Monday's food

#17. Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans.

~ Michael Pollan, Food Rules

On the second day of our food week, I spent the majority of my lunch break (I work from home which makes this a possibility for our family) preparing for dinner. I try to do that for part of my lunch break almost every day, although some days I spend more time than others. Today, I cooked lentils and rice and put together the lentil loaf and set up the bread machine with the ingredients of WHO bread. (I also made vanilla pudding from scratch but forgot to photograph that!) This is what works for our family and allows us to follow rule #17 (above) instead of eating mostly processed foods for dinner.

Monday

WHO Bread - recipe by Soulemama

Lentil Loaf

sides of steamed broccoli and maple glazed carrots

Lentil Loaf

3 cups cooked lentils

3 cups cooked brown rice (sometimes I use a brown/wild rice blend)

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 tsp sage

3 cloves garlic

2 tbsp ketchup or tomato sauce

salt

pepper

2 cups marinara sauce

Saute onion, celery and garlic for 8-10 minutes until onion is translucent. Place cooked lentils and rice in a large mixing bowl and mash together with the back of a large wooden spoon for a few minutes. Mix in onion, celery and garlic as well as sage and ketchup; salt and pepper to taste. Press into one large loaf pan or two smaller ones. (I use 2 smaller loaf pans, then freeze 1 loaf for a quick dinner on a busier night. One smaller loaf will feed our family with little to no leftovers.) Bake at 350 for 35-40 min, then pour marinara sauce on top and bake for another 15 min until sauce is hot.

Maple Glazed Carrots

5 large carrots

1/2-2/3 cup apple juice

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp maple syrup

Bring first 3 ingredients together to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 20-25 min until carrots are almost soft. Add maple syrup and simmer another 5 min.

#25. Eat your colors.

(Just make sure they don't touch if you have kids. ;)