Cast Iron Dahl and Cookies

Cristina and I are going camping next weekend, so we ordered some cast iron cookware for the open flame. I've read that many vegans cook with cast iron, because it allows for some of the iron to leach into the food (plus it doesn't have that worrisome Teflon coating). So I put my newly purchased dutch oven to use to make dahl tonight. It's a simple recipe:

1. Saute 3 garlic cloves and 1 yellow onion in some oil
2. Add about 2.5 cups of veggie stock (low sodium) and 1 cup of red lentils (rinsed well with cold water)
3. Put in various Indian spices to taste: 2 tbsp garam masala, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp corriander, 1/2 tsp turmeric (this is just a guide!)
4. Cover and let simmer (stirring occasionally) until the lentils are fully cooked
5. I added a fresh tomato to mine towards the end, but that's totally optional

If you want to get fancy, you can use an immersion blender to make the soup smooth. That's on my Xmas list, and I didn't feel like adding the "pour the soup into the blender" step, so I didn't do that here:


I served it with some fresh naan bread and it was still fabulous.


I also decided to make chocolate-chocolate chip cookies with walnuts from Veganomicon. This is my first time using vegan chocolate chips, and they taste just the same as the "regular." I think these cookies are really good...very rich and chocolaty. I took some to work, and my coworkers all gave them a thumbs up.