1. Rinse lentils and cook in 1 1/2 cups of veggie stock. (I used a rice cooker for this step.)

2. While the lentils are cooking cut the stems off of the kale. Chop stems into 1/2 - 1 inch peices

3. Chop the red bell pepper.

4. Put pepper and stems in large pan with enough stock to cover the bottom of the pan (1/4"?) and cook on medium for a couple of minutes then turn flame all the way down.

5. While the peppers etc. Are cooking wash and chop mushrooms. Add to pan.

6. Around 20-30 minutes after step 1. (probably 5-10 minutes after end of step 5.) pour the lentils into the pan. If you are using the rice cooker, just shut it off manually - don't wait for it to finish.

7. Add cinnamon and other spices (see note). Stir mixture in pan then add the kale leaves on top - this will steam the leaves, don't mix them in.

8. Cook for another 15 minutes or so until the leaves have a buttery taste.

9. Remove the kale from the top and serve separately.

Have some black pepper available on the table for the lentil stew. Try the kale leaves with some nutritional yeast...

Try oregano, chile passilla, roasted garlic, etc. * Use wild mushrooms if at all possible - they are more expensive than buttons (unless you or friends go mushrooming) but are worth it for the extra taste. (Imho, of course. ;-) * Purple kale - you know, the type they use as a decoration in salad bars... Shared by J. Ari Kornfeld

From Genie F&W Library FFD9403.Txt Recipes from the Fat Free Digest