Vegetarian Bolognese for Two
Preparing meals for two isn’t confined to the lifestyles of empty nesters and single parents. 
In our many hours of research, we’ve learned that single friends regularly use their crock pot to cook for two – dinner for the evening and a hot lunch the following day (leftovers once is about as much as anyone can handle.)
Vegetarian Bolognese is a straight up adaptation of a meal kit recipe from Hello Fresh, shared by my friend Rachel yesterday. Rachel told me that when her husband is away traveling for work she orders the vegetarian menus to prepare a healthy dinner for 2 after work. She shares it over 2 nights with her 3 year old daughter.
The vegetarian bolognese recipe includes just 1/3 cup of French green lentils so our tip is to shop the bulk bins in stores such as Whole Foods Market and Mariano’s, where you can weigh exactly the quantity of ingredients you need for a recipe. The cost per pound is lower than the pre packaged lentils.
Until recently my store cupboard was littered with loose grains of rice and stray dried beans which had fallen from their bags so I bought new jars with screw top lids, labelled them with their intended contents and filled them. Once set up in this way, it became much easier to eyeball which jars need refilling and buy from the bulk section.
Waste remains a challenge with our ever changing schedules which is one reason why we are working on our Shop & Store Smart sections of our handy new Cooking For Two Toolkit for the blog. The tips are useful for any sized household but specifically focus on optimizing slow cooking for two people.
In addition this week we’re excited to be joining the Mrs. Green’s family! A fabulous natural grocery store in Winnetka. Our Slow Cooker Spice Blends will be on the shelves very soon.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup / 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 tsp garlic / 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup / 1 small stalk of celery, small diced
- 2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
- 1/2 tsp oregano, dried
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
- 1/3 cup dried green lentils, rinsed and drained
- 1/3 oz dried porcini mushrooms
- 1 x 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup water
- parmesan, shaved
- breadcrumbs
- optional: 1 zucchini spiralized tossed in 1 tsp lemon juice
- in a small bowl mix the olive oil, onion, garlic and celery and heat on high for 1 minute in the microwave
- (Alternatively heat the oil in a small skillet and saute onion, garlic and celery for 2 minutes)
- spoon the onion mixture into the slow cooker
- add the rosemary, oregano, bay leaf, salt, pepper, lentils, porcini, tomatoes, tomato paste and water
- stir, cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours or HIGH for 2 1/2
- serve over whole wheat spaghetti and sprinkle with shaved parmesan and toasted breadcrumbs
- or alternatively to spaghetti serve over spiralized zucchini noodles tossed in lemon juice & sprinkle with lemon zest
Zen: Cooking For Two Toolkit
Roll up slices of bacon and pop into a ziploc bag. This makes them easier to take out of the freezer 1 piece at a time.
