Yummy Hot Lunch on a Cool Fall Day

Well, the weather has finally made a turn towards fall. A couple of days ago Vince and Eleanor were raking the leaves from the silver maple and the sycamore in 85 degree weather wearing shorts! However, the past couple of days it has actually felt like fall with deliciously cold nights and lovely cool, windy days. Daylight hours are also getting noticeably shorter. I do love the fall and winter but always lament that the daylight is so short.



Since the weather is cooler, I have been craving warmer foods such as soups, chillies, and baked things. Today's lunch consisted of a fridge cleaning experiment that turned out much better than expected, so I thought I would share. Keep in mind I'm no super chef so the recipe is quite loose and probably isn't written just as it should be, but hopefully it will give you the idea.

5 brussel sprouts chopped
some cauliflower chopped
2 green onions sliced
1 big carrot chopped
***
about 1 cup quinoa
about 1/2 cup red lentils
about 2.5 cups boiling water (I think it would have been even better if I had chicken or vegetable broth on hand)
some grated cheese

Saute the veggies in a bit of olive oil with salt, pepper and a pinch of cumin for a couple of minutes. After rinsing the quinoa, mix with the red lentils and put in the water. Reduce to low heat and simmer for 15 minutes or so. Then mix together the veggies and quinoa in an oven save dish and cover with cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is nice and crispy on top.

Unsurprisingly, I liked the cheesy top part the best. Eleanor liked it as well and offered it to Henry several times, despite the fact that she knows he only drinks milk.