An Easy and Healthy Dinner

I don’t know about you, but I’m beat by the time I get home from work. I’m lucky that my husband does a lot (ok, most) of the cooking in our house these days. His schedule is more adaptable than mine, so that’s how it has shaken out. Still, I’ve done my share of cooking and even when he’s the cook I’m often the meal planner.

He’s kind of a meat and potatoes guy, and I’m more of a tomato-sauce loving girl. We usually meet in the middle on soups, which we both love. A hearty soup and a loaf of good bread and we’re all set for dinner. And, it couldn’t be easier or much less expensive.

So, how easy is this - make a nice lentil soup over the weekend or the night before and pick up a nice loaf of rustic bread to go with it? Absolutely NOTHING has to be cooked at the last minute. If your local markets don’t carry good breads, stock up on some kinds of flatbread (like whole wheat pita) and keep them in the freezer. Take out what you need for dinner and brush them very lightly with olive oil. Pop them into the oven to warm up while you heat the soup. Voila! Dinner!

Lentil Soup

1 lb. lentils
2 Tbsp Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
½ cup chopped carrots
½ cup chopped celery
2 quarts broth or water (chicken or vegetable broth are good)
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, lightly packed
Salt & pepper to taste

Carefully pick over the lentils to be sure that there are no pebbles in the bag. You don’t have to be TOO careful – it doesn’t often happen.

Rinse the lentils by putting them into a colander and running water over them.

Sauté the vegetables in the oil until the onion gets translucent.

Add the lentils and the broth and bring to a slow boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes or until the lentils are tender (taste a bit to be sure). Add the spinach for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Variations:
Add ½ cup of chopped or shredded leftover meat (chicken, pork or beef) to this when nearly cooked.
Substitute other spring green instead of spinach.
Add 1 cup of peeled and chopped tomatoes (canned tomatoes work fine for this)
Use a stick blender to puree all or some of the soup
Add exotic spices such as cumin or coriander. Zip it up with hot sauce.

Special Equipment –
A large Dutch Oven (around 5-6 quarts) works very well for this. But any large stockpot will do.

Healthy Background

Just knowing what to do isn’t always enough, especially when it comes to healthy living. We all know that we should cut down on processed foods, eat moderately and exercise. So, what’s up with the not doing it?

If that’s all it took, I’d still be thin and I would have gotten and stayed fit. But, instead, I’ve ridden that weight and fitness roller coaster.

Because, for many – and I’m in this club – it’s really about how we use food to satisfy emotional needs.

Really, I think I knew that I had an eating issue even before it was a weight issue. Just because I wasn’t fat didn’t mean I couldn’t eat half a bag of cookies at a sitting. At that point (probably in my teens) I knew that having a tendency to eat like that would mean I’d have to be careful. What I didn’t realize is that it would catch up with me and I’d pack on pounds I couldn’t dream of back then.

I knew more about this than the average kid because my Dad got the word that he was diabetic when I was pretty young. I watched my Mom weigh and measure his food, and make sure that he got the required servings of everything each day. One of the things that I found interesting from the start was that, even though the whole point was to control his blood sugar by limiting carbohydrates (we didn’t call them “carbs” back then yet) he still was not just allowed but was required to include starchy foods and fruits in his diet. He lost a lot of weight and managed his diabetes through diet alone for a long time.

I also saw how, when he fell off the wagon, it affected him. When I was a kid I mainly noticed how cranky he became. Later on it became apparent that it affected his overall health. And I saw that health improve when he took the reigns in hand again, and went back to basics – eating right and exercising.

In my 20’s I had some health issues of my own, and began to read a LOT on how our diets affect our health. I became fascinated by how we got where we are – a people who eat a LOT of processed foods and suffer the consequences in many, many ways. It became a bit of an obsession, and I read voraciously – magazines, books, journals. I even found a way of accessing a university library so I could do research in the microfiche (this was before we had PC’s). I mainly did this so I could feel confident that I was drawing reasonable conclusions from what I was reading, and not being swayed by marketing pitches or far-out philosophies.

I developed a philosophy on what constitutes a healthy diet and a healthy life. Simply put, whole foods - naturally grown or raised whenever possible - should comprise the vast majority of the diet. Processed foods should be kept to a bare minimum. Our evolution just cannot keep pace with the changes to diet that have come about in the last few hundred years, and our biological systems are not designed to handle processed foods. Meats of various kinds can be eaten, but most Americans overconsume animal protein. Lean meats should be chosen most of the time for most people. Feed-lot fed meats are less healthy than naturally raised meats. Much of our protein requirements can be achieved from plant sources, which is both healthier for us and for the environment.

This is all stuff I (and many others) knew more than 25 years ago. When I read “The South Beach Diet” I laughed out loud – most of this same information was being touted as “new”. Business finally caught up with the facts, and some folks figured out they could make money with this information.  It had gone mainstream!

Meanwhile, my obsession with my diet philosophy faded, particularly when I met and married my husband. Other life issues seemed more important, and there was so little popular mainstream support for the way I had eaten that I just gave up. And gained, and gained.

So, I’ve never tried fad dieting, because I knew better than that. I knew that what I needed was more about emotional support so I could do what I knew was right. And I have tried addressing this through Weight Watchers, getting a personal trainer, and even joining an online weight loss group. These all worked, until they didn’t. That is, until I was too busy, or too bored, or too stressed…or too whatever!

I have felt even more discouraged by the fact that I KNOW how to do this and STILL am heavy, than if I had a lot to learn.

So, what does work? Talking about this and mentoring others. It’s often said that the teacher gets as much out of teaching as the student, and I think this can be true. It fuels my resolve when I can help others with this process. I have the information, and the support that flows back to me is inherent in the teaching process.

So, here I launch this part of my blog, to help myself and help anyone else who may read this.