Lentil Salad with Dry Land Cress

I cooked some lentils in my crock-pot after soaking them overnight to remove the phytates. I drained them well and added:

Olive Oil
Lemon-juice of one
Sea Salt
Spring Onions
Lacto-fermented carrots, chopped

As a side, I cooked some dry land cress like this:

Saute 2 strips of nitrate-free bacon
Toss into pan, 2 heads of chopped dry-land cress (I got this at the farmer's market)
Saute the cress until limp and slightly cooked.

I actually put both of these together on top of a fresh bib lettuce leaf.

This is a delicious cold or slightly warm salad. For lunch the next day I took more lentils and seasoned with balsamic vinegar, onions, salt, pepper, and olives and topped with slices of avocado coated in vinegar.

It's fast food if you have the lentils already cooked and in the fridge unseasoned. This way you can get them out to make a salad, stew, or soup.

Gravy made with Beef Broth and Oatmeal

Oat Groats

I love gravy. I am also tired of soup at the moment. It doesn't last long, but it happens sometimes. So I decided to make gravy because I can never get enough.

Grind Oat Groats in a food mill and mix with water and whey to make a slurry.

Or put 1 C. groats in blender and add 1 C. water plus whey, blending for three minutes, drizzling in water to maintain a vortex.

I use about 2 T. whey per quart of mixture. Soak this overnight and then keep in refrigerator to use whenever you get hungry for gravy or need to thicken something. You can even cook this with water for breakfast and call it gruel.

To make gravy, heat beef broth and pour in a little slurry of oatmeal, add salt, and cook for a few minutes. You can make it any thickness you desire and can keep adding oat mixture to keep thickening it.

Tonight I baked lamb shanks and necks, covered in my le Crueset, and after they were soft and browned, I poured in water and oat mixture and put it back in the oven until it thickened.

I prefer beef or lamb flavor with oatmeal but did not like the chicken/oatmeal flavor.

Sue Gregg's Blender Pancakes-Judy's Version

I love Sue Gregg's Blender Pancake recipe. It's the perfect blend of traditional cooking and technology. Her website has many variations listed and if you are overwhelmed with the information, I've extracted a simple recipe.

Night before you serve pancakes:

1 C. mixed whole grains (not flour), put in blender and add,
1 C Yogurt, Kefir, or Buttermilk.


Blend 3 minutes on high and maintain a VORTEX by drizzling in a little water. The Vortex is important in getting all the grains blended and looks like a funnel or tornado in your blender and ensures that everything is blended well. Let sit overnight or 7 hours at least for the acid medium to remove the phytates on the grains. Phytates are an anti-nutrient which keeps you from absorbing other nutrients you are eating. In history, people just soaked their grains without knowing why. It's very traditional to do this.

In the morning, add the following. Get the dry ingredients ready to dump in all at once.

1 T. Flax seeds-optional
1 Egg
2 T. Olive Oil or melted butter

3/4 t. Real salt
1/2 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Baking Powder

Put the egg, flax and oil in the blender and blend on high while maintaining a vortex using more liquid.

When the flax seeds seem to be ground up, add the dry ingredients into the vortex. The easiest way is to place a funnel in the top of your blender and dump them in. The funnel makes them hit the right spot. Blend only a few seconds after the leavening is added because it thickens and that's the way you want it.

Pour batter onto heated griddle and serve with butter and maple syrup and bacon on the side!

This is part of the Nourishing Gourmet's Handmade Gift Carnival.

Update, 11-14-09: If you use Kefir, beware that storing the leftover batter with a tight lid causes pressure to build up and the jar may explode, if not with broken glass, then all over you. Kefir has good bacteria that continues to grow.

Pepper Parmesan Blender Dressing-No Mess

First, check to see if your blender blades screw onto a standard mason jar. If it does, you make this without much clean-up.

I use a 12oz. mason jar, but a pint would be fine too.....into the jar add:

1 clove garlic, peeled
1 egg yolk, free range
3 T Lemon juice, fresh
2 t. Dijon style mustard, I don't bother to measure this
1/2 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 T coarse ground pepper
1/2 C. grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 t. salt, "Real Salt"

I screw the blade/base component onto the jar and turn "up-side-down", place on the blender and pulse several times, and then blend at a medium speed. The mixture seizes up nicely for me even though I haven't drizzled in the olive oil like Julia Child says to do. I don't even bother to have everything room temperature which is supposed to be better.

This is very intense and satisfies those who need some real zing with something else bland. I screw on a regular lid to store and only need to wash the blades of the blender.