Lentils, Kale, and an Egg

                     

In an attempt to eat better and less meat, I made the above dinner. It turned out great! My husband loved it! My 5 year old boy did not but I knew that was a possibility. 

The lentils are from Alton Brown. I googled "lentil soup recipe" and his recipe on FoodNetwork popped up. To find the kale recipe, I googled "fried egg over kale" and Poor Girl Eats Well was the number one hit. I had to alter the recipes just a little because I didn't have all of the ingredients.

Lentil Soup

Yields 6-8 servings

Total prep and cook time 1 hour 20 minutes

2 tbs coconut oil (that's what I had in my cupboard. Alton's recipe called for olive oil.)

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 tsp salt

3 ounces tomato paste

1 pound lentils, rinsed

2 quarts veggie or chicken stock

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp 21 seasoning salute from Trader Joe's (Alton's recipe called for 1/2 tsp grains of paradise and 1/2 tsp coriander, neither of which I had in my pantry.)

Heat your oil over medium high in your big pot with a lid (I used a dutch oven) and add onion, carrot, celery, and salt. When the veggies are translucent roughly 8 min later, add the tomato paste.  Brown the heck out of that tomato paste for lots of flavor. It's ok if it gets stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the stock a little at a time while stirring and bringing up the tomato paste and veggies that are caramelized to the bottom of the pot. After the stock has been added, pour in the lentils and seasoning. Bring the soup to a boil and reduce to a simmer over low heat. Cover the pot and walk away for about 45 minutes. The lentils should be tender. 

Garlicky Kale

1 tbs coconut oil

2 tsp minced garlic

2 cups of kale

salt

Over medium high heat, melt the coconut oil and then add garlic. Stir the garlic quickly and then add the kale. Saute till the kale is wilted, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with salt. 

Once the kale is ready, make your egg however you'd like. I prefer mine over easy. Now it's time to assemble your dish. Ladle the lentils in the bowl, top with garlicky kale, and add your egg. Time to eat! Enjoy!

Review: Rimmel London Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara

I was sent complimentary products in the Rose VoxBox for review purposes from Influenster. If you'd like to test products and join a cool community, you can request an invitation here. Or if you know me in real life, I can send you an invitation.

My favorite item in the Rose VoxBox was the Rimmel London Scandaleyes Retro Glam mascara. It was smooth, rich in color, and had a dramatic effect on my lashes. It lengthened them and made them very full. Another huge perk is the price, $5.99. 

My only critisms are that it doesn't curl my lashes and separate as well as my regular mascara (Yes They're Real by Benefit Cosmetics $23.) 

When applying this mascara, I recommend curling your lashes first. After dipping the wand in the container, run the brush along the top of the container to remove any excess product. Apply only two coats, you won't need anymore than that. You risk some major clumping should you attempt that third coat. Hello, 5 extra thick eyelashes. You know what I mean.

Update: When I tried to use the mascara a third time, the mascara was very thick and did not apply smoothly. I tossed it. 

Below are photos of me BEFORE with no mascara and then AFTER with Rimmel mascara. In the last photo, you can see what a big difference it makes to the overall look. 

Sublime Tavern

You guys! This is my first post where a restaurant invited me to a complimentary tasting! Let me reassure you that all opinions are my own.

The owner of Sublime Tavern, James said that he studied with a French chef to perfect his menu. You'll see, as I experienced, that the food at Sublime Tavern is elevated because of the attention to detail. And to top it all off, this is a family-friendly environment. You can bring your kids. Awesome! They've also got some great spaces for private parties. The patio is enclosed and overlooks the polo fields in Del Mar. It's great!

Ok now, on to my photos and how delicious everything was and how impressed I was with the staff. I brought my 5 year old son and mother-in-law with me for a second and third opinion!

Sublime Tavern offers a large selection of craft beers from the local favorites Ballast Point Sculpin IPA to Stone selections, Societe beers, and many many others. If you're a beer lover, you'll be happy. I tried something new, Rip Current Vanilla Storm. Wow! It was dark and tasted like vanilla coffee. I really enjoyed it. Thanks to my server for the recommendation. She also recommended a wine my mother-in-law liked.

an imperial stout with coffee and vanilla

We all enjoyed our food. Sublime Tavern put out a buffet of truffle fries, mac n' cheese, chicken fingers, and pizza for the children.  My son gobbled it all up. He told me the pizza was his favorite ... he is, after all, a pizza connoisseur.

We were served four courses and each course consisted of two items. The first course was homemade focaccia sticks and Belgian style truffle fries. Both were perfectly crispy and all together addictive. I had to control how much I ate because I knew three more courses were coming. 

homemade focaccia sticks

truffle fries

The second course consisted of salads, a wild arugula salad and a spinach salad.  My mother in law was ranting and raving about the spinach, declaring it was her new favorite. When the server came to clear the salads, she made sure she took another heaping serving. I think the minted sherry vinaigrette made it rather special and unique. The arugula salad was well balanced. The arugula was bitter and the bleu cheese was creamy and tangy, while the pears were nice and sweet. The crunch of the toasted almonds complimented it nicely.

bartlett pears, bleu cheese crumbles, toasted walnuts, blueberry pomegranate vinaigrette 

baby organic spinach, warm goat cheese, fuji apples, crispy bacon, toasted almonds, minted sherry vinaigrette

Next they brought out Get Figgy With It Pizza and Ecstacy Mac n' Cheese. The pizza was a perfect combination of salty, sweet, and bitter. The mac n' cheese was incredibly decadent. I did have another little scoop of the mac because it was that good. Comfort food, my friends, comfort food. I've been looking at the menu online and saw that they offer many varieties of mac n' cheese.  There's one called Rapture Mac n' Cheese and it's got pulled pork and caramelized onion and parsley.  I gotta go back! 

figs, prosciutto, balsamic glaze, olive oil, and garlic base

gorgonzola bechamel, applewood smoked bacon, mushrooms, roasted red pepper, garlic thyme 

Last came two entrees, braised boneless beef short ribs over mashed potatoes and their vegan coastal bounty. The short ribs were falling apart tender and nicely seasoned. The potatoes were a perfect consistency. Now, I was really impressed with the vegan coastal bounty. The lemongrass coconut sauce was so so good flavorful.

braised boneless beef short rib, caramelized shallot whipped potatoes, bleu cheese crusted green beans, red wine reduction

corn and ginger with quinoa, lemongrass coconut sauce, wild mushroom and mixed beets

I'm already planning when I'm coming back and who I'm bringing with me. I'm thinking I'll be meeting some friends here with my son and my husband and I'll also be meeting some girlfriends to have a beer and that vegan coastal bounty. They're going to love it. You're going to love it too. Enjoy!