I love minestrone.

It tastes wonderful and it’s also easy to make. The other nice thing about minestrone is that it’s full all kinds of good veggies and beans. The recipe is also quite flexible. If you have spinach on-hand, you can add some in. You can use any kind of pasta you want, and if ... [read more]]]> I love minestrone.

It tastes wonderful and it’s also easy to make. The other nice thing about minestrone is that it’s full all kinds of good veggies and beans. The recipe is also quite flexible. If you have spinach on-hand, you can add some in. You can use any kind of pasta you want, and if you’re watching your carbs, you can decrease the amount of pasta or just not use any.

So what does minestrone have to do with Pilates and yoga? Well…nothing. But I wanted to know if y’all have ever done Yoga or Pilates, and if so, did you find that you worked a lot of muscles you didn’t ordinarily work? I ask this because I’ve found that to be the case with me.

I bought this Pilates DVD…decided to try it and see what it was all about. I kind of figured it wouldn’t be much of a workout because I work out four to five times a week already, and I feel pretty fit.

Let me tell you that I was shocked at just how challenging and difficult a Pilates work-out is (I do about a 1-hour workout.) Some of those exercises were really hard, and I felt the burn immediately. I was surprised again when my body started hurting me several hours after the work-out. My muscles really ached. The job I do is very physical, and I’m a very active person, so this really surprised me.  Just goes to show I’m not as fit as I thought.

I’m just curious if any of y’all have had a similar experience with Pilates. If so, how long did it take before you could do the work-out without your muscles aching for hours afterward? I’ve done my Pilates work-out three times now, and the third time has been my best experience. I didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the other two times. So I’m gonna keep at it for a while, and we’ll see how it goes.

As for yoga…I tried it once and never again. I don’t know how y’all do it. It hurt me me a whole lot worse than Pilates. I don’t know why it would hurt so much since I work out and am active. Maybe I’m doing it wrong? What has been your experience with yoga?

Anyway, I’m gonna do my regular workout tonight and then I’m skippin’ my Pilates workout tomorrow morning. I need a little break.

In the meantime,  here’s how I make my minestrone.

Minestrone

Inspired by: the minestrone I’ve purchased at Whole Foods and Olive Garden.  I don’t know either of their recipes, but I just tried to use similar ingredients that they use.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry red lentils
• 1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans
• 1 cup dry pasta (I used fusilli)
• 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 40 baby carrots
• 1 medium zucchini
• 5 green onions
• 1/2 medium yellow onion
• 12 garlic cloves
• 5 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 1/2 qts. water
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• basil to taste
• oregano to taste
• black pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• Optional: freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Step One: Peel and slice garlic and yellow onions. Wash and finely chop carrots and green onions. Wash and slice zucchini.

Step Two: Fry garlic, onions,zucchini, carrots in 4 tbsp of olive oil.

Step Three: Cook lentils and pasta together in a large pot with about  2 1/2  quarts of water. Stir in the oil, salt, bouillon cube. Stir occasionally.

Step Four: When the pasta is cooked but still firm (al dente), reduce the heat to simmer, and then add the garbanzo beans, and tomato paste to the pasta. Do not drain the water.

Step Five: Stir in the fried vegetables, garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Serve warm. Garnish with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you like.

I can eat hummus every day and not get tired of it, but it was such a treat to try hummus made with lentils instead of chickpeas. While I prefer hummus with chickpeas, I really did enjoy the lentil hummus I made the other day.

It was really easy to do. I soaked the lentils in ... [read more]]]> I can eat hummus every day and not get tired of it, but it was such a treat to try hummus made with lentils instead of chickpeas. While I prefer hummus with chickpeas, I really did enjoy the lentil hummus I made the other day.

It was really easy to do. I soaked the lentils in water for 24 hours. Then I drained the water off them, added some tahini, lemon juice, and seasonings, blended it all together, and  that was it!

I made mine with a lot of dried chili peppers, and the hot and spicy tortilla chips I had with the hummus added an extra element and layer of heat that increased my enjoyment of every single bite.

It was also wonderful spread on some semolina sandwich bread,

as well as with some olives and Peppadew peppers.

I got the recipe from Jenne at Sweet Potato Soul, and she adapted her recipe from The Artful Vegan by Eric Tucker @ The Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco.

I highly recommend this raw red lentil hummus; it’s totally delish!!

P.S. I used soy sauce in mine instead of miso sauce. I also skipped the jalepeno and used lemon juice and dried chili peppers.

I’ve read a lot of excellent reviews about this restaurant, and we finally went there today for lunch. The food was incredibly delicious and the service was over-the-top.  After reading so many positive reviews about the restaurant, I was eager to try it.

The lady who waited on us said they make everything from scratch, including ... [read more]]]> I’ve read a lot of excellent reviews about this restaurant, and we finally went there today for lunch. The food was incredibly delicious and the service was over-the-top.  After reading so many positive reviews about the restaurant, I was eager to try it.

The lady who waited on us said they make everything from scratch, including the yogurt. She said they cook with their homemade yogurt instead of heavy cream, and she even brought us out a small bowl of the yogurt to sample. It was wonderful!!!

In fact, all the food we tried off the buffet was really good…better than the other Indian restaurants we’ve been to.

The cafe is tucked away in the Hikes Point Plaza.

You can’t see it from the road, the building is nothing fancy, and the decor is simple and homey. The prices are quite reasonable, the staff is friendly and helpful, and food is awesome! I sampled a little bit of many of the dishes on the buffet.

Our favorite was the chana masala, which is garbanzo beans cooked with spices and onions. It’s a bit on the hot side which we liked. The yogurt made it creamy and added a beautiful flavor.

The chicken curry was really good, and the tandoori chicken was the best I ever had. I couldn’t believe how moist it was.

The dal…lentils with spices and yogurt, was out-of-this-world incredible! It was perfectly hot and spicy and oh-so-creamy. I so much enjoyed dipping my naan in it!

Speaking of the naan bread, it was a little different from most other naan breads I’ve tried. The lady who waited on us said they put yogurt in the dough, which is what I do when I make it home. The naan was thicker than the naan bread I’ve tried at other Indian Restaurants, but it was fantastic!

I also tried the chicken sagwala which is chicken breast cooked with creamy spinach. The cream sauce is made with the homemade yogurt (not cream), and it’s a very tasty dish.

The vegetable curry and the fried onions were fantastic. I’m not sure what kind of batter the onions were fried in (perhaps a lentil batter?) but it was incredibly good!

The lady who waited on us said they cook everything the way they cook at home, and they certainly do seem to take a lot of pride in their meals and using high quality ingredients. They use only certified halal meat, and rice was perfectly cooked.

We definitely plan to return, and the next time we go we’ll eat at dinner time so we can try some other items that weren’t on the buffet. If you go at dinner time and order off the menu, they will season your food to your likeness. It’s really nice that if you want your meal hotter and spicier, they’ll fix it to order that way for you. Or if you prefer your food milder, they’ll season it that way as well. I just love how everything is made just the way you like it.

When we go at dinner, we’re interested in trying the baigan bharta which is eggplant sauteed with tomatoes, onions, and spices. And we also want to try masala dosa, which is rice and lentil crepes with sicy potatoes. I’m also interested in trying the lamb curry, lamb korma (lamb simmered in mild yogurt sauce), and the lamb vindaloo (lamb simmered with spicy potatoes).

If you like India food or have also wanted to try it but haven’t, we highly recommend the Little India Cafe at the Hikes Point Plaza in Louisville, Ky, right off Breckinridge Lane.

They’re closed on Mondays. On weekdays, the buffet is 7.95 and weekends it’s $9.95. I believe they serve the buffet until 3 p.m. If you want to call them to be sure, their phone number is 502-479-3353.

Update: We’ve back to the Little India Cafe several times since I wrote this review, and every time we’ve been, the food has continued to be outstanding.

While the food on the buffet is quite good, we prefer the dinner menu because the food is even better!

The vegetable samosas make for a wonderful appetizer! They’re crisp on the outside and filled with soft vegetables and spices on the inside. The tamarind chutney and cilantro chutney they’re served with make excellent dipping sauces!

We also ordered chicken saagwala (served with rice and a piece of naan bread) which features soft, tender chicken in creamy, pureed spinach. You order it mild, hot, or Indian hot, and we ordered our Indian hot. It was perfect, and we enjoyed ours with garlic naan bread which was scrumptious! Without a doubt we’ll be ordering this again!

The lentil rice crepes (masala dosa) that we ordered off the menu were also quite tasty, and the inside is filled with soft vegetables and spices. It’s served with a chutney that contains coconut and mustard (among other things), and it was also very good. The lentil rice crepes come with a small bowl of lentil soup which was light yet full of flavor, and both the saagwala and the lentil rice crepes are big portion sizes so it’s a definite value for your money.

The owner stopped by again to chat with us to make sure everything was to our liking, and one of the ladies in the kitchen cooking brought us a sample of lamb biryani (a fragrant rice dish with lamb). It was so incredibly delicious! The owner said that a group of people living in Lexington come to the cafe every Friday just to order this dish.

While we were much too full to order dessert, the thick, pulpy mango juice was our sweet treat to finish off the meal. It’s the best mango juice I’ve every had! We’re hardly waiting to go back and sample more of their excellent home-cooked meals!

The recipe I ... [read more]]]>

The recipe I used called for large brown lentils, but I used red lentils since I didn’t have any brown ones on hand. The recipe also called for long grain rice, and while jasmine rice does fall under that category, it’s a rice that’s stickier and holds together well instead of being fluffy.

The result was that my lentils and rice stuck together instead of being a loose mixture.

Even though it didn’t turn out exactly the way it should have, it still turned out really good. I just cut the pieces into pie-like shapes and served it that way.

As far as taste is concerned, I was very pleased. The rice and lentils had a beautiful flavor, and we liked it so much we’ll definitely make it again.

Greek Lentils and Rice

Slightly Adapted from: “The Complete Book of Greek Cooking” by Rena Salaman & Jan Cutler, page 207, (Rice with Lentils), Anness Publishing Ltd., 2005, 2008

These lentil burgers are really easy to make and they’re quite tasty too! I have to be honest with you and tell you that they’re on the dry side, but if you add on some toppings like mayonnaise, ranch dressing, lettuce, and tomato, you won’t notice the dryness. We topped our lentil burgers with ajvar. ... [read more]]]> These lentil burgers are really easy to make and they’re quite tasty too! I have to be honest with you and tell you that they’re on the dry side, but if you add on some toppings like mayonnaise, ranch dressing, lettuce, and tomato, you won’t notice the dryness. We topped our lentil burgers with ajvar. Yum!!

Since this batch of lentil burgers made so many patties, we only baked part of them for our meal this evening. We refrigerated the remaining lentil mixture, and tomorrow night we’ll bake some more for dinner. Then we’ll take part of the lentil mixture, make patties out of them, and freeze them in small freezer bags. Sometimes it’s nice to have something in the freezer you can quickly make on busy nights. One day next week I’ll just thaw out a few and bake them. It’s easy, quick, and delicious!