Rapid Red Lentil Bolognese

Hey babes,

Growing up in a blue-collar family, we very rarely had meatballs. My mom worked her tail off raising us, refinishing the house, babysitting, gardening, bookkeeping, saving the day against supervillains, and more, so you can bet she was not going to waste precious time hand rolling meatballs, and she wasn’t going to waste money on a food that would only work in a handful of dishes and may or may not be popular with all the preferences of her family (meaning me, I was the picky one, I admit it).

So instead, she did what I do. She watched sales circulars and mark-downs like a hawk, and stocked up on pounds and pounds of ground beef, mixing in venison, elk, or other game when my dad came back from a hunting trip. As a result, I never knew a spaghetti that wasn’t topped with a tomato sauce infused with a heavy dose of ground red meat.

Now, you beautiful people don’t me to once again go into the many, many reasons why I don’t eat meat, why meat is harmful to your health and the environment (not to mention the cows from which that meat was carved), but needless to say, I had to find a better way. My kids may love Beyond Meatballs, but a) they’re expensive, and b) the third and fourth ingredients are oil. I will definitely scoop up those bad boys on clearance for a special treat for the kiddos- my kids go nuts over Beyond meatball in fluffy flatbread with pizza sauce and cashew cheese- but if I’m going to eat pasta, I want something a little more healthful. Enter two of my favorite ingredients: lentils and vegetables.

Worth a Red…Lentil?

If you’re new here, first, welcome! Make yourself comfy. Send me a comment, peruse the pages. Second, I love beans, legumes, and lentils. Even before I took the final leap into fully plant based, I would cram lentils or some other bean anywhere I could into my diet, once I grew up and developed a palate, of course.

Not only are lentils versatile and super cheap, but they are nutrient powerhouses, as I extolled in my very first recipe. They are high in fiber and micronutrients like folate, iron, and manganese, and offer benefits like lowering cholesterol and decreasing your risk of certain cancers.

Admittedly I didn’t use a massive amount in this recipe because I like to keep my lunches light and jam-packed full of vegetables, but you can definitely double the amount, just make sure to add more vegetable broth to accommodate. These babies soak up moisture better than any sponge.

Drag it through the Garden

Now normally, I have a lot of well-considered reasons for the vegetables I add to a dish, and while the tomatoes do add a Vitamin C boost to help digest the iron from the lentils, here’s the truth: tomatoes are a classic, irreplaceable addition to Bolognese. Everything else…were veggies that I regularly have on hand. Could you add others? Yes! Could you leave some out? Sure! But for me, I always have mushrooms, carrots, onions, and garlic around. As for the fresh basil, I grow it in pots around my house. If you don’t have fresh, use dried. No big deal.

As for serving, I added mine to a mix of whole wheat spaghetti and spiralized zucchini and summer squash, but any combo or variation would be great. I’d even like it over a hot baked sweet potato! So, mix it up and let me know what you think in the comments below.