A Stew For You!

         By special request I decided to make a slow cooker stew. It seemed to be in line with all the snow we've been getting here in Vancouver. This stew is loaded with veggies that have many healing properties. Here are a few of our nutritional winners: eggplant stimulates brain activity, ginger is good for digestion and nausea, and garlic gives a good boost to the immune system! Tumeric has been long known for its cancer cell-fighting properties and cayenne pepper cleanses your blood.  The lentils give it a nice hearty protein as well as great texture. You can really feel free to play around with this recipe, change up the veggies, throw in Quinoa or beans. 
         I think what I enjoyed the most about making this was that it filled the house with seriously mouth watering smells all day long!


Chop and Drop Veggie Lentil Stew Recipe:


1 medium eggplant

Chop and Drop stew about 5 hours into cooking

1 zucchini
1/2 head of cauliflower
2 cups of lentils (any colour)
1 cup of okra
3 carrots julienned
1 turnip
1 cup chopped fresh spinach 
2 Tbsp fresh chopped ginger
5 garlic cloves


Spices:
1 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. tumeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp Salt or to taste

1 Tbsp Braggs

Chop all veggies and drop them into the crock pot with the lentils. Pour enough water in to cover the veggies. Mix together spices and stir into pot. Plug in and set to high, cover and let stew for 8 hours. If there is an excess of water when you are getting towards the end, leave the lid off for the last 45 mins or so. 

With all the time you saved cooking this stew, you can now make a delicious homemade...
                           Gluten free Cornbread!
This recipe was on the back of the Bob's Red Mill Organic cornmeal package that I got which I tweaked a bit. It called for whole wheat pastry flour but I wanted to try it with the brown rice flour that i had ground up myself! (See Tips below for a how-to!)


1 cup cornmeal
1 cup brown rice flour (or pastry flour if gluten isn't a problem for you)
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. sugar (optional, I didn't use it)
1 egg or egg replacer
1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1/4 cup butter (I used Earth Balance vegan margarine)
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add egg, milk and butter. Beat until smooth, about one minute. Preheat oven to 425. Bake in a greased 8 inch pan for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with butter :)


Sarah's Tip for the day:


* For fresh ground brown rice flour, all you need to do is use a blender, coffee grinder or I used a magic bullet. Put in as much rice as you want and grind until fine. Use immediately in your cornbread recipe or store it for a couple of weeks.