This recipe for Vegetarian Greek Lentil Casserole from Kayln’s Kitchen caught my eye because it had to things: Greek food and lentils.  I love Greek food and as you probably guessed, I love lentils.  This looks to me more like a side dish rather than a main one.  I also decided to add ground turkey to up the protein and add more bulk.  The stats for this one aren’t too bad either.  The only thing to watch out for is the sodium.  It all comes from the feta cheese and the vegetable broth.  It’s still less than 500 mg of sodium per serving, so it’s not too bad if you can handle it.

Here are the original stats:

• 178 Calories
• 7 g Fat
• 25 mg Cholesterol
• 474 mg Sodium
• 485 mg Potassium
• 16 g Carbohydrates
• 11g Protein
• 38% Vitamin A
• 161% Vitamin C
• 6% Calcium
• 5% Iron

The calories are a little low.  Sodium is a little high, but not too bad.  Protein is low.  Vitamin A is low, but the Vitamin C is great!  With a few changes, the macros will work.  I’m also going to make this have meat.  I think in the case of this dish, it will work better.

Here’s what I changed:

• Added one carrot for vitamin A.
• Added one can of pumpkin to replace the tomatoes and add vitamin A.
• Replaced the regular vegetable stock with a low sodium variety.
• Added in a pound of ground turkey for protein.
• Reduced the feta cheese to 1/2 cup to reduce the sodium.
• Increased the lentils to 3 cups.
• Added in 1/2 dry brown rice for carbohydrates

Here is the final recipe.

A Not So Vegetarian Greek Lentil Casserole

Serves 8

• 3 cups brown lentils
• 1/2 cup dry brown rice
• 1 large onion, chopped small
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 cups low-sodium vegetable stock or broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. Greek oregano
• 1 tsp. Greek Seasoning
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey (80/20)
• 1 15oz can of pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese