I didn’t have any major cravings for meat this week…until yesterday. All I could think about was eating a juicy piece of meat. So naturally I rebelled and resorted to eating crap…meatless crap.  Yesterday’s “meals” consisted of these three food groups: cheese, cornichons, Swedish fish.

I woke up today with a renewed attitude (and grumbling tummy), and managed to make not one, but two delicious meat-free meals to make up for yesterday.

Lunch

Jeanine, a blogger for Belles of the Sound, passed along this recipe for curried sweet potatoes and lentils. I haven’t met a sweet potato I didn’t like and I’ve actually never had lentils (gasp, I know!) so I was extremely excited to give this recipe a try. It was fantastic — hearty and full of flavor! This would be a perfect dish for a chilly autumn night, which is exactly how the weather felt today despite being the unofficial start to summer (Memorial Day weekend).

Curried Sweet Potatoes and Lentils

Serves 4

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 3 medium sweet potatoes (1.5 lbs.), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1/2 cup long-grain white rice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can (14.5 oz) vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat until hot. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Add garlic and curry powder, and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Stir in sweet potatoes, lentils, rice, salt, broth, and 2.5 cups water; heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 30 minutes or until lentils and rice are tender and almost all liquid is absorbed. Let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro to serve.

Dinner

After running a bunch of errands and re-arranging the house, I decided tonight would be a stay-in-and-watch-a-movie kind of night. And what better to go along with such a night than pizza! With some help from Trader Joe’s, I made a delicious semi-homemade pizza with all my favorite toppings: cheese, mushrooms, jalapenos and black olives.

I began by pickling the jalapenos for approx 2 hours in a mixture of distilled white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, water, salt, sugar, onion, garlic and peppercorns.

When it was time to build the pizza, I simply followed the instructions on the fresh pizza dough package (thank you, TJs, for making this Amateur Gourmand-proof ):

• Take dough out of package and let rest for 20 minutes
• Roll dough out on lightly floured surface
• Top with pizza sauce, cheese and desired toppings
• Bake in 450-degree oven until dough is golden and cheese is melted, approx 10 minutes

I didn't take a pic of the entire pie because it came out as an ugly oval

The original plan was to serve a lentil salad alongside (I received a great recipe from Joyce, author of the The Heritage Cook blog). But I totally overcooked the lentils and they fell apart and turned into the ugliest pile of mush. So I said the heck with it and ate the pizza by itself.