foodie friday : sausage and lentils

Yes, I know I skipped Wed.  Myles was semi-sick and his nap was almost non-existing.  So I took the day off.  That post needed more thought anyway.  

I watch the Today show every morning. The other day, they had Padma Lakshmi on to share a family meal for under $20.  I am always a little interested in those types of recipe segments, but they are usually not something I am particularly interested in trying.  This one though, I rewound a couple of times and immediately had the recipe on my phone and bookmarked.  I couldn't get to the grocery fast enough to buy everything.  You can find the recipe here.

I don't think I really had any real idea of what this would turn out to taste like, it just sounded so good!  None of the ingredients were difficult to find, except the chicken and apple sausage.  Padma did say that you could substitute any smoked sausage but that she liked the sweetness of the apple in this.  So I went to 3 different groceries one afternoon before I found them.  Poor Myles.  I really should have just bought the regular smoked sausage.  It would have been cheaper and would have worked just fine.  The flavors are so complex I don't think I really tasted any special flavor from buying the chicken and apple.  You could even drop the sausage entirely to make this a vegetarian dish.

Don't get me wrong though.  This was amazing.  Thankfully Myles went down for his nap right when I needed to get started on it though because it was time consuming.  A lot of it was just set it and forget it (the lentils, and I chose brown rice which takes about 50 minutes on its own to cook).  What killed me time wise was the chopping.  Although after the comments on my Instagram photo, I seem to have been a bit too meticulous!  The ginger was also just difficult to deal with so I would definitely buy pre-minced next time.  I got my rice going and then chopped everything while getting my lentils boiling (25 min).  Chopping took almost an hour.  I'm so slow.  

The final verdict was that I completely loved it but might only make it again if our parents are here and can help speed things along.  Myles said "mmm" and ate a bowl full despite the spice.  I would probably cut back a bit on the chili flakes next time.  Kyle's response was what it always is on new recipes... "meh.  Its not bad".  Which means he is eating it because I made it.  Lentils just aren't his thing.

Definitely, definitely try this one weekend when you have someone to help juggle it all.  No joke, this is amazing.  I had a ton of leftovers and have had it several times this week.

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Myles' favorites

Since Myles is over one year old (14 months!), I thought I would share a few of HIS favorite things right now.  He is getting super active and that personality is a hoot!  I can't rave about #3 enough!  Have you found any awesome apps out there for toddlers?  

1.  for sipping : the Nuby Super Spout cup is his, and my, favorite that we have tried.  It does drip out of the spout if he holds it upside down, but major spills are not an issue.  Another type that he uses doesn't have this issue but has an extra part to regulate the flow which you have to make sure to clean and not lose, and prevents him from getting the last ounce of soy milk from the cup.

2.  for breakfast : Having an egg allergy makes breakfast a bit difficult.  Mostly he has oatmeal in the mornings fixed with water and soy milk, but a special treat on occasion is the Vans gluten free waffles which are egg and dairy free as well.  The blueberry ones are a hit with a little bit of butter on top.  But a little more involved breakfast food we just tried today are these eggless avocado blueberry muffins by Averie Cooks that Anne shared last week on her blog.  Myles was a fan, and I kinda am too. 

3.  for the Kindle : This app was a freebie about a month ago through the Amazon App store on my Kindle Fire.  It is Sago Mini Ocean Swimmer by Sago Sago.  It is now $2.99 on Amazon, but is still free for the iPhone and iPad  through iTunes.  This company has several other animated apps, I just downloaded the currently free Sago Mini Friends, but it looks like it is definitely for a slightly older kiddo (but glad to have it free for the future!).  The Ocean Swimmer lets your kid poke around on your touch screen and make the fishy swim around where you want.  Along the way he will stop at certain spots and an animation will happen.  Myles LOVES this app.  He hasn't been super intrigued yet with other kiddy apps, but he has quickly figured out how this works, and grins at me every time certain animations begin.  I have never paid for any of the apps on my device but am tempted to get a couple more from this company.

4.  for bedtime : this is Doggie.  Myles loves him.  Mostly we only allow him during naps and bedtime but sometimes Myles sneaks into his room and pulls him out of his crib to carry around the house.  We also have a sock monkey inspired one that he is just fine with using if we are washing Doggie at bedtime.

5.  for play : Myles got some pretty awesome Christmas gifts this year, but this seems to be the toy he plays correctly with, the most.  He really loves the animals that came with it, but he does really put them in the barn and pull them back out a lot.  It is by Melissa and Doug, which seems to already have a different version available.  I like that the only "pieces" on this version is the animals though.  Second runner up is the Green Toys shape sorter from his birthday.

foodie friday : quick apple pie

I mostly decided that I wanted to include a foodie friday into my rotation because I want to push myself to try new things.  I get into a rut fixing the same things over and over, but I tend to play it safe with a picky husband to feed.  I promise to be totally honest.  I would prefer to only share recipes I really did like, but sometimes this might be- well I did try something new, but we didn't really like it. Or, it might just be me sharing the recipe to one of our staple dinners from time to time.

This week, I am sharing a semi-homemade pie I threw together this past weekend.  No particular reason except that Pillsbury crusts come in packs of two and when I make a chicken pot-pie I only need one.  I'm really tired of having that second crust sit in my fridge for another month and sometimes go bad.  So I chose to make a pie!

I am way too lazy to make an apple pie from scratch, but I did have all of the ingredients to make a crumble topping for the top.  Inspired by a Trader Joe's cherry crumb pie we had a couple of weeks ago, I decided to use my more shallow pie plate, only one can of apple pie filling, and of course the homemade crumble.  It was the perfect ratio of everything for us, Kyle LOVED it and even said the crumble would have been just fine alone with ice cream.  This will be the new go-to quick dessert plan. 

Quick Apple Pie

1 Pillsbury crust
1 can of Apple Pie filling. Your choice.

Crimp the crust into your shallow pie plate.  This is particularly important if you are only using one can of filling.  If you don't have a shallower one, then just use 2 cans of filling.  I just didn't want a super full pie.  Pour your filling in.

Crumble

1/4 C quick oats
1/2 C All Purpose flour
1/2 C lightly packed brown sugar
4 Tbs melted butter
About 1/4-1/2 tsp freshly grated cinnamon.  It really does taste/smell different than what you buy already ground.  I just like the spicier scent of it but I'm sure regular ground cinnamon would be just fine.  I just kinda grated until I was tired of grating some I'm not real sure on the amount here.

Mix ingredients together.  It should be just wet enough to incorporate all of the flour, not sticky.  Crumble onto your pie.

Bake on 425F for 40 minutes.  Make it easier on yourself and put your pie on a cookie sheet so you can pull it out of the oven more easily.  Let cool on a wire rack for about 2 hours for easier slicing.

Seriously.  Make it.  Eat with some vanilla ice cream.  It is heaven.  You don't have to tell anyone its barely homemade.

Today I am linking up here and here.

Check back next week for a healthy dinner recipe that I am trying out tonight!