Ethiopian Lentil Stew

Last night I was cold and tired, so I wanted something that was a) warm and heavy, and b) made with ingredients I had on hand. Some Googling led me to this recipe from Isa on PostPunkKitchen for Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew. I have never been to an Ethiopian restaurant, much less Ethiopia, but I had an Ethiopian Chickpea soup last month at the Soup Spoon Cafe and it was fantastic. The stew turned out delicious as well.

I didn't have every single ingredient, so I did some substituting, and I tweaked the recipe as I went along. The following recipe is a combination of what I did and what I will do next time. The main differences are: I cooked it a lot longer, used more spices, and substituted some ingredients. It's probably less authentic than the original, but I can't confirm. :) Feel free to try either one. This takes 45 minutes to make if you're organized, fast, and like things crunchy. I recommend letting it cook an extra hour if you have the time. I'll try it in the slow cooker next time and report back!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tostadas

Last Friday I had my younger brother over for a birthday dinner. I gave him about six menu options, and he chose sweet potato and black bean tostadas. This is an original recipe I came up with last summer, and I was excited to repeat it! I love sweet potatoes in any form, and especially in this combination of colors and flavors.

As usual, I'm making up amounts after the fact, so don't worry about sticking too closely to the recipe. Do what sounds good to you. Warning: these can be tricky to eat!

Happy New Year!/SpinachPizza

After a looong hiatus, due to starting a new job, moving, and misplacing my camera's USB cable, I'm back and ready to blog again. I've been cooking (and taking pictures) for the last 7 months, so I have plenty to write about: my first yeast bread, sweet potato & black bean tostadas, quinoa (hated it at first, love it now), lentils every which way, several soups, lots of cookies, and more.

These are my food-related goals for 2010:

• Try three foods that scare me.
• Shop more at farmers markets, less at Meijer.
  
• Grow tomatoes on my balcony.
• Learn and try some new food preservation techniques (I got this book for Christmas).
  
• Eliminate high-fructose corn syrup from my diet, as much as possible.
• Learn more about local, sustainable eating.
  

In the interest of getting things started again, here's what I made for lunch today:

It looks fancy, and Chris and I felt like we were in a nice restaurant. However, as anyone who has made pita pizza knows, it's really simple: pita, sauce, cheese, bake. If I'm just making one, I'll put it in the toaster oven, but I made two today so I used the big oven. As usual, don't worry about the measurements - I'm guessing.