Lively Up Yourself Lentil Soup

Confession: I made this lentil soup in the middle of summer.  I’m THAT person.  The one that makes soup during the hottest months of the year.  The good thing – no , the great thing – about lentils is first that 2 cups of dry lentils becomes a week’s worth of meals, and second they are super filling and have the third-highest level of protein by weight, of any plant-based food.

I included the Saffron Yogurt with this recipe, but to be honest, I didn’t like the addition of this to my soup, and I only used it the first time.  I think this would have been really good with a dollop of reduced fat sour cream, some diced green onions/scallions, and a nice piece of crusty bread to dip.

2 Cups green French lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Large onion, chopped
1 tsp fine-grain sea salt
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 Cups water
3 Cups of a kale, rinsed well, deveined, finely chopped

Saffron Yogurt
a pinch of saffron (30-40 threads)
1 Tbsp boiling water
two pinches of salt
1/2C Fat Free Greek Yogurt 

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the lentils, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, make the saffron yogurt by combining the saffron threads and boiling water in a tiny cup. Let the saffron steep for a few minutes. Now stir the saffron along with the liquid into the yogurt. Mix in the salt and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion and salt and saute until tender, a couple minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, lentils, and water and continue cooking for a few more minutes, letting the soup come back up to a simmer. Stir in the chopped greens, and wait another minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning if need be. Ladle into bowls, and serve with a dollop of the saffron yogurt (or the above mentioned sour cream).

Serves 6 to 8. 

(Original Recipe) 

Potato Leek Soup

I have been "off plan" for about three weeks now. There, I said it.  I was up at my last weigh in, which discouraged me, and then I got a cold, which morphed into a raging sinus infection,  I wasn't able to run, or go to the gym, or do anything without choking and sneezing;  all the while trying to convince my nose to stop running.  I drank a gallon of orange juice, and ate home made chicken soup and crackers.  But prior to that I was buying loaves of french bread from the deli and standing in the middle of the kitchen eating them with a glass of iced tea and butter. That was when the scale went up, and no wonder.

And then, I went shopping.  While at the store, I asked the clerk if a size 2 at NY & Co. would be about a size 2 in their pants.  The sales clerk looked frankly at my waist, taking me in, and at length told me that if that what I was at the other store, it should be the same at her store.  Too late.  Obviously, I thought, while she looked me over, I look decidedly bigger than the size 2 pants I went home with, vanity sizing or not. 

Shortly thereafter, I found myself in front of my mirror in nothing but undergarments, looking at myself from a side view wondering why I still looked so fat.  I still feel fat. Almost every day. I'm 5'8, weigh 146 lbs, and have 21% body fat which according to all the charts says I'm falling a mere 1 percentage point shy of being "athletic".  You are your own worst enemy. You can talk yourself into, and out of anything. 

I talked myself into getting back on plan.  I went that day and picked up fresh fruit,and some Amazing Grass Berry Green Super Food to add to my morning smoothies. By the time I'm beach side in Costa Rica in May, I will weigh less than 140.

French bread may no longer be welcome in my home, but that doesn't stop me from cooking up divine meals.  Cooking makes me feel better. Cooking plan friendly meals makes me feel a lot better, and one of my favorite on plan things to cook (and eat!) is soup. 

With the exception of one chicken soup mishap wherein I scorched the base and left the whole pot tasting bitter, and well, scorchy tasting, I haven’t had a miss yet.  Including tonight’s creamy, stick-to-your-ribs potato adventure soup.

2 leeks, cut in half length-wise, rinsed well, and chopped small.

One head of garlic, rinsed well.

2 Tbsp Butter

5 Cups Chicken Stock

2 lbs Russet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/3 C reduced fat sour cream

2-3 Bay leaves

Salt & Pepper to taste

Rinse the head of garlic well. Chop the top third off the head of garlic. Remove all loose paper. Pop out the garlic clove tips from the chopped off third and dice.

Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and add leeks.  Saute about 5 minutes. Add diced garlic, and cook an additional minute.

Add 5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth, bay leaves, salt and head of garlic.  Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer partially covered, for 30 minutes.

Add chopped potatoes. Simmer for an additional 20 minutes ( you may have to bring this back up to a boil and then down to simmer - I did) until potatoes are soft. Remove whole garlic cloves and any garlic paper, add sour cream, stir well, and cook an additional 5 minutes.

With an immersion blender, blend soup until it is a thick and creamy, yet chunky consistency.  Chunks are good. 

I topped my bowl with a dollop more of sour cream and a bit of cheese, but you could add scallions or bacon bits just as well.  Since I'd been cooking for 3 hours between this soup, an apple pie fritter dessert and  Steak, Pepper and Mushroom sandwiches, I wasn't up to chopping the scallions for it.  

Original recipe by Smitten Kitchen, the only tweaking I did was to reduce the butter and the potatoes, and I use reduced fat sour cream. I'm not sure any other adjustments would be fortuitous.

Vegetable and Lentil Soup with Elbows

It’s dark when I get home from work now in the evenings, and it’s cold.  Cold to me.  So it makes me want comfort food.  Maybe my idea of comfort food is different than a lot of peoples, because when people say comfort food, they often talk about butter, sugar, and oil laden foods.  The foods that bring me comfort though are soups and chowders, and stews.  Foods that steam in their bowl . 

It's not going to be long at all before the only thing I want to do when I get home from work is curl up with a steaming mug of hot chocolate and hunker down under a blanket with a good book.

Did you know that Lentils are one of the best vegetable sources of iron?  Considering my being turned away recently from giving blood for having low iron, I wanted to find a natural way to get more iron into my diet, and these things are perfect. Once I figure out how to combine lentils and spinach in the same dish, I'll have my super food.

This is actually an inspired recipe. I wanted to make Lentils, but I had no idea how to use them or what to do with them as I’d never cooked them before.  I’m doubtful I’d ever had them before, honestly. This is a big batch of soup, too, so I’m hoping it freezes well, as that was my intention when I made it.

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 medium Spanish onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 leek, chopped

1 parsnip, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes (with Garlic & Onion)

1 pound lentils

8 cups chicken broth *

4 to 6 fresh thyme sprigs (or 1 tsp dried)

2/3 cup (2 oz) dried elbow pasta 

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, leek, parsnip, and celery and sauté until soft, about 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper and continue to sauté until all the vegetables are tender, about 5 more minutes.

Add the tomatoes with their juices, and simmer until the juices evaporate a little and the tomatoes break down, stirring occasionally, about 8-10 minutes. Add the lentils and mix to coat. Add the broth and stir. Add the thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and simmer on low heat until the lentils are almost tender, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the pasta. Simmer until the pasta is tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle 1-1/2 cups into a bowl and top with Romano Cheese.
Serves 9

*Use more broth if you want yours to be more ”soupy”. I like hearty soups that stick to your ribs, so this one is on the thick side.

Cream of Zucchini Soup

I am a huge fan of creamed soups.  Huge.  In fact, as a kid my favorite thing to eat was a can of Campbell’s Cream of Chicken soup, and please don't stir it too much because I like the lumps.  Granted I’ve come a long way since then, but my tastes haven’t changed so much that I’d forget my roots.  They have changed though, to include a love for Zucchini, both raw and cooked.  It seemed only natural then, that my two favorite things should marry into a creamy, soupy goodness. The name of this soup is kind of misnomer though, because it doesn't actually contain cream.

I topped it with a bit of Parmesan cheese. It would have been really great with some crusty buttered bread, but I finished off my bread with the barley soup a few days earlier. At less than 100 calories a cup, and fat free it really doesn’t get too much better than that. This recipe makes about 7 one-cup servings.

4 cups unpeeled zucchini squash, cut into chunks

4 cups chicken broth

1-2 cups of red potatoes, cut into medium cubes

1 medium onion, quartered

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt, according to your taste

Place all ingredients together in a large pot, cover and bring to a low boil. Continue to cook, covered at a very low boil for 20 minutes, or until soft.

When everything is soft, remove from heat, add sour cream, and blend using an immersion blender.  If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can also place the soup in batches in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.

Chicken and Vegetable Barley Soup

I used to know a guy who ground his teeth so loud in his sleep, that it woke him up, and all his teeth, including his canines, were smooth, and flat on the bottom.  I don’t grind my teeth.  I have perfect little points in all the right places, but I clench, which I guess is almost as bad. Sometimes, when I was younger and would go out partying, I’d wake up the next morning, and my jaws would be so sore I could barely brush my teeth. Because I clench. I also clench when I’m stressed or nervous or irritated. Since I haven’t been trashed in, oh, years, I’m going with stress this time.  

You see, I have this really awful pain in my jaw.  It started about a week ago, and has gotten progressively worse every day, until this morning when I got out of bed and couldn’t even yawn, and enjoy my pre-dawn stretch on the back patio while waiting on the dogs. 

I skipped breakfast, and powered through my lunch, which shouldn’t have been hard to do as it was only a salad, with cubed roast beef in it. It was excruciating though, and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t even really enjoy my salad, and I love my salad.  Seriously, sometimes a really good salad is the best part of my day. This was one of those salads.  

After that I called the dentist and made an appointment.

Due to my predicament, I planned a hearty soup for my dinner: Chicken and Vegetable Barley.  In sticking with my ‘try new things’ spree, this soup had parsnips in it, and if you can believe it, I’d never before eaten barley either. I’ve had it out on my pantry shelf forever meaning to do something with it, but the time was never right.  

I didn’t get to enjoy this soup nearly as much as I could have, because it was chunky with bits of mushrooms and potatoes, and of course chicken, but you better believe I’ll be making this again.  

I’m not sure what the dentist is going to say, but as of right now I can’t even bite down, much less clench.   And seriously, I need to eat.