43.  Basic Cooked Lentils; Easy Lentil Stew, pg. 105

Recently, with the onslaught (Christmas gifts) of dessert cookbooks, I've been avoiding the predictably most-good-for-you recipes of MWL. It can be tough at times to balance the different medias that the culinary arts allow.  Visual artists can meander back and forth from painting to drawing to sculpting and beyond -- must a cook in her kitchen be limited to those foods which keep our digestive system functioning properly? I say no. :)  Life is short, afterall.  But, of course, we do end up back with those foods which satisfy our bellies for longer than a half hour.

With help from my Mom, we tossed together a version of the Easy Lentil Stew.  We changed up the order of the recipe because we wanted a fuller flavor.  We first sauteed the onions, garlic, celery, and an extra 2 carrots in olive oil.  Then, we added all the water, lentils, all the spices, and 4 veggie bouillon cubes.  We added the extra bouillon cubes because we were not going to add any meat.  After simmering for about 30 minutes, I dumped in one small can of tomato paste.  Though it wasn't quite 3/4 c., I thought it was silly to open up another can for less than a 1/4 c.  The stew continued to simmer for about another 15 minutes, with regular checks on the lentils.  I ate mine on top of a baked potato, which was scrumptious!

Overall:  4 out of 5  Good flavors, very filling, and healthy!