Food from Egypt, what's up with me and a new website coming soon!!

I know! It's been a bit since my last post. Okay, who am I kidding? It's been 16 days!!! That's over 2 weeks!!! I'm here, but I have been busy. A lot has been going on recently. I switched jobs and now work with an awesome organic tea company and am going to begin taking clients for nutrition, cooking, and shopping sessions. Which leads me to tell you about my new site you can expect very soon. It will be located here at www.eatingconsciously.com, and will feature the services that I offer, interesting pro-vegan facts, my recipes, and of course, MY BLOG!! So, don't worry, I'll still be here blogging away. I'm still making it look pretty before I put it up. Alright, I'll let you guys take a sneak peak and tell me what you think! Don't forget it's still a work in progress...

In other news, I'm getting ready for the annual Animal Rights Conference 2008 which I'm totally excited about!!!! I'm going for the whole five days. I'll be working a bit with the Vegetarian Resource Group, whom I'm interning with, while I'm down there. I'm taking my MacBook, so I can do some live blogging for you guys and fill you in on the scoop if you can't make it down! Finally, here's a recipe I enjoyed the other night. It's adapted from a recipe from Extending the Table, which a friend bought me from Ten Thousand Villages.

Egyptian Rice and Lentils

Sauce:
1/3 C tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 green pepper (chopped)
2 TBS celery leaves (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red chilies
salt and pepper to taste

Lentils and Rice:
1 TBS olive oil
1 C green lentils
1 C brown rice
5 C water
salt and pepper to taste

Onions:
1 TBS olive oil
1 large onion (sliced)
2 cloves garlic

In a pan, combine all of the sauce ingredients and let simmer on low heat while preparing the rest of the dish. Add oil to another pan and turn heat on medium-high. Add lentils and brown for several minutes, then add water, rice and any salt and pepper. Turn heat to high, bring to a boil, and then turn heat down to medium and cover. Let simmer on medium, covered, for about 40 minutes, or until lentils and rice are soft. While lentils and rice are cooking, heat another pan with some oil and add the onions and garlic. Cook over medium heat until the onions are soft and beginning to brown. To serve, put a scoop of lentils and rice, cover with sauce, and top with onions. Yum!

+This dish is a common street food found in Egypt, known as Koshary. Traditionally, it is also served with macaroni, feel free to add some whole wheat macaroni on the side, especially if you need this dish to feed many people. It may be just simple, "peasant food", but it's very healthy and delicious!