Spinachy Tomato-y Legumes.

So far in life I haven't been much of a soup person. I love crunch and texture and soup always just seemed soggy and pointless to me. Occasionally I would indulge in a tomato soup or an onion soup. Back in the day when I wasn't as lactose intolerant I would go for cream of broccoli or cream of mushroom. But normally, I never really used to make or order soup.

Until today! This weekend my mom made a lovely bean soup (I need to get the recipe from her sometime) and I took it to work for lunch earlier today. Fabulous. Not heavy, but filling. After work I quickly googled a soup recipe that showed just as much tomato potential and this is what I chose:

Spinach, Tomato and Lentil Soup
I found it here!
Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

1lb dried lentils
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 carrots, diced
2-3 celery stalks, diced
1 large onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cans diced Italian tomatoes, with liquid
2 TB vegetable or chicken bouillion (I like the Better than Bouillon brand, if you don’t have bouillon, just use a vegetable or chicken broth in place of all or some water for flavor)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
8 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 bag fresh spinach
fresh grated Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil, for serving

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add vegetables, garlic, bouillon, spices and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Saute vegetables in oil for about 7-10 minutes until soft and fragrant. Add diced tomatoes, water (or broth), and lentils to vegetable mixture.

Bring soup to a slow boil for a few minutes, then back down to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for about 20-25 minutes, until soup starts to thicken. Taste for seasoning as its cooking, add more water if it gets too thick.

In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add fresh spinach leaves to soup and gently stir to combine.

Garlicky Dahl - Venturing Into the World of Legumes

NEXT-DAY UPDATE: HOLY CRAP THAT WAS GARLICKY and a tad too salty for me. Too make it more to my taste, I mixed in the following sundried tomato pesto recipe to the lentils (I didn't use the garlic and salt because the lentils had enough already):

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
Makes ¾ of a cup – serving = 1 tablespoon
(Recipe taken from here.)

Ingredients:

½ cup of sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained of their oil
¼ cup of sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons of water
2 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon of kosher salt

Directions:

Put everything the food processor and puree until the paste is smooth. Store the unused portion in the refrigerator until needed.

Hopefully tomorrow's lunch is better! Now on to the original post:

It's been awhile!!

A lot has happened. One of the big things? I stopped eating meat. I've been looking at more vegan substitutes (I'm also lactose intolerant to a significant extent), and it's been an adventure. Pros: I feel good. Lighter! Cons: It's more challenging to eat out socially, but I find people are so nice about it anyway :)

Another pro: BEANS ARE CHEAP!!! Here's a recipe I followed to make a batch of my work lunch for the week. I didn't use frozen or chopped spinach.. I just tossed some spinach leaves in instead. It's because I will be mixing each lunchtime portion with a bowl of fresh spinach anyway (my work lunches are taking up more and more space). I also just used extra virgin olive oil instead of the recipe suggestion - just because I already have the olive oil handy. I also used pre-made mild madras curry paste as my spice.

Delicious Garlicky Dahl
(Recipe taken from this site.)

This super-quick curry is an easy and tasty way to eat a pile of lentils, and gets you extra garlic intake too. Quantity serves one, but is easy to scale up as needed.

* 200g jar of pre-cooked lentils
* 1 tablespoon of sunflower or macadamia oil
* 3 cloves of chopped garlic, or a heaped teaspoonful of chopped frozen garlic
* heaped teaspoonful of good curry powder or garam masala
* generous handful of spinach leaves, roughly chopped.

Heat the garlic, oil, and spices in a heavy-bottomed pan, over a low heat. You want to gently brown and cook the garlic, not burn it, as that will make it bitter. The spices need to cook for several minutes in the sizzling oil, until a delicious curry smell pervades your kitchen...mmm!
Tip in the lentils, including the water in the jar, and stir thoroughly into the spicy garlicky oil. cook for 5 minutes on a medium heat - using pre-cooked lentils means they really don't need long at all, you just need to make sure the flavors are well combined and everything is sizzling throughout. If you prefer your lentils softer, just cook a little longer, adding a dash more liquid if required.
A minute or two before serving, stir in the spinach. It will wilt down quickly, and your dahl will now be streaked with dark green.
Serve immediately, it's a great meal on it's own, or combine with Beautiful Curried Eggs. You can also easily serve this with rice to non-slow-carbers, it makes a great dinner party meal, and if there is a green salad on the table as well you will neither go hungry nor stand out.