Slow Cooked Lentils and Kale with Rye Onion Caraway Bread

Yesterday we had a fabulous meal, simple, but beautifully cooked.  We had been running all day.  Our last stops were for groceries.  I took the fresh tuna steaks, 1 ¾”, and coated them with basil EVOO, salt and pepper.  Jim grilled them for 8 minutes on high and they were perfect.  I also steamed artichokes.  To round out the meal, I had bought tomatoes at the farmers market.  Yum-mo!

Today was unpacking my office and art area, so I started with a crock pot meal.  I also wanted to determine whether my bread machine worked, so I decided on an all vegetarian meal.  An email from the “A Year of Slow Cooking” lady brought me a Lentil and Kale Super.  Kale is so good for you.  For the bread machine I chose Rye Bread with Onions and Caraway.  There were some complications on the way, but more about that later. 

Lentils and Kale

Ingredients:

2C lentils, rinsed

1 onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (7 oz.) can fire roasted whole chilies (Couldn’t find, used minced Jalapeño)

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

3 C chopped kale (I bought it chopped and added half the bag.  Wish I had filled the Crockpot.)

1 t kosher salt

1 t ground ginger

1 T cumin

3 C chicken or vegetable broth (I had a little over a cup of homemade vegetable broth and finished with Wolfgang Puck chicken stock) 

Directions:

1.      Put the lentils into the slow cooker. 

2.      Add onion, garlic, chilies, and diced tomatoes. 

3.      Add kale and dried spices

4.      Finally pour over the broth. 

5.      Set the cooker for 6 hours on low.  I stirred the mixture a couple of times along the way. 

The lentil dish was delicious, but I would definitely put as much kale as you can fit in your slow cooker.  We definitely have leftovers for tomorrow. 

Rye Bread with Onions and Caraway

Ingredients:

2 C bread flour

¾ C rye flour

½ C onion, chopped

2 T sugar

1 T dry milk

1 ½ t caraway seeds (I use Charnushka or it is sometimes called black caraway.  Better flavor)

1 t salt

1 C water

1 T butter

1 ½ t quick-rising yeast

Instructions:

1.      Not much to it.  Put it all in your bread machine.  Set it for bread and walk away.  However, it is on rise and my electrician (Jim) cuts power to the island where the bread machine is plugged in.  Luckily it was on rise. 

2.      I finished it in a regular loaf pan.  Let rise again after moving it and baked at 375 for 25 minutes.    

This was lighter in texture than I like bread to be.  But it could be due to the interruptions.