Lemony Lentils and Potatoes

The weather here has been oscillating between sunny, blue skies with the heat lapping at your toes like eager little puppies and ominous, overbearing clouds punctuated by angry outbursts of rain. Which also means my food planning is a little out of whack, swinging from extremes of cool salads of greens, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, pecans and cheese to hearty hot dishes like lentils and potatoes. Here's the rainy side of the menu...

Lemony Lentils and Potatoes (Extra Vegan-Za)
1 c. green lentils
2 c. water
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt 

Bring water, oil, salt to a boil and stir in the lentils. Cover and simmer on low for 45 minutes until the lentils are done. Check at about 30-40min to make sure the pan is not burning dry. In retrospect I would have stopped cooking them at the al dente stage so there was less tendency to fall apart in stage 2 of cooking.

4 c. chopped red potatoes
water and salt to boil in

Bring water and salt to a boil. Cook the potatoes for 15-20 min until just tender. I transferred mine to cold water to try and stop them from cooking further.

1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp garam masala (alternately 1 tsp garam masala and 1 tsp curry powder)
1 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp fresh ginger (grated or minced)
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
parsley, chopped, a goodly handful
salt to taste (~1/2 tsp?)

Heat canola oil on medium-high til hot. Saute onion until tender and translucent. Add in garlic, ginger, and spices. Saute 2-3 minutes more. Stir in potatoes and lentils. Add lemon juice and parsley and mix in gently. Serve over rice. Delicious! The lemon juice/parsley/curry spice combo is delightfully light on the taste buds.

Extra note: I cooked both the lentils and potatoes the day before and diced up the onion/stored it in the fridge. This made it much faster to prepare as a dinner meal in a limited amount of time.