Mediterranean Lentil Soup

It’s colddddd in Colorado, so I decided to make some soup. Last year it felt like I was making a batch of soup a week, but so far this year that hasn’t been the case. Mostly because we’ve been moving around so much, had family visiting. Just a lot going on. But the other day I remembered I had some dry lentils sitting in my pantry and thought they would be a nice change.

The original plan was to just cook them and add them to different dishes. Or just eat them on their own with a little olive oil and salt (my favorite way to have them). But then I thought, how about soup? A couple of days before I had made a nice vegetable/bone broth and I figured I could use that for my soup.

My fiancé found this awesome recipe, Mediterranean Lentil Soup, and voila, away we went.

This recipe is a nice alternative to the normal run of the mill soup I had been making. It’s nice because it has all the ingredients you would expect, like carrots, onion, and celery, but also spices like cumin, oregano, basil, and thyme, that I had never put in my soup before. And I’m not sure what exactly it does, but the lemon juice finishing touch adds a nice punch to the mix.

If you are looking for something a little more flavorful, than give this one a try.

Something I like to do is turn my vegetable soup into chicken soup by simply shredding some already cooked chicken and layering it over the top. My favorite way to cook chicken these days is in the slow cooker. With a pot full of soup and a container of chicken, chicken soup is as easy as one, two, three.

Ratatouille Stir Fry

Last night I made this stir fry. We had some veggies in the refrigerator that needed to be cooked but I didn’t want to just do the same old thing I normally do, which is either straight sautéed in olive oil and salt, or baked in olive oil and salt. Also, the original plan for the eggplant we bought was to slice it thin, egg wash, bread it, and fry it, but I was feeling like that was going to be too heavy for the night. So, instead I did a search for eggplant, zucchini, pepper recipe, and this is one of the recipes that came up.

Ratatouille Stir-Fry Recipe

I chose this one because I actually had all of the ingredients for it, except for the fresh basil which I wish I had because I know it would have made the dish that much better. But even without it it was really really tasty.

One thing to note, I had to do the eggplant in two batches because when I put it all in at once, half of the pieces were piled on top of other pieces and not getting cooked. So I removed about half, laid the remaining ones flat in the pan, and let them cook. Once cooked I removed them and brought the second half in.

I also didn’t use as much salt as this recipe called for. It felt a little bit excessive so I scaled it back. I rather under salt while cooking and add salt later on my dish.

I paired this recipe with leftover turkey from Christmas that I had frozen. A nice easy dinner for a Sunday night.

Beef Beets Bowl (BBB)

Ground beef, boiled beets and sautéed zucchini, peppers, garlic and onions

Ground Beef.  Bring a pan large enough to fit the meat to med-high heat, add a tbsp of olive oil. Use 1 lbs of 100% grass fed and finished or pasture raised ground beef. In a mixing bowl add the ground beef, 6 pinches of salt, 6 pinches of black pepper, 2 tbsp mustard, 2 tbsp Primal Buffalo Sauce, 1 egg (beat it before adding it), and 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs. Mix it all together.  

Make 4 equal size meatballs using your hands. Add each meatball to the pan individually and flatten until each resembles a hamburger. Cook for 4-5 minutes undisturbed and then flip for another 4-5.

Beets. Buy 3-4 loose organic beets. Remove the skin. Cut them into quarters (1/8s if they’re large). Place in a pot, add water so covered by 1-2 inches of water. Add two pinches of salt. 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 60 minutes. 

Peppers. Bring a pan to medium-high heat. Chop 1 slice of onion, 2 cloves of garlic and 1 jalapeno pepper. Add to the pan with 1 tbsp olive oil and two pinches of salt. Cut out the core of three peppers (red, yellow and orange) and slice into 1/8 inch strips. Toss in a bowl with 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 pinches of salt. Add to the pan once the onion, garlic, jalapeno combination starts to give off an aroma. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes depending on how you like your peppers, flipping every 5 minutes. 

Zucchini. Bring a pan to medium heat. Chop one slice of yellow onion and two cloves of garlic. Add to the pan with 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and two pinches of salt. Chop a zucchini in half down the middle. Then chop the halves in half length wise. Then cut into bite size (1 inch) pieces. Toss in a bowl with 1 tbsp olive oil and two pinches of salt. Once the garlic and onion are fragrant, add the zucchini to the pan. Add a splash of water and cover. Let cook for 3-5 minutes. Uncover and flip, then cover again and let cook for an additional 3-5 minutes (until done). 

Assemble. Chop one ground beef patty into bite size pieces and add it to the dish. Add two quarters of beets chopped into bite size pieces. Add a handful of zucchini. Handful of peppers and onions. Top the dish with two pinches of salt and Ume plum vinegar on the beef. 

Buen Appetito!!