Green Planet Eating means looking for ways to choose, prepare and consume food in a way that reflects conscientiousness about the effects that our food has on our planet. A great way to be kind to our planet is to figure out ways to eliminate food waste. By doing so, we reduce environmental resources used to produce food, and we also help reduce the negative effects of too much garbage in landfills.
Create something new from leftover beans and grains
This evening I created a brand new dish using leftovers from my fridge which would have been thrown away if I had not figured out a way to totally transform them. I had some lentils that I had cooked with mushrooms many days ago and were sitting in a bowl in the fridge. I also had cooked brown rice from several days ago in another container. You could duplicate what I did here or use it as an idea to create your own leftover muffins from cooked beans or vegetables and grains that might be sitting in your fridge. While I haven’t tried this with other grains or beans, I imagine you could do something similar with leftover quinoa, bulgar wheat, farro, barley, etc. combined with leftover beans. I basically just mixed those primary leftover ingredients with eggs and a little flour to help bind it together, and rose harissa to spice it up.
Rose harissa is a magical ingredient!
Rose harissa, I have discovered, is a magical ingredient that can transform food from bland to spicy flavorful. It is worth going to some trouble to find it. I have only been able to find it online. It is different than regular harissa that is more commonly available in supermarkets.
Reinventing Leftovers: Lentil and Brown Rice “Muffins”
Course: Leftovers6
servings5
minutes25
minutes30
minutesIngredients
About 1/2 cup of cooked lentils (lentils combined with cooked vegetables is even better)
About 2 cups of cooked brown rice
3 eggs
1 TBS flour
1 TBS rose harissa
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix all together, then spoon into greased muffin tins, patting down and smoothing tops.
- Bake for about 25 minutes. Makes about 10-12 “muffins”. We ate one or two each for dinner, along with some other vegetables. The rest can be easily reheated in the microwave for a snack or another meal tomorrow.