spiced lentil and sausage stew

the weather has finally stopped being completely crappy and allergy inducing to cool and crisp and everyone in the littlefoodies household have been craving some lentils. this morning i threw together a delicious, spiced lentil stew...full of fresh cilantro chicken sausages, veggies, and lentils.
this is another one of those recipes that are so interchangable...i was going for a indian inspired stew but you could omit the curry, cumin and cinnamon and orange peel and add tomatoes, oregano and chili flakes for an "italian-ish" stew. also, the veggies are limitless, i just happened to add what i had on hand!
tossed it in the crockpot after i sauteed up some veggies and we'll have a healthy hearty dinner tonight.
oh, almost forgot...littlefoodie smalls and i are going to pick up some yummy crusty bread and make some garlicky bread to go with it!

enjoy!

1 cup lentils, rinsed and drained
1 onion, small diced
tbl or so of minced garlic
1 long strip of orange zest, pith (white part) scraped off
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup cleaned, trimmed green beans
1/2 cup garbanzos * (i used green garbanzos from trader joes)
i bunch chopped cauliflower
2 bay leaves
1 package sliced cilantro chicken sausage from tj's* (or whatever you've got)
1 box chicken broth/stock
1 tsp cumin
pinch or more of chili powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp curry powder
s&p as needed

sautee the onions, garlic, carrots and orange zest in olive oil in a dutch oven until soft and onions are translucent.
add sausages and cook for a minute or so.
toss in veggies, beans, lentils and spices.
put it into a crockpot and fill with chicken broth until covered...made need more or less depending on the amount of veggies and the crockpot.
taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary

note:


i use trader joes brand fully cooked fresh cilantro chicken sausage. they make a great spinch and fontina one as well as other flavors. they are fully cooked which is great for dinners in a hurry. they are made from chicken raised free of antibiotics or hormones and contain no msg and no nitrates added. nitrates are like poison to our bodies, esp for little ones. avoid them at all costs!!!!



the green garbanzos are in the frozen vegetable section at trader joes. i was curious and wanted to give them a try and it sounded like a good addition to this stew so i tossed a handful in. they have the same texture and flavor of regular garbanzos/chickpeas just green, garbanzos are a wonderful source of fiber!!!!!


garlic bread

1 large crusty bread, halved
1 stick butter
1 head of roasted garlic, bulbs squished out or a few tbl minced garlic
2 tbl minced parsley
pinch of chili flakes
juice of 1 lemon
parmesan cheese


375F
mix butter, garlic, parsley, chili flakes, lemon juice and a bit of parm if you want too!
spread onto bread, sprinkle with parm.
put bread back together.
wrap in foil and put into the oven for about 15-20 min until warm and melted, gooey and good!
slice up and dip in lentil stew!