Michael Smith, our good old Canadian boy and celebrity chef is getting Canadians focus and bring awareness to lentils.  He is launching a campaign called Discover Lentils and has a fantastic website www.lentils.ca  ,we love what he’s doing and therefore want to get the news spreading faster by sharing it with you.  Why lentils?  First let’s start with showing some Canadian pride, as “being the largest producer and exporter of lentils in the world -67% of the world’s lentils come from Canada.  In 2011, we exported over $870 million in Lentils with India as the biggest importer.”  As Jill and I have talked about eating fresh and local is the way to go, as it provides the most nutrients as well as supports our farmers, which is a huge must! So yay Canadian lentils!

Lentils are huge in the world of vegetarian protein sources but should be consumed by all of us as they are jam packed with nutrients. These tiny little legumes can provide us with our recommended daily fiber intake (keeping our colon clean and healthy!)  As well are great sources of potassium, iron, manganese, and folate.  Lentils are low glycemic (great for diabetics), low in fat (who doesn’t want a flat stomach!) and are naturally gluten-free. 

My mind just wants to go through the list of whys and say check! Check! Check!  The list of whys though have 3 major concerns to still cover – how to cook them? taste? And will it cost me? All these “whys” get a check as lentils have a very mild taste and can easy be put into different recipes.  Michael Smith goes even further than throwing lentils in soups, Indian dishes and rice dishes as he throws them in cookies and biscuits! Genius, he has found ways to sneak lentils into almost everything!  Lastly lentils are cheap, cheap, and cheap! Woo hoo!

We will be posting our favorite recipes once we have tried them all but for the eager beavers out there check out Michael Smith www.lentils.ca and discover lentils.  Don’t forget to let us know what you think of lentils!