Spring, Snow, Sun, Sausages, Tofu and Lentils.

The calendar says it's spring, which makes me think of sitting out on our deck and enjoying a glass of wine with the neighbors. Unfortunately the Minnesota weatherman has other ideas. I mean where else does it go from 60 to snow in the space of a week – not too many places.

We've been trying a few commercial vegetarian products lately – back from our Whole Foods shopping trip a month or so ago. I've come to really like the Field Roast products; they have some very tasty "sausages" chipotle (which are good but not my favorite), Italian (they have an eggplant base and are my favorite) and an apple sage (which I also really like).  To date we've only cooked them in a pan and they are a bit fragile so I'm not sure how they'll do on the grill but I'm certainly willing to give them a try.

We also went out to dinner at a local Asian restaurant and had the BEST tofu I've ever had. First I'm kind of picky about my tofu; if it's not crispy it's not good. To me there is nothing worse than tofu that is simply warmed up – it's slimy, it's soggy, it's….. well you get the picture. When Dan suggested we go to the Asian restaurant I was luke warm to the idea. We'd been there before and the service was horrible and I didn't recall the food being amazing either, but I was willing to give it a second try.

The service was again horrible but the food was wonderful. We ordered a spicy seared tofu dish and a garlic eggplant both were amazing. The tofu was crispy on the outside and had a spicy sauce that was not overpowering but had just the right amount of heat and the flavor was like nothing I'd had on my tofu before – I'd order it again in heart beat; although I'd do takeout.

Last night I was browsing through the fridge and realized there were some peppers I needed to use up so I decided to make lentil stuffed peppers with a spicy oil to drizzle over them. I started by having Dan chop an onion (he's my main chopper) and cook it until it started to soften. To that I added 2 cloves of minced garlic and a half-teaspoon of ground cumin and sautéed for a minute. 

I then added 1 cup of vegetable broth 2/3 cup of red lentils, 1 ½ tsp. of tomato paste, ¼ tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. of cayenne, bay leaf and 1/8 tsp. of paprika, covered it and cooked it until the lentils were mushy.

While the lentils were cooking I cut 2 peppers in half and cleaned out the ribs and then microwaved them for about 4 minutes to soften them. I then transferred them to a baking dish. When the lentils were done, I removed the bay leaf and added 1 ½ tsp. of fresh lemon juice, ½ cup chopped tomato, ½ spinach and divided the lentil mixture between the pepper halves, topped with feta cheese and baked them for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees until heated through. 

When they were done, I drizzled them with a combination of 1T olive oil, ½ tsp. paprika and ½ tsp. cayenne pepper.  Served with a nice fruit salad and a crisp glass of white wine. It was delicious if I do say so myself.

Happy Spring – let's hope that Mother Nature is done making it snow, I'm ready for some sunshine and warmth and wine on the deck with our friends.