Peachy Keen Green

We discovered mujadara at a middle eastern cafe, Zadna , as the tasty base for a hearty mediterranean veggie falafel bowl. Essentially, mujadara is cooked grains + lentils + onion with spices, making it a high protein grain base that's pairs nicely with Indian vegetable dishes and veggie stir fries. It's also super easy to make. Below is a variation with more Indian spicing; I also like mixing quinoa and rice as the grain for some extra protein and variation. Ingredients 1 T canola oil 1-2 onions, chopped (yes, that much!) Spices; I like these, but be creative: 2 tsp cumin seed 2 tsp nigella (black cumin; good for you!) 1 tsp chili pwd or dried hot pepper (break in half) 3 cloves garlic, diced (sometimes :) 1 tsp salt 2 1/2 C water 2/3 C lentils, soaked (I like black beluga; vary as you like) 1 C bulgur wheat (great!) or 1/2 C rice (white or brown) 1/2 C quinoa (or can use all rice) Instructions Rinse the lentils and put them in water to soak. Chop the onions, and saute in oil...

Munira is visiting from Texas, yay! We biked over with some fig banana bread , and she treated us to an impromptu, delicious dinner of her lentil dosa and  secret gobi . I thought dosa was super hard to make, but she showed me how -- and it wasn't so hard! I'm very excited because besides their delicate deliciousness, her lentil dosas are high protein, super healthy, and a wonderful pairing with indian veggies. She also cooked up some bhindi masala for her IT guy (Larry) and sent it home with us, along with leftover dosa batter and a (loaner) dosa pan so I could practice my dosa-making skills again tomorrow.  Sweet! She recommended serving with lettuce, tomato, and chopped onion, and filling the center and rolling up into a "stuffed" wrap. Lots of possibilities! Rough measurements for ingredients follow (of course no actual measuring was done :) Ingredients A mix of dry lentils, such as: 1/2 C red lentils 1/2 C green lentils 2/3 C urad dal 2/3 C channa dal 1 tsp salt ...

Larry is harvesting figs by the gallon. In the past I've made fig pie, compote, and jam , and even dried figs . Yesterday I tried a f ig banana bread with a few tweaks: whole wheat flour, less sugar, oil instead of butter, and added pecans. I had put just a few sliced figs on top, but then Larry layered on the figs so that every slice got some -- good call; that made it beautiful! Ingredients Dry: 3 C flour (I used whole wheat) 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp salt 1 C chopped pecans or walnuts Wet: 2 bananas, mashed 3 C figs, chopped 3 flax eggs (3 T flax, 9 T warm water, mixed) 1 C oil 1 tsp vanilla 2/3 C sugar (I used half brown, half white) Sliced figs for topping (maybe 5-7 figs, sliced) Instructions Preheat oven to 350. Make the flax eggs in a bowl; set aside. Mix dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and mix.  Pour into buttered loaf pans and top with sliced figs. For mini loaf pans, bake 30 minutes and check. Larger pans may need up to 50 minutes. Large loaves...