Necessity is the Mother of Invention or Beets with Cilantro Yogurt Dressing and Lentil Sprouts

Lengtil Sprouts

As you know, I've been on a sprouting kick and my latest sprout of choice is lentil.  I've tried here and there to cook with lentils, but it really is not my favorite thing in the world.  The last time I was in San Diego, my sister begged me to take a bag of French green lentils off her hands so I did and they were stashed in my cupboard and largely ignored.  Lentil sprouts though, are delightful!  I've been making lentil sprout quesadillas (I know this sounds hippie gross, but it's actually really tasty with the tortillas I recently made) and tonight I incorporated them into the above beet salad.  As with any sprouts, you first rinse and soak the lentils in water overnight.  And then for the next few days you rinse with fresh water and drain thoroughly, and keep lightly covered (so air can circulate but the lentils don't dry out).

Quick Cilantro Pesto

I've never made any pesto aside from the classic pesto with basil, but I've read everywhere that you can theoretically grind up any kind of herb in olive oil and enjoy it in all manner of ways.  Ironically, after attending a seminar on circadian rhythms yesterday, I found myself struck by insomnia and was infuriated and awake at the wee hours of night.  At some point I got out of bed and noticed that my bunch of cilantro on the counter (I like to keep herbs in water on the counter with varying degrees of success) was looking decidedly tired so I decided to attempt this pesto.  It literally took 5 minutes.  I twisted off the top leafy part of the bunch from the bulk of the stems in one go (no need to be finicky here and spend the rest of your life pulling off individual leaves), peeled one small clove of garlic and threw the whole thing with olive oil in my mini-food processor.  Being both lazy and out of containers, I ended up removing the blade, adding a layer of olive oil over the top to seal the mix and sticking the whole thing in the fridge.  These have also been good in my quesadillas, along with the sprouts, fresh salsa and sour cream.

Beets and Salad

A couple of Saturdays ago I picked up a magnificent bunch of beets and promptly set to roasting them.  I had so much edible stuff lying around that these were largely neglected in the back of the fridge.  Until today!  I was determined to eat some, but wanted something a little different.  A dollop of the cilantro pesto, mixed with a dollop of homemade yogurt* and a generous pinch of salt and I was in business.  This tasted awfully good; I'm very happy I have more beets left.

*I just realized I never had a post about making yogurt, but there are so many tutorials online that it doesn't seem at all necessary...maybe someday.