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I got an immersion blender for Christmas so I'm always excited when recipes like this come my way and I find a new excuse to use it! It's quickly becoming one of my favourite kitchen gadgets!
I loved all the flavours in this soup - it was almost a little smoky. It's full of great low-fat protein from all the beans and lentils and the veggies and spices add all their own health benefits.
This is a really easy, low-maintenance dinner. Other than all the chopping and the occasional stir, this stuff cooks itself! Great for rainy weekends (because we have so many of those in San Diego!)
I wouldn't really suggest this for a weeknight dinner because it has to simmer for so long. You could make it one night and let it simmer while you cook/eat something else. Store it in the fridge and then re-heat it the next day. That would make it suitable for a busy weeknight since all the work is done! Just pair it with a crisp green salad and some crusty bread (or toast if you always seem to forget to pick up crusty bread for soup nights!)
This will make a lot - I'd say 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
1 cup dried lentils
2/3 cup dried chickpeas (aka: garbanzo beans) or 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup dried navy beans (or other white beans) or 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
4 medium-sized fresh tomatoes, chopped (include the seeds) or 1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes (include the juice)
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups white wine
1 1/2 tsp. garam masala (I make my own - see the note below)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2-1 cup button mushrooms, sliced (however many you like)
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (couple tablespoons)
Method:
1. First things first, you'll need to soak the beans if you're using dried ones. There is a quick-soak method that I got from the Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites Cookbook down below in the "My Changes" section. Otherwise, soak the beans overnight. Once soaked, just drain them and give them a quick rinse before adding them to the rest of the ingredients.
2a. If you have a crockpot, you can dump everything except the lemon juice in and set it on low to cook for 8-10 hours. Something about leaving something with heat on all day while I'm at work scares me so I refuse to buy a crock pot! Besides, I think of them as tools for roasting chickens and it's not like I'll be doing that anytime soon. ;) Hmmm... I will admit, I miss a good roasted chicken... not enough to go back to eating meat, though.
2b. If you don't have a crockpot, dump everything except the lemon juice in a Dutch oven and cook it on the stove-top. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn down to very low heat and let it all simmer for 3-4 hours. Stir occasionally.
3. Once it's done simmering, stir in the lemon juice. I let mine sit on the hot burner (turned off) for a couple minutes after adding the juice.
4. Just before you serve the soup, use an immersion blender to blend it all up. If you prefer, you can pour the soup in a regular blender or food processor and pulse. Probably best to do it a little at a time if you go that route. Oh, and be sure to put a towel over the top so you don't scald yourself with hot soup steam. Ouch!
Reference:
This was posted a while back by one of the ladies on the Nest cooking board (thank you!) There are a couple other sources for it, though. This one from the blog A Year of CrockPotting and this version from AllRecipes (cited on the Year of CrockPotting blog).
My Changes:
I made a few!
First, I'm not the proud owner of a crock pot so I just made this on the stove in my Le Creuset.
Ingredient changes:
*I used dried beans instead of canned. I just quick-soaked them by bringing the dried beans to a boil and then letting them sit in the hot water (off the heat) for one hour. They'll cook the rest of the way while the soup simmers.
*I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned.
*Rather than using all veggie broth, I halved the amount and then used white wine to make up the total amount.
*I added some mushrooms and lemon juice, just because. :)
*I'd really like to try this with a dollop of Greek yogurt next time. Of course, that will make it non-vegan...
*I make my own form of garam masala by mixing the following together:
4 tbsp. cumin (or coriander seeds if you happen to have those)
1 tbsp. curry powder (or cumin seeds)
1 tbsp. freshly-ground black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp. dried ginger
3/4 tsp. cloves or allspice
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. crushed bay leaves
3/4 tsp. cardamom
I modified this recipe to get the garam masala version that I use. It makes a ton but you can store it in an air-tight container.
Yum... what a wonderful low-fat dessert! You will not believe how creamy the sauce is even though I used fat-free milk. :)
Plan at least 5 hours ahead for this!
2 servings
Ingredients:
1/4 cup blanched almonds
1 cup fat-free milk
1/8 cup sugar
3/4 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. amaretto
1/8 cup fresh organic raspberries
1/8 cup fresh organic blueberries
1/4 cup fresh organic strawberries
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Roast the almonds on a baking sheet for 15 minutes until they become light brown. Allow them to cool and then pulse them in a food processor or coffee grinder until they are finely ground.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the ground almonds, 3/4 cup milk, and sugar. Stirring every minute or two, bring this mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat. Remove from the heat, cover, and let the almonds steep for 1 hour.
3. Strain the mixture over a glass bowl through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing down on the almonds to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids left in the sieve.
4. Bring the almond-milk mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low. Dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining 1/4 cup milk. Gradually stir the cornstarch-milk mixture into the simmering liquid. Simmer, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens. Add 1/2 tbsp. amaretto and stir.
5. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a glass bowl. Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard to keep a skin from forming. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
**The custard can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated.**
6. Marinate the berries in the remaining amaretto for at least 2 hours. Just before serving, beat the custard with a wire whisk. Pour the custard over the berries.
Reference:
From The Occasional Vegetarian (Original recipe title was "Mixed Berries with Almond Cream). The only change I made was to use strawberries in place of blackberries. You can make this with whatever berries you have on hand.
This was really good soup - and easy to make since I cheated and used canned black beans despite the recipe specifically stating "not canned." lol ;) Well, when you're hungry, you don't want to wait, right?
The soup starts out with what is known as a sofrito - a mixed vegetable soup base. It's time consuming but easy and well worth the effort.
Leave the hot sauce out to make this gluten-free ~ I'm really not sure if hot pepper sauce is GF or not...
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Sofrito
1/2 tbsp. olive oil (superfood!)
1/2 small onion, chopped (superfood!)
1 celery stalk, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped (superfood!)
4 green onions, finely chopped (superfood!)
Soup
1 cup reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (superfood!)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. hot sauce
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/6 cup medium-dry sherry
Method:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat for 30 seconds. Reduce the heat to low. Add the onion, celery, garlic, and green onions. Saute slowly, stirring occasionally, until the moisture evaporates and the veggies begin to turn golden, about 30 minutes.
2. Add the stock, beans, ground pepper, hot sauce, cumin, oregano, and thyme. Simmer about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Puree 1/3 of the soup mixture in a blender or food processor and return the pureed soup to the pot.
4. Add the sherry and cook an additional 5 minutes.
Reference:
From Karen Lee's The Occasional Vegetarian.
My change, other than the canned beans, was to use green onions in place of shallots. Everything else remained the same. Oh, I also omitted water and cut the amount of broth since I wasn't using dry beans.
I had this with a stuffed tomato for dinner last night. It was so yummy - great source of low-fat protein! I think the only thing that would have improved the meal would have been a green veggie of some sort (bit hard to remember these things when you're trying to make this along with a steak for your carnivore hubby! ;)
Quick note on the lack of photos lately.. I have been taking them and they are stored on my digital camera. However, I am having technical difficulties! My desktop computer is completely kaput - the motherboard died on it and since it's an old computer I won't be able to fix it... :(
My USB cable from my digital camera (also old!) also decided to quit on me so I'm having to take the memory card out of the camera and stick it in the slot on the front of my printer. I have hooked the printer up to my work (PC) laptop but I'm not sure if I can still stick the memory card in the printer and have the photos transfer to the computer (this worked beautifully on my desktop PC)... since I'm on spring break from work this week I'll have a go at it and see if I can get some photos back on here! Hopefully they turned out OK.. bit hard to tell since the little screen on the back of my camera is teeny (and the thing has pretty crappy resolution anyway!)
Aye! Technology is not my friend!
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 green onion, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. flour
1/8 cup white wine
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp. chopped pine nuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cooked cannellini or other white beans
Optional (I omitted it since I didn't have any) - 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Method:
1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, saute the green onion in olive oil over medium heat until they begin to colour. Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
2. Add the flour; stir and cook 1 minute more. Add the wine, broth, pine nuts, parsley, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens. If you are using the cilantro, add it now.
3. Process the sauce in either a blender or food processor.
**You can make the sauce up to this point several hours ahead. Refrigerate until you are ready to use it.**
4. Return the sauce to the saucepan and add the beans. Cook just until the beans are heated through, 2-3 minutes. Serve warm.
Reference:
From Karen Lee's The Occasional Vegetarian (yes, I really like this book! I do think it's time to invest in some new vegetarian cookbooks, though! Broaden my horizons a bit).
This is a great little "salad" or garnish to serve alongside anything spicy - the combination of the yogurt and cucumber has a great cooling effect.
This makes 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
2 cups plain nonfat or lowfat yogurt
2 tbsp. nonfat sour cream
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 tomato, seeded and diced
2 tbsp. diced red onion
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
Method:
Combine the yogurt, sour cream, cucumber, tomato, onion, lemon juice, salt, and cumin in a bowl. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
**This can be prepared up to 1 day ahead - keep refrigerated.**
Reference:
From Karen Lee's book The Occasional Vegetarian. The only change I made was to omit 1/4 cup of diced red bell pepper.
Like the baked beans below, this recipe came from the October 2007 issue of Cooking Light. These were great! They freeze well (up to 1 month) so I made a whole batch and have been serving them with different things over the last few weeks. If you freeze them, heat them through in the microwave/a warm oven - they taste even better warm! Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (the sharper the cheese, the better the flavour!)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/4 cup chopped onion (subbed for the original recipe's green onions)
1 (8 3/4 ounce) can cream-style corn
Dash of hot sauce
1 large egg, beaten
Cooking spray
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lightly spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next four ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl. Combine cheese and remaining ingredients (except cooking spray) in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add the cheese mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened.
3. Coat the muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly among the cups of the muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in cups 2 minutes on wire rack; remove from pan. The recipe says to let them cool completely but they are so yummy served warm!
Reference:
The original recipe can be found in the October 2007 issue of Cooking Light magazine. Corn Bread Bites.
As much as I love it, I am always a bit weary of Mac and Cheese recipes. It seems any time I've tried to make it in the past, it has come out quite bland... I'm not a fan of bland food! I just found this one so I decided to try it - wow! It has totally changed my mind about making mac and cheese! Not bland at all - it actually has quite a nice kick to it. Definitely one to make again in the future.
This recipe uses soy milk. However, if you have a soy allergy, you can sub regular milk (use the same amounts). I was a bit curious to see if hubby would notice it wasn't made with "real" milk, but you can't tell! He actually went back for seconds - a HUGE second helping so that's a good sign!
One of the great things about this recipe is that it can be made ahead - you can make the casserole without cooking it and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days. So, you could make it on Sunday then come home from work on Monday and all you have to do is throw it in the oven! Gotta love recipes like that!
This will serve 6 (I made the whole thing even though it's just the two of us - we can finish it off for lunch today. Hubby is a big guy - he'll eat it all!)
Ingredients:
8 oz. elbow macaroni or cavatappi pasta
2 cups plain soy milk
1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese - I used 1 cup of sharp cheddar and 1 cup of this pre-shredded Mexican cheese mix (cheddar, queso quesadilla, Monterey jack, and asadero)
1 4-oz can of chopped green chiles
1/2 cup chopped onions (you can use green, white, or red onions or a combo - I used mostly red with some white onion)
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs (I used panko)
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. olive oil
Method:
1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water (lightly salted) for 4-5 minutes or until it is barely tender. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool slightly. Place the pasta in a large bowl.
2. If you are not making this ahead, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of the soymilk and the flour until smooth.
3. Heat the remaining 1 3/4 cups of soymilk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles form around the outside edge. Add the flour mixture and cook 2-3 minutes or until the sauce bubbles and thickens, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat.
4. Add the cheese to the milk mixture and stir until melted. Stir in the chiles, onions, cilantro, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and a couple shakes of red pepper flakes. Pour this mixture over the pasta and stir well to mix. Place the pasta mixture in the prepared baking dish.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, paprika, oil, and a little red pepper flakes. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the pasta. The casserole can be made up to this point and then kept in the fridge for up to 2 days.
6. Bake, uncovered, for 35-45 minutes (35 was perfect in my oven) or until bubbly and golden brown.
Reference:
I found this recipe in the August/September 2001 issue of Cooking Pleasures Magazine. I really didn't change much - just used different cheese and added some red pepper flakes.
