Lunch Box Chronicles Day Thirty: Vegetarian Day 3:Lentils Lentils Lentils

I am obsessed with food, recipes to be exact. I used to drive around, thinking about national and world events, thinking perhaps who might be the next Supreme Court Justice (Kagan, who?). I even asserted my views to our lovely Senators. I might as well have been saying "waa, waaa, waaa, waa, waa." Then there was the law practice. On my way to court, I was formulating every constitutional argument I could muster. "Your honor, I respectfully submit that my client's 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendment Rights were violated." And, in fact, they had been. Ultimately, I might just say, "and in the interest of fairness and justice." "waa, waa, waaa, waa"

Now, instead of wrestling with constitutional arguments, I think about such things as "Oooh, I wonder how cooked lentils, walnuts, and onions would be blended together?" "MMM, that might be a good combination, but needs something more."

Where have I gone? I have gone home. I am in my comfort zone (except when I am negotiating with supermarket chains and large distributors for my budding business). I love feeding my kids and my husband, and feeding them well.

This is so tangible, so accessible, so real. Yes, I care about the Supreme Court nominees and some poor individual who has been unfairly treated, but the reality is that I have little control over those worlds.

So here I am controlling every slice, chop, mix, and blend. And in my control today, a recipe formulated on one of those car rides....quite inexact (I apologize) , but quite good.

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough fully thawed and risen. Lentils, walnuts, onions, spinach (I used frozen), one red pepper, 1 cup brown rice, fresh garlic, salt and pepper to taste. A smidge of EVOO just for browning the rice and the lentils:

Instructions: Prepare rice according to bag (I saute the rice first in a little EVOO with garlic and then add the water). Prepare lentils according to bag (you want these to be slightly firm, but fully cooked). Put 1/2 onion in food processor, add about 1 cup walnuts (inexact), add some rice (this is where the precision falls apart), add a cut up red pepper, add some brown rice, add in a few garlic gloves, the spinach (it should be damp), salt and pepper. Blend all together. YUMMM. This stuff is UGLY, but tastes so good.

We ate this two ways: One, we added a few bread crumbs made from Spelt Right bagels, and made paddies and cooked them up on the stove top with a little EVOO. The other is to take the mixture and make a fitaya. Bake at 400 until golden brown. (Check out the photos)

COMPLETELY VEGAN, fully satisfying. Better than last night's meal,

And, if I were the judge, I would say "Attorney George, you have made your case."
And my kids, they just say, "hey this isn't that bad."