Reese's shmeese's

The last time I went to Trader Joe's for the weekly shopping trip, I had just finished running in yet another cold, driving rain. My kiester hurt and I was hungry. Basically, I was ready to run into somebody at full speed, as De would say. Not two minutes into my appointed rounds, I found my guy. He was walking around with an armload of nothing but fruits and vegetables, trying to impress one of the young TJ's employees by telling her he was on a two-week juice cleanse. Fortunately, I took pity on him after realizing that nothing I could do would inflict any more pain on him than being deprived of real, glorious food for two weeks. So I bought a new Trader Joe's item instead and ate it with extra relish as soon as I got into my car for the ride home:

These Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter Cups have met with mixed reviews, mostly because everyone compares them to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which is Mom's all-time favorite guilty pleasure. Not me. The only thing worse than wasting even mediocre milk chocolate by pairing it with nasty peanut butter is combining chocolate and mint. To think of all those vile tubs of mint chocolate chip ice cream that people are wasting their desert calories on. Anyway, I actually thought this was pretty tasty, and even Mom said it was not bad, if "not quite as good as" her gold standard Reese's. Certainly a lot better than a juice cleanse.

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If you took my advice and started making Rice, Beans, Tofu, and Greens regularly, you now have a container of smoked paprika in your cupboard. Here is something else you can use it for—Mom and I love its smoky flavor in this soup/stew. I've made this twice in the past few weeks, once with a packaged vegetable broth and once with Edward & Sons Low Sodium Not-Chick’n Bouillon Cubes, and it was far superior (and cheaper) with the bouillon cubes, so that will be my preferred method going forward.

Smoky Red Lentil Stew with Greens

Adapted from Power Plates (2018) by Gena Hamshaw and The Full Helping (for the variation)

Time: ~1 hour (with plenty of time to clean up while the stew is cooking)

If you’re using bouillon cubes to make the vegetable broth, use 2 cubes and 5½ cups (1,300 grams) water.

1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary, or ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus a pinch
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons (27 grams) extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium carrots (~115 grams each), peeled
2 celery stalks, ends trimmed (optional)
1 large (~225 grams or more) white or yellow onion, peeled
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large (400 grams or more) sweet or russet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
300 grams (~1¾ cups) red split lentils, picked over and rinsed
4 cups (950 grams) low-sodium vegetable broth (see note)
1½ cups (355 grams) water (see note)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
140 grams (5 ounces; ~3½ cups) greens such as kale, chard, spinach, and/or collard greens, stemmed and chopped

    1. Combine the paprika, rosemary, thyme, ¾ teaspoon salt, and pepper in a small ramekin or prep bowl.
    2. Place the oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Cut the carrot, celery, and onion into medium dice, in that order, adding each of them to the pot as you go. Season with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and translucent but not browned, about 5–7 minutes after the onion goes into the pot.
    3. Stir in the garlic and spice mixture, and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
    4. Stir in the potatoes, red lentils, broth, and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain a steady simmer, until the potatoes are tender and the lentils seem to have melted into the stew, about 20 minutes.
    5. Stir in the lemon juice and the greens. Cover and simmer until the greens have wilted, about 3–5 minutes. Serves 6–8.

Spiced Red Lentil Stew
You can change the flavor profile of the stew significantly just by swapping out the smoked paprika, rosemary, and thyme for 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon. You can make the stew with or without the greens. Because the flavors are more Indian, you can serve the stew with some chopped cilantro and/or a dollop of plain yogurt if you like.