Lentils & Spinach & Eggs Got You Down?

It's week 3 of my experiment with Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Body. All I want is the cheat day every day. But I made a promise to myself that I would stick with it for six weeks, so onward soldiers...I haven't slipped once. The hardest time for me is the day AFTER the cheat day, when I am supposed to be eating pure and I am still in "eat everything and anything" mode from the day before. I found that mid-week, I really want something delicious. None of this bland hardboiled eggs and beans out of the can, but something flavorful so that I don't even feel I am "restricting" myself. At night, I have been trying to make two or three times as much food so that we can have leftovers for breakfast. Last night I made a highly decadent, mostly pure, dinner that is turning out to be a fantastic "get me through til cheat day" breakfast. It was so good, I even forgot to douse it in hot sauce!

Ingredients are all on my staples list, and organic where possible:

Onion, sliced into rings

Fresh Mushrooms, sliced (I used 6)

Canned whole tomatoes

540ml canned lentils, drained & rinsed

Butter! (not sure if this is acceptable, but dammit, I need it!)

Eggs

Frozen spinach

Salt & pepper

Steak seasoning

Balsamic vinegar

Red wine

Dried herbs

Minced garlic (from a jar)

Preparation: In a skillet on med-high, throw in a pat of butter. Once starting to brown, add onion rings. Sauté 5-7min until translucent and starting to brown. Add sliced mushrooms. Keeping heat med-high, as the mushrooms start to wilt and add a few dashes of balsamic. While that's going, in a sauce pot over med heat, warm rinsed lentils. Add 4-5 whole tomatoes from the can and a couple tablespoons of the liquid tomato juice. Break up the tomatoes with a fork. Back to the mushrooms & onion mix. Keep stirring! Add some steak seasoning and pepper. Maybe a dash of sea salt. Not too much if there is salt in your steak seasoning. Add a teaspoon of the garlic. Stir well.

Don't forget to stir the lentils! Now take some of the onions that are browning and add them to your pot of lentils and tomatoes. Add some dried herbs (I used basil, sage, marjoram, whatever was in the spice rack, parsley), a splash of wine, a hearty pat of butter. Stir well and keep heat at a low simmer.

Once the mushrooms are all soft and dark, and the onions are caramelized, toss them into a bowl and set aside. In either the micro or stovetop, prepare the frozen spinach according to the directions. Should only take 4 minutes. Make sure your lentils are on super low at this point. Once the spinach is heated thoroughly, throw it into a wire strainer. Not a colander for spaghetti, mind you, but something with very fine mesh. Toss it about until no mo water seeps through. Set aside. In your skillet, add a hearty pat of butter and crank heat back up to med high.

As the butter starts to brown, crack in as many eggs as you want. I made two (6 grams protein each). Let them fry up undisturbed for 3 minutes. Add a sprinkling of steak seasoning, or whatever you have on hand. Salt and pepper are fine! Once the edges of the eggs are browning and crispy, get your flipper and rinse it. Without drying it, work it under the eggs. This will prevent them from sticking. When the eggs are done how you like (cover the skillet if you like them "over hard"), grab your plate, Serve yourself a heaping portion of the lentils, topped with the fried eggs. Next to that add a spoonful (or the whole lot) of fried mushrooms and onions. Put the drained spinach on the side. Throw a pat of butter on that spinach with salt and fresh ground pepper. Frozen spinach is nasty without butter, I mean, c'mon!

And viola! Not too shabby for beans and eggs and spinach.