Spicy Lentil Samosas

A few weeks ago I decided I really wanted to try making Indian food. I love Indian food! I didn't know where to look for the best recipes, but found this recipe on the way. It was definitely time-consuming, but I love that these are baked instead of fried! They were really easy (just, like I said, VERY time consuming) and made a TON (we had that plateful, above, as well as a bunch more I froze to bake up sometime in the future).

These were pretty good, although not very spicy. I definitely have to play around with the insides recipe to get it perfect, but it's a great starter-recipe! I served this with long-grain rice and some easy chicken curry (I tried to find a legitimate "easy" recipe, which definitely decreased the quality, but at least the samosas were yummy). Great to make ahead!

Spicy Lentil Samosas
Recipe from Eat Healthy Eat Happy

1 c lentils
3 c water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 small or 1 large carrot, diced
a 2' cube fresh ginger, chopped fine
5-7 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 large onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green chile (optional), seeded and diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1-2 tsp curry powder
1-2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika (ideally smoked)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
¼ - ½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
12 egg roll wrappers
nonstick cooking spray

Heat the oven to 375. Rinse the lentils well, then combine with water in a medium pan. Put a lid on tilted so steam can escape, and simmer on medium heat about 20-25 minutes. While the lentils cook, get the veggies, ginger and garlic ready.

In a large pan, combine the oil and chopped onion over medium heat. Cook until the onions start to get tender, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrot and spices and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat if things start to stick. Add the pepper, ginger and garlic and cook for another 10 minutes. Add some water if it starts to look dry.

When the lentils are done, stir them in. Cook everything together for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed.

Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick. Prepare samosas as shown and arrange on the sheets. Bake 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake another 10 minutes.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I love lemon poppyseed muffins. When I was growing up, my mom had 3 standard muffin recipes: banana mini-muffins, lemon poppyseed normal-sized muffins, and blueberry jumbo-muffins. I love them all, and eating those kinds of muffins is always very nostalgic for me.

This isn't the recipe my mom makes, but I thought I'd try it out. It's a very soft muffin--almost like cake, but a little less sweet. Next time I might try sprinkling the top with sugar (as the original recipe suggests), but the overall crunch and lemony-ness was pretty good.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Recipe by Dine & Dish

1/2 cup sweet creamy butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 lemons, zest of, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the egg yolks, one at a time. Beat well after each.

In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, poppy seeds, and lemon zest.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating two times with the buttermilk, then lemon juice, and then vanilla. Beat just until smooth.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Gently fold them into the muffin batter until blended.


Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, 3/4-full. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

The last few recipes have been breakfast recipes, and it can't hurt to add more. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day...well, if I have time to cook. Generally I eat something quick during the week, but I love going out for breakfast or having time to cook or bake something delicious at home!

This recipe was pretty good! I used spicy sausage and that had a perfect amount of flavor. I'd recommend adding more salt to the gravy but other than that this was a yummy, hearty breakfast! Just try not to look at the gravy before reheating it if you can't eat it all in one day.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Recipe from Taste and Tell

Biscuits:
2 C flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 C buttermilk
Additional flour
2 Tbsp melted butter

Sausage Gravy:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 16 oz. tube of pork sausage
Additional fat if needed: bacon grease or butter
4 Tbsp flour
3 C milk
A little bit of dried herbs (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste


To make the biscuits:
Preheat the oven to 500F. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the butter until you have coarse crumbs. Fold in the buttermilk. Stir just until blended - the mixture will still be lumpy.

Line a small plate or bowl with flour. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop to scoop out the dough and put on the plate of flour. Roll the dough in the flour to coat. (Note - the "dough" will be very sticky and wet - not like a typical biscuit dough. It is best to use a scoop so that the mixture won't stick to your hands.) Place the dough balls in the prepared pan - 9 balls around the outside and 3 balls in the center. Brush the tops of the balls with the melted butter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes then lower the temperature to 450 and bake another 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

To make the sausage gravy:
Heat the 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a heavy duty skillet or cast iron skillet . Add the sausage and cook until cooked through, breaking up the sausage as it cooks.

Remove the sausage and drain, reserving the fat. Return 3 to 4 tablespoons of the fat to the pan. (If you don't have enough grease, add more bacon grease or butter to make up for the difference.) Add the flour and whisk, allowing the flour to brown and form a dark roux. Keep whisking and pour in the milk. Whisk out the lumps. Return the sausage to the skillet and add in any herbs you'd like. Simmer the gravy until it thickens.

Serve the gravy over split biscuits.