Lentil, Vegetables, and Beef Stew

Hey everyone!

As much as I love this amazing weather we have been having (It is 6:00pm and 84 degrees!), it kind of stinks because most of the recipes I want to share with you are more Fall/Winter type of meals. Like soups and stews. But you know what? I'm going to share them anyway :)

I adapted this recipe from:

http://www.lightlife.com/Vegetarian-Recipes-Vegan-Recipes/Lentils-with-Smart-Ground-And-Garlic-1098

Start by cutting up your carrots and celery. The original recipe calls for just one carrot (shown above) and just one celery stalk. I thought that was crazy! There aren't many vegetables that I would eat raw so I have to get all my servings of vegetables in the form of being mixed in with the rest of my meal so I wasn't going to only use 1 little carrot and 1 puny celery stalk! That's just crazy!

So, I ended up using 3 of each. Much better. Actually, these pictures are from the first time I made this meal which was last week. I made this again on Sunday and that time I used even more veggies. I used 4 carrots and 4 celery stalks that time. Feel free to use as many as you want!

The rest of the ingredients: 32.oz of Vegetable Stock, 2 tablespoons of Veggie Oil, and 1 cup of Dried Lentils.

. . . and the seasonings: 1 teaspoon ground Cumin, 1 teaspoon Thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of Salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of Pepper.

Start by placing the 2 tablespoons of Vegetable Oil in a skillet. Add the Ground Beef. I used the entire package (which was more than one pound) of Laura's Lean Ground Beef. Add in 1 tablespoon of minced Garlic. Cook and stir until the meat is browned. Add the Cumin and Thyme and stir for about 1 minute.

While the Ground Beef is browning, put the remaining ingredients (vegetable broth, carrots, celery, lentils, salt and pepper) into a large pot over the stovetop.

Once the meat is browned, add it to the pot. Bring it to a boil and then reduce to medium heat and cover. Continue cooking for at least 20 minutes. I usually cook mine for at least a half hour. The thicker you want it (more stew-like), the longer you let it cook. If you want it to be more like a soup, then only cook it for about 15 minutes.

This is what is looks like after about a half hour of cooking. It's thickened up and isn't as "runny" as it was before.

And that's it! It is very tasty and it will make your house smell SO good!

Enjoy!

*Note: The original recipe said it would make 8 servings. However, the two times that I have made it it has only made 4 servings. I know Dave and I don't eat too large of servings to I think maybe the serving amount is off because I made mine more of a thick stew and maybe the original recipe maker made theirs into a soup. That's the only thing I can think of. If you make it like I did it will probably only make about 4 servings.