Learning & Lentil Bolognese

I come to you from my study where my hair is scruffy and my brain is attempting to implement a migraine.  Please be kind if my words to to mush.


Day 17 of the writer's challenge, (have I ever told you 17 is by far my favourite number?), brings me to sharing with you lessons I have learnt the hard way;

Learned the Hard Way. What’s a lesson you learned the hard way? 


I'd prefer to give you a dot point form of several lessons I've learnt the hard way rather than harp on for 15 minutes about how I learnt how important health is in relation to my battle with chronic illness, something you've all heard about.


Lessons I've learnt include;
Mental health has a huge impact on physical health.
Don't bag out Pinterest; it has a huge fan base.
Eating all your chocolate at once will make you unwell.
"Soldiering on" is one of the worst things you can do for your body when unwell (yeah, Codral, you heard me).
What you eat and how much you exercise has a huge impact on your energy levels.
Studying nutrition is not easy.
Don't blindly trust Doctors; always do a little of your own research or get a second opinion.
Comparing yourself to others is useless.




There would be many more, but due to the lack of fully functioning brain, I can't think of them right now.


What I can do is share with you my...

Lentil Bolognese
How does one spell Bolognese/Bolognaise?

I;

1 carrot, diced

3-5 button mushrooms, sliced (use more if you are going to cook minimal pasta & are trying to lose weight - extra will make it bulkier)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 teaspoon of fresh oregano, ripped up
1/2 teaspoon of dry oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup of dry red lentils, washed
1-2 tablespoons of oil (for frying)
Water
200 grams of pasta (I used wholemeal fettucine)


M;


- Fry the onion and carrot in the oil until the onion becomes transparent
- Add the garlic and mushrooms and fry for a further 30 seconds.

- Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste and one tin (use the tomato tin) of water.
  (you need this extra fluid so you can cook the sauce down)





- Add all of the herbs





- Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
As your sauce reduces, it will start to spit - don't cover it totally or it won't reduce nicely, better of just sitting the lid on propped up on your spoon like the below.


 


- Rinse your lentils & set them aside.









- After 30-45 minutes of the sauce cooking, add your lentils.





- You can season your sauce at this stage, or wait until the end - up to you.

- You want to continue to simmer your sauce until you can scrape the bottom of the pot and not have it fill back up (like a risotto, if you make risotto).  The longer you simmer, the nicer the sauce will be.  If it gets too thick and you want to keep cooking, keep adding small amounts of water.  I cooked the below sauce for 1 hour and 45 minutes and added perhaps in total an extra 1.5 cans of water.




- When your sauce is at the perfect consistency, add a couple of tablespoons of water, turn it right down, and put your pasta on.


 


- To serve, drain the pasta and return to the pot, mixing a couple of tablespoons of sauce through.  Place pasta into serving plates and top with remaining sauce and if desired, some parmesan cheese (I desire parmesan cheese constnantly, Millel is my favourite - please don't buy that Kraft stuff!)




Dig in! Yummy!








Lentils are high in protein, fibre, folate, magnesium and even iron (the 1/4 cup you get in a serving of this pasta will give you 15% of your daily iron needs if you're not carrying around a bub)  -  incredibly good for you and super cheap!  More proof that eating healthily does not have to be expensive.


I would love to hear back if you try it, and love even more to see some photos of how yours turned out.  Especially as, if I ever get my ass into gear (credit to dad for putting those three words strung together into my vocabulary), I will include this in my recipe book.


Enjoy!


Stay well,
Nat x