Anyone have a truly kid pleasing lentil recipe?

[chickenpatty]

No tomatoes or strong flavors, like herbs or peppers.:eek: Cheese is good. ??

Thanks!:)

[CLHCO]

Yes, and it's very easy. I may have gotten the recipe here even but it's been a while.

Honey Baked Lentils

Combine in a dutch oven or saucepan:
1 lb lentils (2 1/3 C)
1 bay leaf
5 C water
2 tsp salt

Boil, covered, for 30 minutes. Do not drain. Discard bay leaf.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine and then mix into lentils:
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1 TB soy sauce
1/2 C chopped onion (sub. 2 cloves garlic or a touch of onion powder even for picky kids)
1 C water
4 slices bacon, chopped (I usually precook lightly)

Stir in most of bacon into lentils. Pour into lightly greased casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining bacon on top.

Pour over all:
1/3 C honey

Cover and bake 1 hour. If I precook the bacon a touch and sauté the onion I usually don't bake this long. Makes for a faster dinner that way and still tastes pretty good. If you have the time, baking together will mix flavors a bit more, I'm sure. If you don't cook bacon first, take the lid off to brown it on top for the last several minutes.

It's flexible. That's a basic outline anyway.

[Tammy in Germany]

Yum..that sounds good! :)

[Lorna]

You can use real sausages or vegetarian.
Preheat the oven to hot
Boil seven medium sized peeled potatoes.
Meanwhile simmer puy/brown lentils until soft
Meanwhile fry two or three onions on a medium heat until transparent
Fry a couple of sausages per person
Mix all the ingredients except the potatoes and add your favourite seasoning/stock cube/ gravy until it resembles a 'ground beef' consistency
Lay this mixture at the base of your largest casserole dish
Mash the potatoes, add a teaspoon of salt, and spread these over the top
Fluff the potatoes up with a fork and sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and add blobs of butter
Put in the oven until the top looks nicely brownedDH or yourself can add pepper/ chilli sauce at the plate

[Mamagistra]

Here's a soup that my family enjoys:

Egyptian Lentil Soup
1 lg. onion, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, peeled & coarsely chopped
2 to 3 oz. lean ground beef or lamb*
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1½ cups brown or green lentils (or 1 cup brown or green + 1 cup red lentils)
2 quarts water
1 small dried red chili (optional)
juice of ½ lemon or more to taste
salt & pepper to taste

Pick over and clean the lentils. In a heavy pot, gently sauté the onion, carrot, and ground meat in the oil until the veggies are soft and the meat is very brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in the cumin and fennel, then add the lentils and water. Add the chili if desired.

Cook until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the chili (if used). Add the lemon juice and taste for seasoning, adding salt and peper to taste. Each serving may be garnished with onion slices warmed in olive oil and additional lemon wedges.

*I usually go ahead and use a pound of ground meat for my carnivores, but you can leave it out and the soup is still wonderful. Also, you can add some finely chopped hearty greens (spinach or kale, for instance) along with the water to pump up the nutrition.

Enjoy! :)

[melissel]

This (http://blog.earthlingshandbook.org/2007/12/03/honey-baked-lentils.aspx) is the recipe I use for honey-baked lentils. I like that it's all done in one dish :p I do the substitution with the 1/3 C rice, and I also cut up sweet potatoes, carrots, and/or butternut squash and throw those in too. It's a nice, sweet, flavorful dish.

[Lisa at Home]

My kids like this...
http://www.bobsredmill.com/catalog/index.php?action=showdetails&product_ID=399

I don't know how to make a link here now, sorry.
If the link doesn't work, it's Bob's Red Mill Veggie soup mix. I buy it a Kiroger, and it is made with lentils.

This is not just lentils, but it gets so thick you could use it as a side dish or something. My kids *love* this stuff. I just add onion powder, salt, and pepper to taste. You could do a lot of things with it.

~Lisa

[Anne/Ankara]

My recipe is the world's simplest-- one package of dried lentils, put into a crockpot with six cups of water and some chicken boulion cubes. Six hours later, soup is ready!

My kids will eat it... but I think I like it more than they do!

[Carolyn in Ohio]

Lentils, cheese and rice

3 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup dry lentils
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1/2 tsp basil (or not)
1/4 tsp oregano (or not)
1 clove garlic if you like it
4 ounces swiss cheese

Combine everything together, cook either 8 hours on low crockpot, or 1 hour on the stove.

Carolyn

[Lucy in Australia]

The good thing about this recipe is that you can take out any spices that you don't like. We make this as a dip and use slightly grilled lebanese bread wedges (flat bread) to dip into it. I've found my kids eat nearly anything they can dip things into :D

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14107/lentil+dhal