Herbed Lentils with Rice

Yesterday I did some sewing on the binding of Melinda's quilt, and while I worked on that, I watched Zonya's Healthbites on KBYU. She was talking about how to eat healthy on a slim food budget. She emphasized using fruits and vegetables as snacks, and buying them on sale. For the main course, though, Beans and other legumes are definitely the way to go. They are much less costly than meat and they are filled with protein, iron, fiber and lots of other good stuff.

She likes lentils because they don't have to be soaked ahead of time, and they only take about an hour to cook, and they are versatile flavor-wise in that they absorb the flavors of whatever you put with them. She shared two recipes, one for a casserole and one for a soup. I grabbed my pencil and paper and wrote them down. I had a red pepper in the fridge that needed to be used, and a 1-lb. bag of lentils in the cupboard, so I went ahead and made this casserole. I'll do the soup another day. She said that if you were to have a lentil casserole such as this just once a week in place of a macaroni-hamburger-cheese-type casserole, you would cut out a lot of fat over a year's time, enough to amount to a six-pound body weight loss.

I really liked this casserole, but not everyone would. For me it hit the spot. Dad didn't want to try it, although he has tried beans-and-rice type stuff in the past and been fine with it. This is supposed to serve six people with 1 1/2 cup servings. That's a lot. You may want to cut it in half.

Lentil Casserole: Herbed Lentils with Rice

1 3/4 cup water

1 can chicken broth

1 1/2 cups lentils, sorted, rinsed and drained

2 onions, finely chopped (mine were chunky and they are better finely chopped, trust me)

1 cup dry brown rice

1/2 cup additional liquid such as more broth or water

1 teaspoon dried basil, rolled in fingers to release the flavor as you add it to the pot

1 teaspoon oregano

2 oz. jar chopped pimientos or 1 chopped red pepper, optional (this is to add some color to the casserole)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

15 grinds fresh pepper (I'm not sure how much this is, but I added about 1/2 teaspoon)

Stir all of these ingredients together in a casserole dish and bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and sprinkle some grated mozzarella cheese on top, then return to oven for another 10 or 15 minutes to melt the cheese.