Baked Lentils with Cheese

A simple, tasty recipe. The carrots and onions came out rather firm following these directions, even with a little extra baking, so you may want to adjust the recipe to cook the carrots and onions ahead of time if you prefer them soft.

Note to self: Try browning the onions first next time, as the onion flavor is a little too pronounced for some people.

Broccoli may be a good addition (or substitute for the carrots), though I haven't tried it yet.

Everything after this line was copied from Allrecipes for archival purposes on 2024-12-09, with the addition of a "mise en place" section and the metadata at the end.

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 2/3 cups dry lentils
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 large bay leaf
• 2 large carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Mise en place

• Water, lentils, stewed tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, marjoram, sage, thyme, bay leaf
• Carrots, celery
• Bell pepper
• Cheese

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Mix water, lentils, stewed tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, marjoram, sage, thyme, and bay leaf together in a 3-quart casserole dish.
• Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
• Stir in carrots and celery; cover and continue to bake until lentils and vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes.
• Stir in bell pepper, then sprinkle Cheddar over top. Bake, uncovered, until cheese has melted, about 5 more minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.