Lentil Appetizers

Lately I've been on a bit of a Lentil cooking spree (that's a bit of an understatement) and after watching all these videos on the Lentil Hunter Website (yes, it's a real site!) I was inspired to make a bunch of Lentil based Appetizers!

Lentil Hummus
This is one of the quickest and easiest recipes that I have ever made and it's so tasty!

Borscht Lentil Dip
I love Borscht so I was really interested to see what a Borscht Lentil Dip tasted like.

Cheesy Lentil Biscuits
These were supposed to turn out looking like Cheesy Bread Sticks but they didn't quite turn out that way. But on the plus side they were really good!

Time to enjoy some Drinks and Appz!!!

Lentil Hummus

Have you ever wanted to make your own hummus? I've never tried making one until now. This recipe is incredible quick and easy to make. It literately takes 5 minutes to make.




Ingredients:
1 - 540ml Can of Green Lentils, drained and rinsed
1/2 - Cup fat-free ranch dressing
1/2 - Tsp Curry Powder
2 - Cloves of Garlic



Directions:
Rinse of the lentils.

Combine Lentils, Curry Powder and Garlic in a food processor.

 Scoope into a small bowl and serve with crackers :)

Borscht Lentil Dip

This recipe sounded really interesting to me. I make a pretty mean Borscht so I just had to try this Borscht Lentil dip. Give it a shoot and I think you will like it!




Ingredients:
3/4 - Cup Cooked or Canned Lentils
2/3 - Cup Pickled Beets
1/4 - Cup Sour Cream
1 - Tbsp Olive Oil
1 - Tbsp Chopped Fresh Dill
1/2 - Tsp Salt
1/2 - Tsp Pepper




Directions:
Cook Lentils.

Add Lentils to Food Processor.

Add Sour Cream.

Blend.

Add the Beets.

And Dill.

Puree until smooth

Serve with some pretzel chips.

Cheesy Lentil Biscuits

Lentils in Cheesy Biscuits? That's just nuts! or is it... even though these things didn't turn out exactly like I wanted them too. They look like blobs instead of bread sticks and the cheese melted instead of coming out and melting all around them but they still tasted really good.

(The lighting wasn't the greatest but they have kind of a cookie colour)

Ingredients:
1/2 - Cup Butter
1 - Cup Flour
1 - Cup Rice Crispy Cereal
3/4 - Cup Cheddar Cheese, grated
3/4 - Cup Red Lentils, Pureed*
1 - Egg, beaten



Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F.  In a large bowl, mix butter into flour until there are a lot of little chunks.

Stir in the cereal.

Add in the Cheese.

Mix in the Puree Lentils. *For Puree Lentils you can either used canned lentils that have been rinsed or you can cook the lentils until done then add 1/4 cup of water for every 1 coup of cooked lentils before pureeing.

Pour into mixture and mix together.

Add in the beaten egg and mix together again.

Spoon out onto an ungreased baking sheet into long thin pieces like cheese bread.

(I made mind too tick)

Put them in the oven and bake for 15 - 17 minutes depending on the thickness of the pieces.

Transfer from baking sheet to a nice looking plate and enjoy :)

Lemon Lentil Salad

I've been eating a lot of Lentils with fried mushrooms and onion, which I love, but I wanted to try them as a salad to see how that would work. In the "Racing Weight Cookbook" I came across a "Lentil Salad" recipe. This is basically it but I added in the lemon to make it a little more "Summer-y".



Ingredients:
2 - Cups Water
1 - Cup Brown Lentils
2 - Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 - Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 - Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 - Tbsp White Vinegar
1/4 - Tsp Salt
1/4 - Cup Red Onion minced
1/3 - Cup Carrots minced

Directions:
Rinse Lentils under running water.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, then add 1 cup of Lentils and reduce to low. Simmer for 25 - 30 minutes or until the lentils have almost complete adsorbed the water. At this point you will want to add 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Let the lentils cool.

While the Lentils are cooking, mince up your carrots.

(I used baby carrots)

Mince up the red onion.

In a large bowl combined the Mustard, Oil and Vinegar.

Mix in the onion and carrots.

Once the Lentils are ready, add them to the onion / carrot mixture

Gently stir and then cool in the fridge for an hour or so. This will help the flavors combined.

Place some baby spinach leaves on a plate.

Top with Lentil Mixture.

Then pour a couple glasses of Chilled White Wine.

And enjoy on the back deck!



One of the thing you can do with the extra lentils is make Lettuce wraps. Using a head of lettuce, pull off large leaves, scoop in some of the lentils and eat. It makes for a very simple lunch the next day :)