When I feel under the weather, I pretty much always cook some sort of spicy thing with lentils. Today is no exception.

Abuelita always said that when people are sick it’s a good idea to feed them something spicy, both hot and flavorful, so they can taste their food and want to eat, but also to raise their body temperature a few degrees so they can run a low fever and sweat it out. She claims that cinnamon, nutmeg, and hot peppers do this best.

I’m not much of a recipe person as I just rummage around the refri for ingredients, grab fistfuls and pinches of things, and throw them into pots, but here’s a post of what today’s cooking produced.

Ingredients and preparation

• Grape seed oil
• 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 ripe acorn squash, guts scraped out, peeled, and cut into big chunks
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 2 or 3 big handfuls of frozen yellow and white sweet corn
• dry spices to taste: cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, ginger, mustard, sweet basil, black pepper
• 1 14.5 oz (411g) can of diced tomatoes
• 1 28 oz (794g) can of diced tomatoes
• Enough water to cover what’s in pot
• 2 or 3 cups dry lentils, rinsed
• 2 or 3 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil
• 1 big handful of raisins

What goes in the pot and when

• Put chopped yellow onion with some grape seed oil in pot and cook until soft.
• Throw in the acorn squash and mix until squash starts to turn a brighter orange.
• Add carrots, frozen corn, and spices. Stir until everything starts to steam, soften a bit, and smell delicious.
• Mix in diced tomatoes and add enough water to cover what’s in the pot.
• Add lentils, pumpkin seed oil, and raisins.
• Cover and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until lentils are desired tenderness.