Category Archives: the great veggie experiment

The Great Vegetable Experiment: Lentils


Are lentils vegetables? Not really sure, but close enough for me!

I was going to make a dahl, but decided instead to have lentils with rice for a complete protein meal.
I heated 2 tsp of coconut oil in the pressure cooker, then sauteed some cumin and black mustard seeds. If you have never fried your spices, you should try it, they are delicious! Then I added some pureed frozen onions and cooked for a few minutes. I added 1/2 cup green lentils and water, then pressure cooked for 6 minutes. Most of the liquid had dried up inside, so maybe next time I would do a bit more.
Then tossed on top of 1 serving of brown rice. This lentil recipe made 2 servings.
On the side is roasted winter mix with curry seasoning.
This was quite a tasty dish.

The wheat berry trek was successful this morning! Not only did I find wheat berries, but spelt berries, too! I cooked some up to add to oatmeal tomorrow.
And the store had some packets of brown rice protein powder. I don’t like how the whey protein is working out in some of my recipes (oatmeal is the biggie), and I don’t want to go back to soy. Rice protein has more protein than whey per serving, but I have seen mixed reviews on the taste. This store had individual packets of brown rice protein powder, so I can give it a try without having to purchase a big can. Another review will be coming up this week!

The Great Vegetable Experiment: Italian Squash

Okay, I am not totally sold that this is not a zucchini:

But, the store said they were italian squashes, so I thought I would try it. I wanted something crispy, and thought I would try roasting it in strips to make it like baked fries. Cut it up, drizzled a little olive oil and S&P and roasted in the toaster oven:

(Note that my egg salad sandwich is missing, I got too hungry before the squash was done)

Verdict – not bad tasting, very mild. Too squishy, though. It was not the crispy-skinned thing I was craving. I might get another one to try a different preparation with. I think I may have to break down and deep fry some veggies!! LOL!

… Stay tuned tomorrow for the perfect Loribar!!!

The Great Vegetable Experiment: Butternut Squash

Made more soup. Actually, it was more of a broth. Super easy – I took one bag of frozen butternut squash cubes, 1/4 cup of chopped onion (which I pureed, of course) sauteed in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, 4 cups of vegetable broth and simmered for 20 minutes. Then put the stick blender in and whizzed it all up. It came out thinner than I had wanted, but I had a bowl for dinner last night along with some kale chips. I think that is the last time for kale for me 🙂 The soup is pretty mild, almost sweet and only came out to about 70 calories per cup.

Today I wanted something hot for lunch, and soup sounded good, but I wanted a heartier soup. So, I thought I would heat up a cup of my butternut squash soup and add 3 tablespoons of couscous. Then for protein I chopped up the end of the smoked ham from christmas and added it. It was so good! The soup thickened up nicely, and the ham added a great salty contrast to the sweet base.

And the best thing – it took less than 10 minutes from start to finish!

On the workout front, today seemed hard. I got up this morning to do a DVD, and I just wasn’t into it, although I finished it and was quite sweaty. Same with the strength training. Not sure why, but it was a real chore. In fact – I have a few weight exercises left to do later, I was just too tired to continue.

Still tweaking the Loribar experiments. Tasty, but a little dry – so more playing around to do. The protein powder is making them dry, and I need some other binder since water doesn’t work.

The Great Vegetable Experiment: Kale chips


I have always been of the mindset that kale is garnish, so it took a lot for me to try this.
I am all about texture, so I thought I would try kale chips as my experiment with kale, rather than cooking it down.

I removed the big stem from the kale and cut it into smaller pieces. Drizzled with a bit of oil and sprinkled on some kosher salt. Then I baked it in a 350 degree oven for a little less than 20 minutes. Got nice crunchy chips out of it. Some parts were a little chewier, and the kale actually really reminded me of the brussel sprouts, only less ‘meaty’. I think I like the brussels better. There was a huge volume of kale, as you can see in the picture, and it was really only about 100 grams, actually less because that was before I took the stems out.
It did satisfy my crunchy expectations, so that was good. I might chop up the rest and put it in soup. Not sure, though.

The Great Vegetable Experiment: Delicata Squash


Tried delicata squash today.
I was in the mood for soup, since we have a winter storm coming. I split the delicata and roasted it in the toaster oven.
Then I scraped it out and put it in the magic bullet blender. I guess you are supposed to be able to eat the skin, but it seemed a bit tough to me, so I just scooped it out. I used 1 cup of veggie broth. The squash was 110 grams of ‘meat’.
I wanted protein, so I scoured the fridge. I chopped up a veggie sausage patty and then added some feta cheese. Strange combo, I know – but it turned out pretty good. I am craving salty stuff today, so this kind of hits the spot. The cheese didn’t really melt, which gave it an interesting texture, but maybe a bit rubbery. I topped it with 10 grams of toasted walnuts for crunch – those were the best part!

They were a little pricey, and the taste was very similar to other orange squash like Acorn, so I probably wouldn’t buy one again. It had a bit of sweetness to it. Getting the hang of this veggie thing.

The great Brussel Sprout experiment

Okay – I did it! I made (and ate) brussel sprouts.

First off, let me say what my only background of brussel sprouts is. You know that Jones Soda pack that comes out with the holiday flavors? One year had turkey and gravy, brussel sprouts, cranberry, and pumpkin pie. So, we opened the brussel sprout one, and the rank cabbagey odor that came out of the bottle was not even as bad as the taste. A weird sweetish, sulfury yuck. So, that’s where I’m coming from – even trying them is a big deal.

Anyhoo, back to today. Fresh brussel sprouts, which I quartered, tossed in a little sunflower oil, kosher salt and pepper. I put them in the toaster oven for about 20 minutes or so, flipping 1/2 way through.

They actually don’t have a lot of taste, milder than even cabbage or cauliflower is, in my opinion. I think I liked them, didn’t love them. The texture was almost meaty. What I did really like was the little leaves that fell off and got super crispy. They were almost like potato chips, and I could see peeling the leaves off and toasting them for a snack.
So, verdict is that I will get them periodically for something different. Victory for me on a new veggie!