Quick Curried Lentils. Vegan. Gluten Free.

My apologies for being so delinquent with my blog. Swimming ended last Saturday and I foolishly believed that time would be abundant. Sadly, I’ve been mistaken. More on that later.

I whipped this up for dinner last night and I used leftover black rice. The lentils took me about 12 minutes to make. Perfect, on-the-fly dinner idea. I had Trader Joe’s pre-cooked lentils but canned lentils can also be used in a pinch. You, of course, can use as much or as little spice as you like. I have some really hot peppers in my garden and my husband and I love spicy food but I digress… some people don’t so you adjust as necessary.

This dish can be paired solo with Naan or over leftover rice. I used black because the more colorful the food – the more nutritionally dense as a rule of thumb. Okay so before I run back out… let me share this awesome recipe with you all.

Ingredients:

1 or 2 drizzles of olive oil into a medium sauce pan
1 Vidalia or sweet yellow onion, diced
2-3 small carrots, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
14 ounces of vegetable broth
1 tablespoon of red wine or apple cider vinegar
1 package of Trader Joe’s cooked lentils or one can – drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon of curry powder
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 chili pepper or jalapeño- diced
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Drizzle some olive oil into your heated pan. Place the onions and carrots into the pan and give that a few stirs until the onions are translucent. Then add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute stirring frequently. Add the broth, vinegar, lentils and seasonings. Give that a good stir and cover. Reduce the heat to let that thicken. After about 8 minutes, sample and add salt and pepper. Serve in a bowl atop rice or alone with some Naan. Optional toppings: cilantro leaves, jalapeño slices or chili peppers diced.

I got to do my very first trail run on Sunday. My husband went biking and I went running. We planned to meet up at the end of my run so we could be together for the last few miles. I planned on doing my long run on the trail – in brand new sneakers (thankfully that worked out thanks Mizuno) because it was mostly covered by trees making it a bit cooler for me.

When we parted – my plan was to run in one direction (that I hadn’t gone before) for 4 miles out and then back to my SUV. Eat a mid run snack and then head out the other way, which was more covered and turned out to be more technical and hillier for 5 and then back yielding my 18 miler. Well being me… I headed out in the first direction – more sun but flatter for 5 and 5 back. Got back, ate and called my husband to let him know where I was. We would meet on my way back in. So I headed out for my 4 of what seemed to be an endless uphill jaunt both ways – say WHAT?! It was lovely and hard. My heart rate was awesome and I loved running into people and exchanging pleasantries. Trail running where have you been all my life? I met my husband around mile 15 and we ran together back in to the parking lot. All said and done… it was one of the most lovely runs I’ve ever had. I’m really loving this heart rate training despite making me run much slower than my norm. I recover so much faster and enjoy the journey so much more.