Red Lentil Stew

So, back at this after a LONG ASS hiatus. Woke up this AM with a tweaked back/neck which killed most of the day's plans. However so long as I am standing upright the pain is minimal, as I continue to gently strrreetttttccchhh the back, neck and shoulders. A good way to make a dead day a productive one: cook something new.

I've recently been trying to be more healthy and I wanted to make something today completely from goods that I have on hand. As it turns out, a quick recipe search for lentils (a package of red lentils has been sitting in my cupboard for ages) led me to a recipe for which I already have all of the ingredients.

Starting off by making 6 cups of vegetable broth from scratch.

(Had an accumulated bag of frozen veg cuttings sitting in my freezer, primarily from the not-so-great potato leek soup I made last month).

An hourlong simmer yielded me 4 cups of the six cups veg broth I need for lentil stil recipe -- that'll do.

Next I got my stew ingredients going:

Onions got initial simmer in olive oil, garlic added shortly thereafter. Once soft & translucent, tomato paste was added to complete the base. A couple minutes more simmering then the rest of the ingredients go in. Carrots, potatoes, spices (cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper), veg broth, and of course the cup of red lentils.

Turned the temperature up to high, threw on the lid and brough to boil. Reduced to simmer and let it simmer for 30 minutes. 

Added half teaspoon salt, took the initial taste test, and -- pretty good!

Removed from heat and served myself my very first bowl of red lentil stew. This is def going on the recipe rotation list. Fairly easy prep, tasty AND healthy. And my one initial misgiving about the recipe (an entire onion) is unwarranted -- I diced the onion extra fine and for the end result you don't even notice onion texture -- the lentils dominate. Def going to make this again.