Quinoa Lentil Chili

Today is Meatless Monday.  I've been doing Meatless Monday for several months now, where I cook meatless meals for dinner.  Part of it is health-driven (eat more veggies and legumes), part of it is eco-driven (lessen our footprint on the planet), part of it is spiritually-driven (don't kill, even animals), and part of it is to force myself to experiment with ingredients/methods/recipes I otherwise would not use.  Today's experiment was with quinoa, you know, that supergrain-that's-also-a-complete-protein that's been all the rage these past few years.

I'll admit it - I've never had quinoa before.  Wait, I take that back.  In the early 2000s I went on a training seminar for work, and my roommate introduced me to quinoa.  We were in one of those extended stay suites with kitchen, so she prepared it for dinner one night.  I don't remember how she prepared it, but it was awful, so needless to say it's taken me about 10 years to actually want to give it another try.

I have quinoa.  And I have some beautiful red lentils.  How about a vegetarian chili?  I browsed the internet for recipes.  There's a bunch out there, but I settled on a combination of this one and this one as my main guide.  And of course I used what was in my fridge and pantry.  I served it with a slice of toasted rosemary garlic sourdough; it was really good.  Hubby had it with Triscuits.

Next time I think I'll add a bell pepper and a can of kidney or garbanzo beans.

Quinoa Lentil Chili
Inspired by this recipe and this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups water
• 1 (15 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a large dutch oven, sweat the onion in the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir for a minute.
• Add the quinoa and lentils, water and diced tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer again.  Cook, covered and stirring occasionally, for another 20 - 30 minutes until lentils and vegetables are tender.