Ginger Carrot Lentil Soup

I'm always on the lookout for good soup recipes, particularly recipes that:

1. Are Vegan
2. Low in Weight Watcher Points
3. Freeze well

With just one Weight Watcher point, this Ginger Carrot Lentil Soup hits all the buttons.  (As a bonus, you get to use an immersion blender.) I found it on a diabetic web site several years ago.  I'm glad I printed it, because it's no longer on the site.  Sad that I can't properly credit the originator.  

Red Lentils can be found at Trader Joe's.  One chunk of ginger, about 3 ounces, is enough for 1/4 cup of ginger.  Peeling and dicing the ginger is about the most time-consuming part of making this soup, but it's worth it (though I suppose you could use jarred ginger).

Ginger Carrot Lentil Soup

2 teaspoons oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup fresh ginger, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

5 cups water

1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup dried red lentils, picked over and rinsed

1/4 teaspoon salt (original called for 1/2 teaspoon)

1/4 cup lime juice

Optional toppings:

Plain low-fat yogurt

fresh cilantro, chopped

lime wedges

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander and cayenne and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the water, carrots, lentils and salt, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the carrots are very tender, about 30-40 minutes. Let the soup cool slightly.

Puree using food processor or blender, in batches, until smooth.

Return the soup to the pot and set over medium heat. (If the soup is too thick, add water ¼ cup at a time to achieve desired consistency.) Cook, stirring often, until hot, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice. Ladle the soup into 6 bowls. Top each serving with 2 tablespoons yogurt, and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges. Serves 6.

A month of breakfasts for $10

Our office is located somewhat off the beaten path.  The nearest place to find food is about 10 minutes away.  So we've been quite spoiled in recent years by a vendor who set up a cafeteria downstairs that was open from early morning through lunch.  In the morning, my coworkers would line up for lattes, hash browns and breakfast burritos.  At lunch for taco salad or other daily special.

Alas, the vendor has left, and we've yet to find a replacement.  Some of my coworkers are looking quite forlorn - and hungry.

I would occasionally indulge in a salad at lunch.  But I realized for what I spent on one salad, I could make an entire week of soups and freeze them.  So the salads had become an occasional treat, at most.  And I would indulge in a coffee once in awhile.  But I could never understand why people couldn't manage to eat breakfast at home.

I'm an oatmeal person.  I find it holds me through the morning better than anything else I can eat for breakfast.  Most mornings, I put a heaping 1/2 cup of regular oatmeal and a cup of water in a casserole, throw in some dried fruit and a little cinnamon, and microwave for 3 minutes.  (Be very careful to have the ratio of water to oatmeal at slightly less than 2:1.  If the water is more than twice the oatmeal, it's prone to overflow.)

I do like steel-cut oatmeal, but it takes more than 3 minutes to prepare.  So I save time by doing it on the weekend, and then freezing for the week in individual containers.  (My mom also has a great recipe to cook it part way the night before, then finish in the morning.  Will share that recipe another time.)

If you have a 3-quart pan and the corresponding double boiler insert (mine is "vintage" Revere Ware), I find this the easiest way to make it.  By buying the Bob's Red Mill Steel-cut Oats at Big Lots, the raisins and freezer containers at Dollar Tree, I spend about $10 for a month of breakfasts.  That's less than three trips through the drive through, or two at Starbucks.

Steel Cut Oatmeal and Raisins
1 1/2 cup steel-cut oatmeal
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
4 1/2 cups water

Put ingredients in double boiler insert in order listed.  Put larger pan on a burner with 2 inches of water and bring to boil.  Meanwhile, put lid on double-boiler pan and bring to boil over another burner.  Simmer, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.  Carefully transfer double boiler pan (use hot pads) into main pan, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and let cook for 30 minutes.

Let cool a bit, then transfer to containers (mine were form Dollar Tree and hold slightly more than 1 cup each).  Put lid on and let cool before freezing.  Makes 6-7 servings, 4-5 Weight Watchers Points Plus each.

Sheryl vs. the Legume, Curried Lentil Soup

As I mentioned in my Earth Day Blog, I've been using a lot of legumes lately.  They are high in nutrients and fiber, low in calories and costs.  However, I have a problem with my lentil soup.  In short, it tastes like dirt.  Some decades-old recipe cards from my friend Liz took me to the USA's Dry Pea and Lentil Commission's recipe for Curried Lentil Soup.

The recipe was a big improvement over ordinary lentil soup.  As my friend Kandy says, lentils need to be highly seasoned.  The curry certainly does that, and I think I might have used more than the recipe calls for. 

Curried Lentil Soup

2 Tbs. canola oil
2 leeks, white part only, or 1 large onion, chopped
1 celery stalk chopped finely
2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ Tbs. curry powder
1 cup dry lentils, rinsed and picked over
5 cups water
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, chopped
2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tsp. salt
1 14 ½ -ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
½ cup plain yogurt or sour cream

Prepare vegetables before starting to cook.  

Heat oil in a large saucepan or soup pot. Add leeks or onion and celery; sauté over medium heat until tender, stirring occasionally, about 5-10 minutes.

Stir in garlic and curry powder and sauté, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add lentils, water, bay leaf, salt, carrots and potatoes.

 
 Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer soup for 30 minutes or until lentils are tender. Stir in tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove bay leaf. Stir about 1 tablespoon sour cream into each bowl of soup at serving time.

Serves 8, with 4 Weight Watchers points plus each.

(Live outside the U.S.?  Recipe conversion suggestions on this post.) 

The Brunch Dilemma

We love it when our daughter and her husband visit from Portland, about a 21/2-hour drive from us.  They love to eat, and I love to cook, so it's always a happy weekend.  My dilemma is how to make a breakfast that lives up to the dinner I served the night before?

I have heard of slow-cooker recipes for egg dishes that are perfect; load the crock up the night before, and in morning everyone is happy.  But the recipes are so good that no one will share them.  So I found one on the internet this Christmas.  I layered the eggs, cheese, hash browns and Christmas ham (keeping it on one side of the slow cooker so that the vegetarian daughter didn't have to pick it out) and went to bed.  Unfortunately, by morning the delicious ham had been leeched of all its salt and the dish was, well, inedible.  I suggested to my husband that he might sneak it into the dog's food, but he had more mercy on our black lab than I had on them.

I turned to a trusted source, the Fix-it-and-Forget-it series of cookbooks. I made this recipe, with minor adaptations from "Fit It and Forget It: 5-Ingredient Favorites."  While this is not an overnight dish, it takes less than three hours from prep to finish.  I put it on before I got on the exercise bike, then turned it down while I got ready for church - driving my husband crazy while he sniffed it cooking. 

Easy Egg and Sausage Puff

1 lb loose sausage (I used chicken)
Olive oil
6 eggs
1 cup all-purpose baking mix (I used gluten-free Bisquick)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups non-fat milk
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Sprig of parsley, snipped with scissors

 Brown sausage in a a small amount of olive oil.  Break up chunks of meat as it cooks.  Drain.

Spray inside of slow-cooker with non-stick cooking spray.  Mix all the ingredients in the slow cooker.

Cover and cook on high for one hour, then lower heat to low and cook for 11/2 hour or until the dish is fully cooked in the center.  

The recipe says it serves six, but it's closer to eight (allowing for my husband to take a double portion!).  For those of you on Weight Watchers, that is 7 Points Plus per serving.  If you use the heart-smart Bisquick, reduced-fat cheese and substitute whites for half the eggs, the points come down to 6.  To get it down to 4, substitute mushrooms, cooked in a tablespoon of olive oil, for the sausage.

I'm still looking for that elusive overnight egg dish, but this will do for now as long as I get before everyone else.  Meanwhile, I'm thinking I'll substitute mushrooms for the sausage for my daughter.  Good thing I have a triple Crockpot - one for the recipe as written, one for the gluten-free version, and one for the vegetarian!

My 2014 Food Resolution

My food-related resolution for 2014 is to try a new recipe, technique and/or piece of equipment every week.  To keep me honest, I'll blog about it here.

Full disclosure:  This is the same resolution I had in 2013, but that got derailed by knee replacement in February.  But I'm optimistic of some cooking adventures ahead.

One of my friends asked if a can-opener counted.  Why yes, my husband bought me a new one for Christmas.  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to work the one he bought a couple years ago which eliminates sharp edges.  I just could never figure out how to get it started.  So I used the new one on New Years Day to make chili, but I won't really count that here.

New can opener on left, confounded one in the back.

For Mother's Day, I got a pressure cooker.  This has cut down the cooking time for roast, beans, soup and a number of other dishes.  My mom and husband gave me several cookbooks for Christmas, so look for more recipes.

Second, we rearranged our kitchen.  Now my triple Crock-pot and Foodsaver are readily accessible.  Look for recipes and techniques based on these invaluable appliances.

And finally, I'm learning to adapt to a variety of food needs and preferences.  I've eaten gluten-free most of the year.  My oldest son and his wife are vegan.  (Did I brag about Stephanie's blog, Trans-planted?)  Although they live in Asia, I keep thinking about how I can adapt recipes for them when they visit.  Another daughter has gone vegetarian, but isn't so strict that I can't use eggs, cheese, and chicken stock.

Here's to a good 2014, and at least 52 new recipes!

Lunch - $2 or less

My office was built in 1995 in a beautiful location south of Seattle. The campus has trees, walking paths, a view of a lake, and occasionally sightings of eagles, herons, ducks, geese, and woodpeckers. The price for that beauty is having nowhere in walking distance for lunch.

Over the years, we've had various vendors in to service a canteen. The current group does a good job, and I don't mind supporting them because it's a ministry teaching job skills. And I love their salads. Problem is, when I put my change in the tip jar, it's $7 for a salad. That works out to $35 a week, which is an expense we can't justify with two weddings coming up.

The solution I've come to is to keep frozen meals on hand. Most weeks, my Safeway store has Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, or its own store brand of healthy meals on sale. These are:

Fast: I just grab one out of the freezer in the morning and cook it for 3-5 minutes at lunchtime.

Frugal: Usually on sale for $2 or less. Wal-Mart often has them for $1.89. Look for coupons. Saves enough you can splurge somewhere else (my favorite is Diet Snapple).

Fit: Some are as few as 5 Weight Watchers Points Plus, but most are 7 or 8. For now, I'm not so concerned about a point or two. As I get closer to goal, I'll write the points on each when I bring them home from the store so I know which to choose in the morning.

Breakfast: Steel-cut oatmeal

My Weight Watchers instructor warns against breakfast ruts, but don't you think it's the one meal that lends itself to routine? I'm a morning person, but still not functioning on all cylinders first thing in the morning for elaborate preparation. Plus who has time?

For several years, my rut was a toasted English muffin, microwaved with an unmeasured slice of Cheddar (or whatever block we had in the fridge) cheese. So any wonder I'm at Weight Watchers now?

Oatmeal is my rut of choice now. Half a cup of regular oatmeal, one cup of water, and a tablespoon or two of raisins (or maybe frozen berries or an apple cut up); microwave for three minutes, and breakfast is ready.

Then my daughter introduced me to steel-cut oatmeal. More filling, more healthy, more interesting to the taste buds. But also more difficult to prepare. It took me a little while to get into a routine.

Fast: There are methods of cooking steel-cut oats in the microwave and crockpot, but my favorite is in the double boiler. I bring 1 1/2 cups of oat and 4-4 1/2 cups of water to boil in the top of a double boiler placed directly on the heat. Meanwhile, bring about an inch of water to boil in a 3-quart saucepan that the boiler fits into. (The amount will vary, according to the capacity of your double boiler. Just use the ratio 3 parts water to 1 part oats.) Cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes. (I use this time to empty or load my dishwasher.) Turn off heat and put over boiling water in the saucepan. Cover and cook for 25 minutes.

You now have enough oats for several servings. At first, I just put the double boiler in the fridge and would serve out of it for several days. But it didn't keep as well, took up valuable refrigerator space, and usually the double boiler hadn't gone through the dishwasher by the time I needed to make the next batch.

So I started freezing it in single serving containers. Small butter tubs are the perfect size. I take one out of the freezer when I get up. By the time I'm done with my morning exercises, it has defrosted enough to easily come out of the tub into a microwave-safe container. Do not microwave in the butter containers. They weren't intended for this use. 2-3 minutes on high should do it. I usually add raisins and a bit of cinnamon when it's done.

Frugal: Finding a regular supply of steel-cut oats has been a challenge. QFC, an upscale supermarket chain in the Northwest, has it, but it can run$5-6 for a can. My Costco had it - once. Haven't seen it since. Fred Meyer, another Northwest grocery chain, also has it, but the best price I've found was at Trader Joe's. Runs about 12 cents a serving.

Fit: 4 Weight Watchers Points Plus per serving, before adding fruit and milk.