Colorful lentils - delicious & nutritious in a 5 bean chili!

Many colors of lentils! A friend of mine purchased a large supply of lentils from an Indian grocery store near the big city. I asked her to grab me some lentils.

I had only eaten the regular, unsplit, brown lentils previously. I was so happy to see these beautiful multi-colored varieties of lentils. Today, they are making a nice addition to my 5 bean chili.

I was surprised when I glanced at the nutrition label... these are loaded with calcium! The tiny white & red lentils pictured have 25% and 30% of the daily recommended intake of calcium. And they taste good to boot... especially in an Indian curry dish, or in this case... a Midwestern beer brat & beef stock-based 5 bean chili with our farm grown onion, garlic, our frozen sweet peppers, and our farm raised & canned tomatoes!

Lentils are a legume, related to peas & beans. Yum!