon as an alternative)
1 can (10oz) Ro*tel Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained
1 1LB block firm tofu, drained and diced into 1/2 to 3/4 sized pieces
------
Vegetables - mix and match any, approximately 8-10 different choices from the following list:  (You'll need about 1 cup of each vegetable, sliced or chopped into "bite sized" pieces)
~ Carrots *
~ Parsnips *
~ Rutabaga *
~ Turnip *
~ Broccoli *
~ Cauliflower *
~ New Potatoes *
~ Cabbage
~ Chard
~ Kale
~ Peapods
~ Leeks
~ Celery
~ Mushrooms
~ Red, Orange, Yellow and/or Green Peppers
~ Zucchini
~ Summer Squash
~ String Beans
~ Asparagus
2 Bags of any WW Cracker Chips, such as Harvest Grains, Whole Grain Salsa Crisps, Black Pepper Pretzels or Cheddar Twists, crushed into crumbs and pieces.
1/2 C Shredded 2% Milk-Fat Cheese (Mexican Blend, Italian Blend or Sharp Cheddar)

INSTRUCTIONS
Place the lentils in a heavy bottomed pot, add the water, onion, salt and pepper to taste plus the roughly chopped bunch of cilantro.  Bring to the boil, lower the temp to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the lentils are done.  Take off the heat and add the entire can of the Ro*tel tomatoes, add any flavorings such as red pepper flakes or dried herbs and set aside.

In the meantime prepare a large casserole dish by spraying the base and sides with Olive or Canola Oil Cooking Spray.  My suggestion is to use the aluminum foil roasting pans - double up for strength.  Heat the oven to 350 deg.

If you use any of the * asterisk'd vegetables, you'll find that if you steam them after you've cut them into bite sized pieces for about 6-7 minutes before you put the dish together with the "softer" veggies, that'll help to equalize the cooking time for all the veggies.

Once you have all the veggies prepared mix them together in a large bowl and add in the diced tofu (or ground meat if you're subbing that), mix well and pour half of them into the casserole dish, top (evenly) with half the lentil mixture.  Pour the balance of the veggies into the casserole dish and spoon over the balance of the lentil mixture evenly across the top.  It's fine if it all piles high in the dish, it'll all shrink down as the veggies cook.

Cover with alum foil (2 layers) and place in the oven for 2 hours.  Remove the foil and sprinkle the crushed crackers and cheese over the veggies,  Raise the oven temp to 400 deg and bake the casserole for the last 20 minutes at the higher temp.

Voila!

Yields at least 6 servings and 3 PPV per serving ... or more; depending upon the veggies chosen i.e. Potatoes, Peas, Corn and other starchy veggies add additional PPV.

November is Sales Month:

Fruities—all duopacks of candies, $1.75

Cookbooks—50% off

Mini Bars, Oatmeal, and Smoothies—$4.95 each

Deluxe and Essential Member Kits—$24.45 and $12.45 each, respectively, that's 50% off

Yoga Mats—$14.95 each

See you at your meeting :)