lentils
Good Ole Fashioned Lentil Soup
04/12/10 Filed in: Soup
My favorite by far, lentil soup is the ultimate in comforting warm meals. ( Split pea comes in a close second.) Quick and easy to make, lentil soup is both nutritious and delicious.
Soup is a great way to have a hot meal for lunch or a nice light dinner. If you steer clear of dairy based soups, you will also enjoy a low calorie meal with soup. When I make a pot of soup, I fill several single-serve pyrex dishes for lunches. These will keep in the fridge for a week or easily freeze for several months. I also lke to make soup a day ahead of when I plan to eat it. Much like stews or sauces, the flavors in your soup will mature if you provide some additional time.
Ingredients List:
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic , minced
2 large carrots, sliced
2 cups french or brown lentils
1 cup tomato sauce
1 quart vegetable broth
1 quart water
2 generous teaspoons cumin
1 generous teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic and sautee until the onion begins to become transluscent. Add the carrot and spices and stir in. Sautee an additional 5 minutes. Add the lentils and stir in. Add the tomato sauce and stir in. Pour in the vegetable stock and the water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until lentils are soft and the flavors are well blended. Approximately 45 minutes to an hour.
Living a life of personal balance, moderation, education, and connection.
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Lentil Mushroom Kale Stew
01/14/10 Filed in: Soup
Brrrrr...... It is cold in Florida. And it has been for too long if you ask me! We normally dip into "winter" temperatures for a night, maybe two, but it has been two weeks of layers and jackets. Many of us in Florida have no heat. Why would we? So when the thermostat drops to the 30's, our houses become a balmy 50 F.
My car is now my heat refuge. It has seat warmers (heaven) and I can crank the heater to 80 F and go for a long drive until I am all thawed out. When I was a kid up north, my Mom used to turn the heater down to 65 at night, which I though was cruel and unusual treatment. Imagine waking up to a house in the 50's! Oh yeah, and a house with tile floors, on top of a concrete slab, in the 50's! Need I say more?
In weather like this I yearn for steaming bowls of soup or stew. Today I've made some lentil stew with mushrooms, kale and some apple smoked vegan sausage. Lentils are a great source of tryptophan, folate, dietary fiber, iron, maganese, protein, phosperous, copper, thiamin, and potassium. Not too shabby for this quick and easy legume. Lentils are also an inexpensive food source for those trying to manage a tight food budget.
This is hearty and satisfying for even your most dedicated meat eater. In fat, the brand Field Roast vegan sausage has such great texture that my husband often assumes I bought him some "regular" sausage. Heh Heh! Any sausage flavor can be used in this recipe. Personally, I am a huge fan of anything spicy.
So I started with a cup of chopped carrots, a cup of chopped celery, one onion chopped, and 5-6 cloves of garlic mashed and chopped. Saute this in a little olive oil unitl the onions are clear, about 5 minutes. Remove the sausage from the casings and chop. Add your sausage to the mix and saute until the sausage starts to brown. Add one cup of lentils, either french or brown, to the pot and stir. Add one package of baby bella mushrooms cleaned and chopped. Saute until the water works its way from the mushrooms, about 7 minutes.
Add one bunch of kale that has been rinsed and chopped to the pot and mix in. I used purple kale, but any greens that you have will do the trick. Kale is a great source for vitamins K, A, and C, and, for me, it is all about adding nutrition to the dish.
Add four averaged sized tomatoes, chopped with juice. Add one quart vegetable broth, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, and about 2 additonal cups of water to the pot. Add a few shakes of red pepper flakes and a two generous teaspoons dried thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until the lentils are soft, about 30-40 minutes.
Ideally, stews should be cooked a day before eating to give the flavors time to age and strengthen. Enjoy!
Ingredient List:
5-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup french lentils, uncooked
1 bunch kale
1 package baby bella or button mushrooms, chopped
2 sausages, uncased and chopped or crumbled
4 tomatoes, chopped or 1 can chopped tomatoes
1 quart vegetable juice
2 cups water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 generous teaspoons dried thyme
pinch red pepper flakes
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Living a life of personal balance, moderation, education, and connection.
My car is now my heat refuge. It has seat warmers (heaven) and I can crank the heater to 80 F and go for a long drive until I am all thawed out. When I was a kid up north, my Mom used to turn the heater down to 65 at night, which I though was cruel and unusual treatment. Imagine waking up to a house in the 50's! Oh yeah, and a house with tile floors, on top of a concrete slab, in the 50's! Need I say more?
In weather like this I yearn for steaming bowls of soup or stew. Today I've made some lentil stew with mushrooms, kale and some apple smoked vegan sausage. Lentils are a great source of tryptophan, folate, dietary fiber, iron, maganese, protein, phosperous, copper, thiamin, and potassium. Not too shabby for this quick and easy legume. Lentils are also an inexpensive food source for those trying to manage a tight food budget.
This is hearty and satisfying for even your most dedicated meat eater. In fat, the brand Field Roast vegan sausage has such great texture that my husband often assumes I bought him some "regular" sausage. Heh Heh! Any sausage flavor can be used in this recipe. Personally, I am a huge fan of anything spicy.
So I started with a cup of chopped carrots, a cup of chopped celery, one onion chopped, and 5-6 cloves of garlic mashed and chopped. Saute this in a little olive oil unitl the onions are clear, about 5 minutes. Remove the sausage from the casings and chop. Add your sausage to the mix and saute until the sausage starts to brown. Add one cup of lentils, either french or brown, to the pot and stir. Add one package of baby bella mushrooms cleaned and chopped. Saute until the water works its way from the mushrooms, about 7 minutes.
Add one bunch of kale that has been rinsed and chopped to the pot and mix in. I used purple kale, but any greens that you have will do the trick. Kale is a great source for vitamins K, A, and C, and, for me, it is all about adding nutrition to the dish.
Add four averaged sized tomatoes, chopped with juice. Add one quart vegetable broth, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, and about 2 additonal cups of water to the pot. Add a few shakes of red pepper flakes and a two generous teaspoons dried thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until the lentils are soft, about 30-40 minutes.
Ideally, stews should be cooked a day before eating to give the flavors time to age and strengthen. Enjoy!
Ingredient List:
5-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup french lentils, uncooked
1 bunch kale
1 package baby bella or button mushrooms, chopped
2 sausages, uncased and chopped or crumbled
4 tomatoes, chopped or 1 can chopped tomatoes
1 quart vegetable juice
2 cups water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 generous teaspoons dried thyme
pinch red pepper flakes
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Living a life of personal balance, moderation, education, and connection.
Good Fortune Food
12/29/09
I do not normally follow a lot of ritualized traditions. However, I seem to make exceptions when it comes to food. Taste and smell are very closely connected with our memories. Having good food connected with good memories is a sentimentality that I enjoy.
A few years back, my mother started to cook corned beef and cabbage New Years Day. She claimed it was good luck. So I did some research and learned that there are many foods eaten around the globe that are suppose to bring good fortune over the new year. So why not layer our good luck with a multicultural feast between the last and the first day of each year. That way we cover all bases....just in case.
Greens are a popular good luck food in many cultures. The leaves represent paper money, in part due to their color but also due to their texture. Collards are probably the most popular but any greens will do. Cabbage falls into this same category with the representation being paper money. It is believed that the more greens one eats the greater their fortune that year. Sorry, honey, I know you're cringing right now, but maybe you can make it up in lentils......
Legumes of all varieties represent money in the form of coin. The most mentioned in New Year's lore are black eyed peas and lentils. I love both, how lucky for me!
Pigs or pork is popular around the globe. It represents progress because pigs always root forward. Avoid things that move backwards like lobster. Chickens scratch backwards and should be avoided as well.
Pomegranates are eaten in Turkey and other Mediterranean countries and represent abundance and fertility. Hhmmmm....guess I'll be adding that to my plate.
In many asian countries, eating long noodles without breaking them represents having a long life so add some udon to your soup, or add it as a side this New Years.
Many places in North America, Asia and Europe eat fish for the New Year. Fish swim forward therefore represent progress as in the pigs. They also swim in schools representing abundance.
In Spain and other spanish speaking countries, 12 grapes are eaten at the stroke of midnight, one for each month of the year and for each stroke of the clock. In 1909, this practice was initiated to help alleviate a grape surplus in the Alicante region of Spain. They celebrate the coming of a sweet year.
So what will we eat in our house? We will start off with a lentil and black eyed pea dip. I will make salmon with greens for New Year's Eve and sprinkle them with pomegranate. We will have 12 grapes at midnight with our champaign. On New Years Day, lunch will consist of corned beef and cabbage with a salad made from black eyed peas. So what am I missing? Ah the noodles....maybe a simple miso soup with noodles to end our day with some quiet reflection of what to do with all our good fortune to come in 2010.
Cheers! Wishing you and yours a healthy and prosperous 2010.
Living a life of personal balance, moderation, education, and connection.
A few years back, my mother started to cook corned beef and cabbage New Years Day. She claimed it was good luck. So I did some research and learned that there are many foods eaten around the globe that are suppose to bring good fortune over the new year. So why not layer our good luck with a multicultural feast between the last and the first day of each year. That way we cover all bases....just in case.
Greens are a popular good luck food in many cultures. The leaves represent paper money, in part due to their color but also due to their texture. Collards are probably the most popular but any greens will do. Cabbage falls into this same category with the representation being paper money. It is believed that the more greens one eats the greater their fortune that year. Sorry, honey, I know you're cringing right now, but maybe you can make it up in lentils......
Legumes of all varieties represent money in the form of coin. The most mentioned in New Year's lore are black eyed peas and lentils. I love both, how lucky for me!
Pigs or pork is popular around the globe. It represents progress because pigs always root forward. Avoid things that move backwards like lobster. Chickens scratch backwards and should be avoided as well.
Pomegranates are eaten in Turkey and other Mediterranean countries and represent abundance and fertility. Hhmmmm....guess I'll be adding that to my plate.
In many asian countries, eating long noodles without breaking them represents having a long life so add some udon to your soup, or add it as a side this New Years.
Many places in North America, Asia and Europe eat fish for the New Year. Fish swim forward therefore represent progress as in the pigs. They also swim in schools representing abundance.
In Spain and other spanish speaking countries, 12 grapes are eaten at the stroke of midnight, one for each month of the year and for each stroke of the clock. In 1909, this practice was initiated to help alleviate a grape surplus in the Alicante region of Spain. They celebrate the coming of a sweet year.
So what will we eat in our house? We will start off with a lentil and black eyed pea dip. I will make salmon with greens for New Year's Eve and sprinkle them with pomegranate. We will have 12 grapes at midnight with our champaign. On New Years Day, lunch will consist of corned beef and cabbage with a salad made from black eyed peas. So what am I missing? Ah the noodles....maybe a simple miso soup with noodles to end our day with some quiet reflection of what to do with all our good fortune to come in 2010.
Cheers! Wishing you and yours a healthy and prosperous 2010.
Living a life of personal balance, moderation, education, and connection.