This is a pretty excellent recipe to help with those Meatless Mondays a lot of people try to achieve. It's also a great way to save some money, because meat=expensive and lentils are dirt cheap. And delicious. And versatile. And so healthy! (Can you tell I love me some lentils?!)
This is also a really great way to sneak in veggies, especially kale.
Poor kale, so many people judge it without giving it a fair chance. I promise, it's yummy if you prepare it the right way. This is one of those "right ways" that you can use to improve the nutrition density of a simple meal.
Plus, it's an all-in-one dish. No need for sides.
Did I mention it's delicious? Because it definitely is.
Happy cooking!
Ingredients (4 servings):
For the potatoes
- 5 or 6 medium sized russet potatoes
- 2 stems of kale
- 1/2 C milk
- 1/4 butter
- 2 T cream cheese
- 1 t minced garlic
- pinch salt
For the bottom layer
- 1/2 C lentils, cooked in 2 C vegetable broth
- 1/3 - 1/2 C diced onion
- 1/2 - 1 full C your choice of frozen vegetables (peas and corn are good!)
- 1 T soy sauce/Braggs aminos
- black and cayenne peppers, paprika
Directions:
1. Start preparing lentils first by bringing them to a boil in two cups of broth, them turn down to simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Peel and chop your potatoes. Place in large pot and cover with cool, salted water. Bring to boil and allow to cook.
3. Take kale and remove leaves from stems. Then, slice leaves into very thin pieces (mine were as thin as I could cut them). Then, cut them going the opposite way to make the pieces nice and tiny. Set aside.
4. Saute the diced onion in about a teaspoon oil or broth over medium heat for about five minutes, then add frozen vegetables.
5. Once potatoes are almost tender, add in kale and stir. Allow this to continue cooking for about 5 more minutes.
6. Once the lentils have finished cooking, strain them to remove the excess broth and add lentils to onion/veggie mixture. Stir well to combine and add in a few grinds of black pepper, a dash or two of cayenne, and a few sprinkles of paprika. Stir in soy sauce/aminos.
7. Drain potato/kale mixture and try to press out as much water from the kale as possible. Place into large bowl with remaining ingredients (from the first list). Mash, mash, mash!
8. Pour lentil/veggie mixture into a prepared casserole dish and spread it out to cover the bottom of the dish. Add potatoes on top and spread to cover. (If your potatoes seem a little thick, you can spray a little cooking oil on top.)
9. Cook at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are starting to slightly brown.
10. Serve hot! Especially good with a little Sriracha sauce on top. :) Enjoy!
