My SIL gave us a case of canned lentils and we have no idea what to do with them so Im asking for ideas other than target practice :)

Hmmmm, this is interesting. I have never seen canned lentils; just the bags of dried ones. But maybe this will help.

Lentils are basically like beans; I saute some onions, throw in a pinch of sage, and there you go. Some people combine them with tomatos, and/or a bone. I think they are very bland, and need some extra flavors, but others might disagree..

  The unusal thing here is canned. The best thing about lentils (to me, anyway) is that the dried ones only need to be soaked about 30 minutes, rather than the hours and hours most beans take.

 I would guess that canned lentils are all ready to use, like canned beans (pintos, garbanzos, butterbeans etc) are, vs. dried beans. 

I think I'd find an easy soup recipe and toss them in in place of beans maybe. maybe a chicken broth based one and use these instead of the noodles? sorry...just learning to cook myself and experimenting wtih recipes.(recently discovered that a can of rotel tomatoes can fix just about anything 'diet' LOL!)

Recipezaar.com  Enter cooked lentils in the ingredients search and up come so really good sounding recipes.

 A PS: I have also added celery and garlic to lentils, along with onions and whatever kind of spices strike your fancy. And putting them in a stew or soup also works great.

Epicurious.com is another great web site to plug in a word and get recipes; its recipes are usually pretty creative.

BUT: lentils are really a hearty, warming kind of dish; it's hard to think about eating them when its so hot!!

I dont think Ive ever eaten lentils. I didnt even know what they were. Hmm nothings on the menu this week that I could use them in. Maybe I'll try them as a side dish.

Are they green or red?   I would make some dal with them, but that might be a little complicated. :)

Here's a link with multiple lentil recipes:

http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/bllentils.htm

Umm Im guessing green. Well a greenish brown anyway. Im trying my tweaked version of basic meatloaf tonight or tomorrow so I'll nuke a can and see if we like em.

 Most lentils are greenish-brown, altho you can sometimes find dried ones that are bright green. It's not the most appetizing color.....

  Looking forward to hearing what you thought about them!

Turns out I only read part of the label. Its lentil soup. Its also possibly the grossest thing Ive ever eaten. Definitely getting rid of it.

LOL...well that solves that, then! :)

maybe you could add a can of rotel to t hem! rotel helps almost anything...

I dont think rotel will fix it. Its ...... ..... its just bad.

hoo boy..that's pretty bad!!

I suspect it was probably really bland and really salty....

Salty yes bland no. it tasted like sewage, it was like there were 65 different contrasting flavors competing to smack me all at once. Sorta like they didnt know what to put in it so they threw everything in it.

If you are still looking for what to do with your lentils, there is a great website I use a lot for excess garden produce etc because you can search by ingredients.  (for instance if I had a lot of zucchini I could find recipes for that.  It is; http://www.vegweb.com  and I know I have seen recipes that used canned lentil beans there... I just can't find canned lentils! :)

~gargirl

The lentils are gone. Long gone they were gross and I wont be cooking anything with lentils anytime soon.

Lentils - ICK POO POO!  YUCK!  CA_CA!  What do I use canned lentils for? Trash!  (can you tell I don't like them?)

Lentils are wonderful!  There are many different kinds, red, brown, green, black, etc.  My favorite are the French Green Lentils.   Here's one of my favorite recipes; use the French Green, black or brown lentils, NOT the red. 

Lentil and Rice Salad

1 cup Lentils

1 cup Rice  (white, brown, Jasmine, whatever; just remember to cook brown rice 40 min.)

3 1/2 cup chicken broth, divided use

2 cups chopped fresh parsley

1/2 red pepper, diced  (for color, optional)

1/2 cup small pecan Pieces  

Dressing

1/3 cup  extra virgin olive oil (OR 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and veg. oil to equal 1/3 cup) 

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp of vinegar, or to taste (white, wine, whatever you have)

Juice of one lemon

1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste (1/4 to 1/2 tsp)

To prepare: Sort and wash lentils and rice.  Cook lentils in 2 cups chicken broth for 40 minutes (liquid should be absorbed).  Cook rice in 1 1/2 cups chicken broth for 20 minutes.  Combine cooked lentils and rice with parsley, red pepper and pecans.

Dressing:  Put ingredients in a in a bowl and use a whisk or fork to mix them.  Pour over lentil mixture and stir.  Can be served warm or chilled.  (Makes 7 cups.)

Awww . . . this made me sad.  I just love lentils.  Chris, you really should give them another try some day.  :-)

They are kind of peppery tasting to me, in the recipes that I've used anyway.  I make a great lentil stew, sort of like a vegetable soup with lentils and rice in it.  So yummy.  If I could, I would make a batch and bring some to you with some homemade cornbread, Chris.

I'm copying Linda's Lentil & Rice Salad recipe, but I'm just starting to try to eat vegetarian so I will substitute vegetable broth.  It looks good to me and I love finding new veggie recipes with beans or lentils included.

Cindy