Sunny Side Up Nutrition

A cooking, nutrition and family feeding blog to simplify your life

Dinner

15 Minute Lentil Ragout

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When was the last time you packed lunch for your kids? For me, the date was March 15, 2020. Then, last week, when my 13 year old started back to school in-person/hybrid, I went back to packing lunch. I’ve grown used to making lunch at lunch time, or simply setting out items for my kids (ages 13 and 17) to reheat or leaving them to scrounge around the kitchen to put together lunch on their own. It’s going to take awhile to get used to post-pandemic schedules. On my daughter’s second day back to school, I realized a few minutes before she needed to leave that I’d forgotten to pack her lunch! Because I happened to have a batch of my 15 Minute Lentil Ragout and rice on hand, I was able to reheat it and fill a thermos in just a few minutes!

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for simple, new lunch ideas. I thought I’d share the recipe with you, since one of my go-to lunch items is lentils and rice and having a batch on hand saved me last week.

This quick and easy Lentil Ragout has a hint of summery tarragon and a splash of Champagne vinegar to add brightness to the dish. It tastes great over rice or farro. Sometimes, I top it with grated cheese or toasted pecans or a poached egg. The ragout also makes a great side dish for my Mustard Roasted Salmon.

You can see here just how easy it is to make my 15 Minute Lentil Ragout! Don’t want to chop the onion, celery, carrot and garlic? You can buy them pre-chopped at most grocery stores.

Do you feel stressed about packing lunches? Try our simple lunch packing formula:

Simple lunch packing formula

Would you like more tips to de-stress your lunch packing routine? You can purchase our E-book: Your Ultimate Stress-Free Guide to Packing Lunches here.

If you love lentils, you’ll love my Lentil Salad recipe that also uses the Trader Joe’s steamed lentils.

What’s your favorite lentil recipe? 

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15-Minute Lentil Ragout

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This tarragon and Champagne vinegar infused lentil ragout takes only 15 minutes to make. It tastes great paired with rice or farro and it makes a great Thermos lunch.

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 celery stick, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon Red Diamond Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon

1 container of Trader Joe’s steamed lentils

1 1/2 cups water or vegetable or chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon (or a splash) of Champagne vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

  • Peel and dice the carrots, onion and garlic. Dice the celery.
  • Add olive oil to a medium sauce pan. Add the chopped veggies and turn the heat on to medium.
  • Add 1 teaspoon Red Diamond Kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon.
  • Stir the ingredients together and sauté for 5-10 minutes or until the veggies begin to soften just a bit.
  • Add the package of Trader Joe’s steamed lentils to the pan. Break them apart with a spoon. 
  • Add freshly ground pepper.
  • Add 1 1/2 cups water, turn the heat up to medium high and bring to a low boil. Cook for 5 minutes. 
  • Add 1/2 teaspoon of Champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar). 
  • Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Notes

Serve over cooked rice or farro. The lentils are also great topped with grated cheese or your favorite toasted nuts or a poached egg. 

Pasta with Zucchini, Corn and Cilantro

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Pasta with zucchini, corn and cilantro

If you follow us on Instagram and/or Facebook, you may have seen the poll asking if you’d like me to post this recipe for pasta with zucchini, corn and cilantro. The majority voted YES, so I’ve written up the recipe below!

I made this delicious pasta with zucchini, corn and cilantro all summer long. It’s also a nice dish for fall. There’s still time to make it before fresh corn is gone for the season. If you’re looking for a quick pasta dish that’s hearty enough for a main dish and also works well as a side, you’ll want to give this recipe a try. It’s adapted from Alice Waters, Chez Panisse Vegetables.

Pasta with zucchini, corn and cilantro

Kids and teens can be unpredictable

We get it! Kids and teens can be unpredictable about the foods they’ll eat. The first time I made this zucchini recipe over the summer, my 16 year old loved it! She also likes the zucchini cakes (in my previous post) when I coat them in bread crumbs before cooking. There have been other times she hasn’t eaten the zucchini cakes. And my 13 year old hasn’t tried them yet.

One reason I love this recipe is because it offers me another quick and easy way to cook zucchini and the kids another opportunity to try zucchini. It’s also great because selective eaters can easily eat around the zucchini. The most recent time I made this dish, my 16 year old did just that. She said she just wasn’t in the mood for zucchini. My 13 year old only eats the pasta. Of course, that could change at any moment!

Making back-to-school lunches

first day of school picture
First day of VIRTUAL school: 8th and 11th grades

Yet another reason to make this pasta is it reheats well. Since school is back in session, I’m back to planning lunches more strategically. And anything that reheats well is considered a win! This summer, my kids fixed lunch on their own fairly often. With the start of (virtual) school, I feel like I need to bring back some of the structure that comes from having me (the parent) plan and make meals for them. Since they have asynchronous learning on Mondays, I’m going to experiment with them making their own lunches on Mondays and I’ll take care of lunches the rest of the week.

I initially thought I might actually pack their lunches even though school is virtual. I haven’t done that yet, but we’re only just into the third week of school. There’s time to adapt if needed!

If you’re looking for simple lunch ideas and tips to make planning and making lunches easier, you can purchase our Lunch E-Book by clicking here. We also have some previous posts with simple lunch packing tips and ideas:

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Pasta with Zucchini, Corn and Cilantro

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A simple pasta with zucchini, corn and cilantro that hearty enough for a vegetarian main dish and also make an quick side dish. The recipe is adapted from Vegetables by Alice Waters.

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport

Ingredients

4 small or 2 medium zucchini 

3 Tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Pinch of red pepper flake (optional)

4 ears of corn, blanched and cut off the cob

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup water from blanching the corn

¼ cup chopped cilantro (more or less depending on your taste)

½ a lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb fettuccine

Instructions

  • Shuck the corn. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Once the water comes to a boil, cook 3-5 minutes. Remove corn from the water. Leave the pot of water on the stove, because you can cook your pasta in it. You’ll also need 1 cup of the water reserved for the sauce.
  • Once the corn cobs are cool enough to handle, cut the corn off the cobs and set the corn aside until it’s time to add it to the pan.
  • Dice the zucchini. (It also works to shred it if you prefer). Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the diced zucchini and cook for about 5 minutes or until some of it begins to brown. While the zucchini is cooking, peel and chop 2 cloves of garlic.
  • Bring the large pot of reserved water from cooking the corn back to a boil and add the fettuccine. Cook according to package directions. 
  • Add the pinch of red pepper flake, the garlic and the corn to the pan and cook on medium to medium high heat for about another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Chop the cilantro.
  • After 5 minutes, add 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, the chopped cilantro and the 1 cup of the water you used to cook the corn.  
  • Once the fettuccine is cooked, drain it and add it to the pan of zucchini and corn sauce. Toss with the sauce. Squeeze the half lemon and add to the pan. Taste the sauce to see if it needs more salt, pepper or lemon.
  • Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Notes

Using fresh pasta (I buy it from a local Italian store) takes this dish to the next level.