Do you have a menu planned for a Mother's Day meal? If so, do you also have a plan for how you are going to prepare and cook everything so that the meal runs smoothly?

Lentils are great to make a vegetarian Shepherd's Pie.  I think there may even be a recipe on the forum to make one.
I used to make them regularly when my girls were little.
One night a friend baby sat them and gave them regular Shepherd's Pie.
My eldest, when she came home announced they had a nice meal, 
'But Mummy, ..  Ros put meat in the pie.  It tasted a bit strange"   

How adorable

Thanks for all the links Lellyj I did look at a few recipes on here, but a lot of people seem to be familiar with lentils. I was worried there might be something obvious about them that I didn't know

Thanks for another helpful, speedy response uni

You are fast becoming my thermomix forum guardian angel

There is a bag of green lentils sitting in my pantry...

I don't know what to do with them.
I have never cooked with them before.
I have read that you are supposed to soak them, but then not sure what you do after that.
I know that there are different colours, but I'm not sure what the differences are, apart from the obvious.
I'm not sure what flavours go well with them.
I don't even know if I LIKE them.

So, the million dollar question is: what on Earth should I do with this bag of green lentils?

Since having my attention drawn to the old chit chat thread about pie makers ( ) I decided to drag mine out!

Pie maker + leftover chicken + steamed pumpkin + fresh corn + gravy = cheap, easy dinner = Very Happy Amy :-)

And no, the pies were not really the size of UFO's

Quote from: Amy :-) on May 05, 2012, 06:57:38 am

@ andiesenji
That sounds like a great way to get a few meals! Do you have any trouble fitting that much risotto in the TM?

A double batch fits as long as I don't add anything else to the risotto.  After it has cooked, I transfer some to two, three or four smaller containers, depending on my future meal plans, then add the additions, meat, chicken, veg/fruits, etc., to the portion remaining in the TMX, sometimes with water, sauce or ? liquid and continue cooking till everything is hot. 
I don't add raw chicken or meat. 

Thanks for the tips

I suppose we are all just lucky that our wonderful thermomixes can whip up a batch of perfectly steamed rice in 20 minutes, so cooking it fresh is pretty easy anyway

I decided that tonight would be the night I would put my first post on this thread. So its typical that my dinner isn't turning out exactly as planned

I was going to do a slow-cooked chicken and vegie casserole. But I didn't get home until 1:00pm, and by the time I put the shopping away, had lunch, cleaned up from lunch, threw a load of washing in the machine... Fair to say it was getting too late to cook the entire casserole in the slow cooker.

So, my last minute plan B: I have put all my soft vegies in the slow cooker and they are simmering away nicely into mush, which I am then going to puree into a sauce. The vegetable mush sauce will then be served over steamed chicken drumsticks, steamed vegies and pasta.

I'll let you know in a few hours how it turns out.

*Fingers and toes crossed*.