As I shared with you earlier, I gave up meat for Lent and thus have been experimenting with quite a few new and different recipes. Dinners, typically chicken, pork or sometimes steak, are now slightly different and require a little more though process. So far (yes, only oneish weeks in) it’s been going well and I’ve had tons of fun trying out all the new recipes I’ve found.

I was on Pinterest a few weeks ago making a board of all the recipes I want to make when B said to me, “Why don’t you actually look at some of those cookbooks you own?”  I realized he was right – I’m always finding recipes from blogs, Pinterest, etc. but hardly ever taking advantage of the zillion cookbooks I have! So I took out the first book that I could see – my Bon Appetit cookbook I got as a wedding gift from my brother’s wedding “date.”  I marked off a few recipes and decided that this week was perfect to make the Garbanzo Bean, Lentil and Vegetable Stew.

I baked some cornbread, made the stew on Monday night and B and I enjoyed it on Tuesday. B’s rating? He’d “definitely eat it again” (which means it’s a winner).

Garbanzo Bean, Lentil and Vegetable Stew

(slightly adapted from Bon Appetit cookbook)

Here’s what you need:

• 2 TBS olive oil
• ½ onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• ¼ cup tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons coriander
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 ¼ cups canned vegetable broth
• 2 ¼ cups water
• 1 cup dried lentils
• 1 15 to 16 oz can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
• 12 baby carrots, cut into ¼ inch rounds
• 1 cup frozen lima beans
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley  
• 1 oz bag fresh spinach leaves

Here’s what you do:

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium low heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until soft and golden (about 10 minutes)
2. Add tomato sauce, coriander, caraway and cayenne; stir one minute.
3. Stir in broth, water and lentils. Increase heat to high and bring everything to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are almost tender, about 15-17 minutes.
4. Add garbanzo beans, carrots, frozen lima beans and parsley. Cover and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.
5. (If you want, you can cool this and refrigerate this a day ahead. Bring it back to a simmer before continuing. This is what I did – just make sure to add the spinach before serving)
6. Stir spinach info stew. Cover and cook just until spinach wilts, about 3 minutes.  
7. Enjoy! Serve over rice (which I did not do; I don’t like rice) or with cornbread (which I did do because I love cornbread). 

After B and I enjoyed the stew for dinner, we had about 3 cups leftover which were great for lunches the next few days.