‘What’s for dinner?’ - Lentil Bolognese

 Hey guys, 

So as I have mentioned on Instagram my internet has been down since Sunday last week which is super annoying because I haven’t had a chance to post any of my blogs and I had no warning so I couldn’t post them before I lost the internet.  Hopefully it will be back on by Tuesday and if it’s not I’m going to be one angry blogger.  Anyhoo, I am currently borrowing some internet so let’s get on with this post! 

Today I will be sharing with you another meal review in my ‘What’s for Dinner’ segment and I’m super excited for it! Last week I cooked up a delicious Lentil Bolognese from this Vegetarian CookBook and I have to say it has become one of my favourite meals! It was so simple as Bolognese usually is and had minimal ingredients so it wasn’t super expensive! This recipe serves four and only takes maximum an hour to prepare and make so is definitely suitable as an everyday sort of dinner. 

As for the ingredients, you will need

175g green lentils (I used Brown Lentils)

2tbls olive oil 

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

800g canned chopped tomatoes

150ml vegetable stock

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped

2tbls tomato puree

2tsp very finely chopped fresh rosemary

1tsp dried oregano

280g dried spaghetti

Handful of basil leaves torn

Salt and pepper

Freshly grated parmesan cheese to serve

To be completely honest this is a meal that you would most definitely have a majority of the ingredients in your fridge and pantry.  I would have to say, I probably bought about 2 items for this meal and they were the tomato puree and the spaghetti, the remaining I had in the cupboard already.  However, if I had to calculate how much it would cost to buy the entirety of the ingredients I would have to estimate at under $40AUD; so definitely a cheap meal considering it makes enough for four.

 As for the method; if you are working with uncooked lentils you will want to put these into a saucepan and cover them with cold water.  Bring this to the boil and simmer for 20-30mins until they are just tender.  I recommend you use tinned lentils as they are quicker and if you rinse them and soak them before use they are just as good as packaged lentils.  Next you’ll want to heat the oil in a large frypan, add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Cover and cook over a low heat for five minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes, stock, capsicum, tomato puree, oregano and rosemary. Cover and let simmer for a further twenty minutes until the sauce has thickened and the vegetables are tender.  Add the lentils and cook, stirring, for approximately five minutes, season with salt and pepper.  Meanwhile, while the sauce is cooking, bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil, add the spaghetti and bring back to the boil and cook for ten minutes or until tender.  Drain well and divide the spaghetti between bowls and spoon the sauce over the top.  Scatter the basil leaves and Parmesan over the top and you are ready to serve you delicious meal. 

As I have said, I absolutely love this meal, for me it’s quick, simple and affordable! It ticks all the right boxes and I have added to my everyday dinner meals.  The great thing about this meal is it can be tweaked in so many ways, I added mushrooms in this particular meal but so many other things can be changed to give different flavours! I love that if you don’t have one vegetable you can replace it with another or add more to the existing recipe for extra goodness! There are just so many things you can do with this that makes it even better! I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a simple, quick meal, if you are on a budget too, this would be great.  I also love the fact that even while eating a vegetarian diet, I can still have my favourite meal!

Anyway guys, I hope you enjoyed this post! If you try this one out be sure to let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear what you think! I’m sorry this is so late, hopefully my internet will be on very soon and my posting will be back to normal! Also I was thinking of filming my first ever YouTube video and I was wondering what type of videos you would like to see? If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below as I don’t know what to start with!!

Until Next Time

BrittanieDe-Ann xoxo