Indian Dahl

Not only will your taste buds be giddy, your heart will thank you too! This delicious recipe is from Caldwell B. Esselstyn's book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.  There's some chopping that has to be done, but you basically throw it all in one pot and let it cook.  It's super easy!

 If served with brown rice, it serves 6.  If not, it probably serves 4

Ingredients
2 1⁄2 cups lentils (any color)
5 cups water
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 can of chopped tomatoes with green chilis (OR 1 tomato, chopped, and 1 jalepeno
1 1⁄2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp curry powder (optional)
handful of cilantro, chopped
1 carrot, shredded (or about 12 baby carrots, shredded)
1 bell pepper (any color), finely chopped
1 zucchini, finely chopped

Chili

 I love chili on a chili fall day ;) This is a basic recipe that is amazing on it's own but can also be pimped out to your liking.  Michael likes to add celery but I am anti-celery unless it has peanut butter and raisins on it :) You could also add a zucchini, red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, butternut squash, etc... This is also a recipe where you get to call upon your inner chef.  I'm a flavor lover, so I usually go heavy on the spices and add a little more than what's listed here.  But start with these amounts, let your chili simmer for a couple minutes to let the spices incorporate, and then test it and go from there.  I know this recipe looks like it has a lot of ingredients, but besides chopping the onion and whatever veggies you decide on, the rest is just canned goods and spices that get thrown in.  Plus it's a one-pot meal! My FAVORITE!  

If you want to get really creative, sometimes Michael and I turn it into a cornbread-n-chili casserole.  Reduce the simmer time for the chili to 5 minutes, pour into a large casserole dish, top with the your favorite cornbread batter (stay tuned for a cornbread recipe -still trying to perfect it), and bake according to the cornbread's instructions.  Super yummy and fun!

Chef Peter

My amazing "little" brother (10 years younger and 3 inches taller) has recently discovered the joy of cooking.  As a varsity soccer player on one of the best soccer teams in the state, he realized he needed to be filling his body with clean burning fuel that would enhance his performance on the field.  With no prior cooking experience and hardly any help from the 'rents he has mastered several of the recipes on this blog! He's even leading the grocery shopping expeditions to shop for the intriguing ingredients that are new to him.  So if you're timid to delve into cooking delicious and healthy meals, you can look to this amazingly good looking and super cool 16 (I mean 9?) year old guy -who totally takes after his older sister- for inspiration.  His latest endeavor: Peanut Butter Eggs!

 Me and Pete when he won his Eastern PA Challenge Cup championship! 

Cheers, Bill!

Wolf Blitzer interviews President Bill Clinton as he explains his change in diet after his bypass surgery.

Click here to view the video.