Friday Recipe: Lentil Chili

This week's cookbook adventure happened on Wednesday. I used my "clippings" and favorite recipe cookbook. I put the recipes that I really want to make into sleeves in a three ring binder so that I will actually look at them again and maybe, just maybe, make them. The disadvantage of clipping things out of magazines is that sometimes you miss part of the article or in this case recipe. This recipe was from the Sept. 1, 2000 issue of Women's Day and I forgot to follow the recipe to page 116. But never fear - I never make a recipe as written any way, so if the instructions are missing I'll just make them up!

Lentil Chili

2 T. Vegetable Oil
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 bell pepper, coarsely chopped
3 lg. cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/4 c. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. cumin
1 can (28 0z.) Italian Plum tomatoes, pureed
1 cup brown lentils
1 small zucchini diced (1 cup)
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup bulgur wheat

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

So, here's what I did. I used almost all of the ingredients the recipe called for (I even went shopping for the bulgur wheat). Except that I substituted 2 cans of diced tomatoes for the pureed Italian Plum tomatoes because that's what I had, used my minced garlic, used less chili powder, and used chopped up carrots instead of zucchini. In the summer when zucchini are plentiful I would be glad to use them but I looked at them in the grocery store and couldn't pay the price.

I started by sauteing the onions and bell pepper in olive oil, then I added the garlic and then the spices. I added the tomatoes, lentils, black beans, and bulgur and 2 tomato cans of water and cooked it for a while. After about 45 minutes it looked like it was going to need more water so I added 2 cups more. I added the carrots and I cooked it for about another 45 minutes or until my husband got home and then we topped it with shredded cheese and said this is a keeper!


If you need a meatless meal for lent this one is not very hard to make and it's really good. The addition of shredded cheddar cheese made it great. My husband took it to work for lunch and had to add some water because it became very thick as it sat in the refrigerator. It made a large amount. This is a 4 qt. pot and you can see it's almost full. I'll freeze some for later.