Tonight I am very grateful that I have leftover soup in my freezer. It’s raining and I may be feeling slightly worse for wear after some red wine last night. I would even opt for take-out if it didn’t require me to find a) an umbrella, b) my purse.
My lovely vegetarian friend Megan recently made this Moroccan lentil soup – a recipe we’re both fond of – and it’s also happens to be what’s in my freezer. As my defrosting soup isn’t that photogenic, here’s one she prepared earlier (thanks Megs!):
Megan has pretty bowls
Preparation time: 20 minutes of cooking, then let it cook for an hour and a half.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoon fresh ginger
6 cups water
1 cup red lentils
1 can chick peas, drained
1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
1 can diced tomatoes
½ cup diced carrots
½ cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
Method
In large pot sauté the onions, garlic and ginger in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes.
Add everything else (ten out of ten on the lazy scale!). Bring to a boil for a few minutes then simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or longer, until the lentils are soft.
Serve and enjoy!
Megan says: It was YUM! I added a lot more spice than the recipe said, as well as five cloves of garlic instead of two to keep the idiots from Twilight away. I used a can of borlotti beans instead of chick peas, as I didn’t have any. It all worked awesomely – thanks! I even have enough to feed me, the neighbour & Next Week Megan. I think Next Week Megan will be happy.
Healthy? About 230 calories per serve.
Gluten free: Yep!
Storage: Will last in the fridge for a couple of days and freezes well.
and now for….
Cornbread muffins
You can view cornbread muffins as a separate post to print out here – http://clevermuffin.com/2011/05/15/cornbreadmuffins.
This recipe is awesome as it uses natural yogurt instead of butter, making cornbread on the side a smashingly healthy choice. Yet, they still taste buttery, it’s a baking mystery I tells you!
Ingredients
½ cup flour
½ cup of cornmeal (also known as polenta – found in with the polish food in UK supermarkets and with the pasta in Australian)
1 tablespoon sugar (more or less to taste)
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 egg
¼ whole kernel corn, drained
Method
Preheat oven to 180 C. In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients. Then put everything else in and give it a good stir. Pour in to a sprayed square tray or fill eight muffin cups to about ½ full, as I have.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes, best served warm. When I defrost them to have with leftovers, I often pop them back in to the oven to give them that crustiness again.
Healthy? 80 calories a serve/muffin.
Gluten free: Switch out the flour for your GF flour alternative and these taste exactly the same.
Do: add an optional ¼ cup jalapenos and/or olives – it’s great if you are making it to go with chilli con carne, not so much with Moroccan lentil soup, too many flavours.
Storage: Store in an airtight container or they freeze well. Putting them back in the oven for 10 minutes when serving with leftovers is extra nice.
Soup recipe modified from www.allrecipes.com