Sprouted Lentil Soup and Bone Marrow March 27, 2008
Kate’s watching Charlie & Lola. When I finish my cup of coffee, I am going to take her for a walk this morning (before breakfast even!) — to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. I’m not even going to change her out her jammies. Who’ll know? 
I decided to make lentil soup for dinner. Last night around 9 pm, I emptied a bag of dried lentils into a bowl and covered them with warm filtered water, a couple of tablespoons of whey, and a teaspoon of sea salt. I covered the bowl with a dish towel and stuck it in the microwave.
The microwave is unplugged. I only use it for my ferments, since it’s a nice warm place. I also put a bowl of soaking oatmeal in there (which we will have for breakfast today).
This morning the lentils had actually sprouted! It makes sense to me that when the bean or seed sprouts, it releases all the nutrition. By soaking, you increase your absorption of the minerals in the beans — from 50-100%!
Here’s a good article on why it’s so important to soak your beans.
I’m going to add a bunch of chicken stock, some ham that I found in the freezer, some onion, garlic, carrots, turnips, and celery. Tonight we’ll have lentil soup with warm sprouted bread (not homemade, unfortunately) and I’m going to roast some marrow bones to spread on the bread with butter.
It only takes about an hour to cook this soup. If you are really busy, a great way to do it is in the crockpot. This way you can do your bone broths every week — and make soups and beans and all kinds of things. You just dump everything into the crockpot in the morning and when you come home from work, dinner is ready!
A crockpot is one of the best investments a busy person can make (just make sure you get one with an enamel bowl — not aluminum or anything like that). I think I got mine for about $35 on sale at Macy’s.
Here’s a crockpot recipe for homemade lentil soup. Just soak and sprout your beans the night before.
We’re watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. It’s such a good show.
“It’s a neighborlly day in this beauty wood. A neighborly day for a beauty. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”
We’re going to go enjoy a walk in our neighborhood now.
When you get a chance, I’d love to know more about this “marrow bone roasting” to spread on bread. What kind of bones? What’s the process?
Thanks!
Sure, I posted about this a while back:
http://cheeseslave.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/marrow-on-a-rainy-night/
It’s easy! I got my marrow bones from North Star Bison:
http://www.northstarbison.com/
I just found your blog and love it. I am collecting crockpots right now. I only have two but am waiting for Christmas to get two more. We eat a lot of beans and I am always making chicken or beef broth in the crockpot as well.
FOUR crockpots? How will you utilize them all?
Awesome, will check out the posts.
Well, I have five children. I use two to make beans in exclusively. I make beans everyday. I am usually cooking a chicken in one or some other meat. And then I have one for whatever else I am making. Feasibly I could have two crockpots a day going.
I homeschool so this has been a huge help in getting us to eat healthier. I put my stuff to soak at night and then fire up the crockpots first thing in the morning.
We have also been making oatmeal in the crockpot lately so thats another one down. LOL.
“Well, I have five children.”
‘Nuff said!
I admire you!
And you are making me want to get a second crock pot. I sometimes make beef stock (usually once every 2-3 weeks) in addition to my chicken stock (which I make at least once a week). The beef stock takes 24-36 hours — so I’ve got a crockpot out of commission during that time!
How do you make oatmeal in the crockpot? I so love my oatmeal with maple syrup, sea salt, butter and cream. MMMM.
yummm we had lentil last night too. the night before i made pho with beef bones and gave amaya the marrow, she loves it. a nice hot soup always makes you feel better.
While it would seem like a good idea to keep ferments in the unplugged microwave, there is actually still residual radiation in there. That is why chefs store their produce in them, the residual radiation kills bacteria and mold that causes spoilage. But you don’t want to kill the good bacteria you are trying to grow. Not to mention irradiate your food, even in trace amounts.
Ann Marie, I forgot to tell you I read on Kerry Ann’s web site that you don’t have to soak lentils. What do you think about that? Of course if you want to sprout them to make more nutritious then if would be a good idea to soak!
Jungleen, where did you read that? I don’t think that is true. Lentils have a high amount of phytates.
In Nourishing Traditions, it says to soak lentils in warm water and whey or lemon juice for 7 hours. It says that rice, buckwheat and millet are lower in phytates and do not absolutely necessitate soaking.
I read it in one of the sample NT menu mailers on her site: cookingTF.com. Its for the Honey Baked Lentils recipe. She says, “Lentils are a flattish, disc-shaped dry bean. They come in a variety of colors, and do not require pre-soaking. On top of the stove, they can cook in as little as 20 minutes, depending on the variety. They are a wonderful, filling addition to soups or stews. Certain varieties, like red, will dissolve in a long cooking time, because their shells have been removed. This works wonderfully to thicken a dish…”
I love the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. I would soak my lentils.