Lentil Tacos
I am always looking for ways to try to feed our family for a little bit less money so when I heard of using lentils as a substitute for taco meat I was intrigued but a tad nervous to feed it to my meat loving husband. Not that he doesn’t go for veggies or whatever, he’s actually very ok with vegetarian meals most of the time, he just doesn’t really like me replacing meat with something when there is supposed to be meat. Then when a friend said her meat loving loving husband actually went for it I decided to give it a whirl. At first he was like, “Um…are those lentils? Where’s the beef?” But after eating them he loved it. He says he would still prefer meat of some kind but admits the lentils make a pretty darn good substitute. Yay! So this was a while ago…then last night I got this ‘Bee in my Bonnet’ to have my kids make dinner. I read an article about college kids and how many of them get off on their own and can’t even boil water. What?! Now of course my kids can boil water, they can even make scrambled eggs and toast and maybe one or two other things, they’re smart, they’ve watched me cook a lot so they can figure things out, but I sure don’t want them going out into the world not knowing how to provide healthy meals for themselves. So let the training begin.
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- Linus making the lentil filling
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- Juliette flipping tortillas
At first they were a little annoyed and didn’t want to do it but once they started doing it, they had a lot of fun and were very proud of themselves. They did the whole meal. They (my 8 and 6 year old) cut the onions, garlic, rinsed the lentils, everything. It was awesome! So I am hoping to be able to remember to have them do this more often.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or bacon grease
- 1 whole onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cup lentils, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon course sea salt
- 2½ cups water
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil or grease.
- Once the skillet is hot add the onion and garlic, cook and stir until the onions are starting to soften.
- Add the rinsed lentils, chili powder, cumin, oregano and salt.
- Pour in the water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the lentils are soft, about 25 minutes.
- Once the lentils have softened, you can use the back of your spatula to sort of mash them a bit, but other than that they are ready to serve with your favorite taco toppings.
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