Low Bowl #1

 

I have a new bowl. I couldn't resist it. It's one of those low pasta bowls, perfect for a lot of the types of food I eat. I don't usually buy new things, but it was on clearance, calling to me, and well, here we are. Because I already have another bowl I've designated as a "dinner bowl," I thought I wanted to call this something else. So. Meet "low bowl." (I don't know how long this naming convention will last. I am a bit unsure of myself at the moment, but open to suggestions, if you have any.)

In my new bowl, I have mashed sweet potatoes made with soy milk, non-dairy butter, and a splash of maple syrup garnished with chives, cracked black pepper, and flaky salt. And with that I have French lentils with garlic and thyme (recipe from New York Times) and Swiss chard with apples (from Heal Me Delicious).

This was amazing. I built the meal around the Swiss chard recipe, since chard is in season and I already had some apples. I remembered this lentil recipe being pretty simple and quite good, so I thought that would be the protein source here. And then, given the flavors, I figured sweet potatoes would complement things well. It being too warm for the oven, I just boiled and mashed the sweet potato.

There's pretty much nothing I would change here. I substituted soy sauce for coconut aminos in the chard, which worked fine. I think the balsamic vinegar was the magic that brought it all together--the bitterness of the greens just melted away.

The lentils are, well, lentils, but I love lentils. They're subtly flavored here. All I would change would be to add more carrot--it needed more carrot.

I forget how delicious sweet potatoes are sometimes. But they are delicious. Add some buttery flavors and maple syrup? I could make a whole meal out of that alone! But unfortunately we need more than that to live.