Chili and a salad

My book for this month is Whole Foods for the Whole Family, a (obviously) family-oriented book from La Leche League. Quick things; not fancy things; feed a lot of people without going broke things. 

I made a salad. Romaine lettuce, cut-up orange, bits of red onion, dressing made with orange juice. It was fine, but I tend to like more "stuff" in my salads. It reminded me that oranges are delicious, so that was excellent. 

The next recipe was for lentil chili. Cook ground beef (or tofu) with onions and garlic, add canned tomatoes and tomato paste, some chili powder and other spices, lentils. I used a can of lentils because that's what I had, but you can add dry lentils and there should be enough liquid with the tomatoes to cook them up. We had it over rice. I like that sort of stuff but the family reaction was pretty meh. 

I know there are some excellent recipes in this book, but maybe the two go-to ones I know are really the only stunners. More investigation needed; please stand by!

My Dotted Rays is done and lovely! A multicoloured, stash-busting extravaganza. 

I love the early Stephen West patterns like this. It is a garter-stitch shawl with just a bit of oddness. Very clever and not at all fussy. 

It is not huge, but just snugs around the neck nicely, with little bits of colour popping here and there.