I made a vegan dish for my carnivore DH tonight

W00t!!! He LOVED it! Looks like this eating lower on the food chain during retirement project might actually work! It's from one of the Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks. They go for really minimal oil, but I used 2 tablespoons instead of the 2 teaspoons in the original.

Sweet and Sour Lentils

1 1/2 cups lentils
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
2 cups water

1 cup chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 cup peeled and diced carrots
2 tablespoons olive or other vegetable oil
1 medium bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 small zucchini or yellow squash, diced
1 tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar


Rinse the lentils. Combine them in a saucepan with the apple juice, ginger, and water. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Add a little water near the end of cooking if necessary to prevent sticking.

While the lentils cook, saute the onions, garlic, and carrots in the oil for about 5 minutes until the onions begin to soften. Add the bell peppers, zucchini or squash, and tomatoes, cover, and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, until just tender. Stir in the soy sauce and vinegar.

When the lentils are ready, combine them with the vegetables. Serve on cooked rice.

and I'm copying it to try later.

I've served vegetarian fare to meat eaters for decades. It's always been pretty funny, "What kind of meat is in these meatballs? They're great!"

"There's no meat in them."

"What kind of seasonings did you put in this milk gravy?"

"There's no milk in it."

As you explore, you'll pick up all the tricks, like adding allspice or fruit to increase meaty flavor and dusting tofu with corn starch before you fry it to get the texture just right.

Meat is not essential, although there are some people who feel like hell when they don't eat it at least a couple of times a week.

Never apologize for good food without meat.

make this! I bet my hubs would love it! Thanks so much for the recipe. :hi: