If you have high cholesterol and don’t want to go on medication, beans are your friends. Studies have shown that eating beans a few times weekly can help lower LDL (the blood cholesterol most closely associated with heart disease). Actually, if you want to control your weight and not eat a lot of meat, beans are your friends.
I’ve been experimenting with spice blends over the last few seasons and if you are a fan of flavor but don’t want to purchase lots of expensive spices to mix and experiment with, this might be your flavor hack (shortcut). If you want to try lentils for their health benefits but haven’t liked them so far, this might be your recipe. It’s a snap. Tasty.
I’ve been using Mountain Rose Herb’s spice blends – I particularly like 5 Spice (which gives a Chinese flavor) and West Indies blends. They have nice clean fresh spices (not to mention lots of other goodies if you are herbal-inclined). Warning – their website is an herbal and culinary wonder-emporium…you may spend more time there than you intend.

Deliciously Easy Lentils Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup lentils (I used some lovely black lentils)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 Tbsp spice blend of your choice
• 2-3 cups water

Directions

Pour oil into a medium saucepan over medium heat, and add 1 Tbsp spice and onion. Sauté for 5-6 minutes until onions are translucent. Add lentils, water and remainder of spice.
Cover and simmer for 25-35 minutes, until lentils are desired softness.
Enjoy.