Bulgur with Lentils

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                            FOOD FUNNY
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This one is a bit longer than usual, but it's worth the time. You
don't have to be anywhere soon, do you? Thanks to Rosemary
Zwick for sharing.

Farmer John lived on a quiet rural highway. But, as time went
by, the traffic slowly built up at an alarming rate. The traffic
was so heavy and so fast that his chickens were being run
over at a rate of three to six a day. So one day Farmer John
called the sheriff's office and said, "You've got to do something
about all of these people driving so fast and killing all of my chickens."

"What do you want me to do?" asked the sheriff.

"I don't care, just do something about those crazy drivers!"

So the next day he had the county workers go out and erect
a sign that said: SLOW: SCHOOL CROSSING

Three days later Farmer John called the sheriff and said,
"You've got to do something about these drivers. The School
Crossing sign seems to make them go even faster." So, again,
the sheriff sends out the county workers and they put up a
new sign: SLOW: CHILDREN AT PLAY

That really sped them up. So Farmer John called and called
and called every day for three weeks. Finally, he asked the
sheriff, "Your signs are doing no good. Can I put up my own sign?"

The sheriff told him, "Sure thing, put up your own sign." He
was going to let Farmer John do just about anything in order
to get him to stop calling everyday to complain. The sheriff
got no more calls from Farmer John.

Three weeks later, curiosity got the best of the sheriff and he
decided to give Farmer John a call. "How's the problem with
those drivers. Did you put up your sign?"

"Oh, I sure did. And not one chicken has been killed since
then. I've got to go. I'm very busy." He hung up the phone.

The sheriff was really curious now and he thought to himself,
"I'd better go out there and take a look at that sign. It might
be something that WE could use to slow down drivers."

So the sheriff drove out to Farmer John's house, and his jaw
dropped the moment he saw the sign. It was spray-painted
on a sheet of wood: NUDIST COLONY - Go slow and watch
out for the chicks!

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                            TODAY'S RECIPE
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The combination of legumes and grains provides all the essential
amino acids the human body needs, and together they provide
what nutritionists call "complete proteins." Another way to look
at it is they just make a great combination that's healthy as well as
tasty.

Bulgur with Lentils

3 cups (750 ml) chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup (250 ml) bulgur or cracked wheat
1/2 cup (125 ml) dried lentils, picked over
2-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
8-12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup (250 ml) crumbled feta cheese

Combine all ingredients except the olives, tomatoes, and feta
in a slow cooker. Cook covered on low until the lentils are
tender, 3 to 4 hours. Stir in the olives and tomatoes and cook
15 minutes. Top with crumbled feta cheese.
Serves 6 to 8.

A Word About Slow Cooking

First, the good news: you don't need a slow cooker, Crock-Pot*,
or other fancy gadget to slow cook. All of the recipes this week
are easily cooked on the stove-top or in a conventional oven.
Here's how:

Most slow cookers on the market have two settings: low and
high. The low setting cooks foods at approximately 200F (95C),
and this heat setting can be approximated in a conventional
oven or on a stove-top burner set on the lowest setting. Similarly,
the high setting (about 300F, 150C) can be reached on
conventional ovens and on stove-top burners set on very low.
All you need to cook any of these recipes is an oven (or stove-
top) and a casserole dish or oven-proof baking dish with a
tightly fitting lid.

When adapting slow cooker recipes for use with conventional
equipment, follow the directions in the recipe and set the
thermostat accordingly. Because slow cookers typically have
lids that fit very tightly and therefore retain much of the moisture
in the dish, you may need to monitor the dish during cooking
and add additional liquid if necessary. If you keep this in mind,
all of your slow cooker recipes will turn out great.

The benefits of using a slow cooker include reduced energy
consumption and ease of preparation (i.e. start it and forget it),
as well as its ability to produce exceptionally tender and
succulent dishes, especially when less expensive cuts of meat
are involved. These benefits (with the exception of reduced
energy consumption) extend to the home cook who uses
conventional equipment.

The bad news? There isn't any, so have fun.
Received on Tue Jan 25 12:29:36 2011