There are 2 points to this post.
The first one being after I’ve been sick I tend to hit the kitchen with a vengeance. I want homemade food so badly I can feel it in my cold bones.
Currently the bread maker is whipping me up some rye bread dough, I’ve got soaked english muffins resting on the counter awaiting their date with the griddle, and water for kombucha warming on the stove. I realize this sounds very similar to the other day when I wrote my post about kombucha. It is because I need some serious good food in my life, and this seems to come out in probiotic drinks and carbohydrates.
The second point is currently my cupboards are bare. It’s February and almost the end of the month, which means that my food budget is gone and the mortgage payment is baring down on me like a freight train. It’s never pretty. At this time of year anything I make is made with stuff I happen to have stashed away in the pantry or freezer. And while there is often very little selection, it does mean that the food is simple and usually deeply satisfying even though I’m dying for a burger. (Every time the money gets tight I just about die from a cheese burger craving. No idea why).
So what do these 2 things have in common?
Soup.
Lentil soup to be exact. Lentils are the best friend of the poor, like me, because they’re healthy and cheap. And also my cold soul needs warming, healthy, satisfying soup served with a chunk of bread.
…..
And there I go with the carbohydrates again.
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Spicy Lentil Soup
You Will Need:
2 tablespoons of butter (or lard or bacon grease or oil)
1 medium yellow onion diced
2 carrots peeled and sliced
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (you can reduce this to 1/2 teaspoon or completely omit it if you aren’t as fond of spicy food as I am.)
1 bay leaf
6 cups of stock (I used chicken)
1 pint of tomatoes – undrained (I used home canned. If buying them you want about 2 cups)
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 cup of lentils picked over and rinsed (very important to pick through the lentils, even though it seems annoying. While picking through mine I found a few pieces of wheat, a stone, and a few odd looking lentils. We don’t want that in the soup)
1 cup thinly shredded cabbage
1 cup diced or thinly sliced zucchini
1 cup green beans chopped into bite sized pieces
Directions:
Melt the butter in a pan and then add carrots and onion.
Cook over medium heat until onions begin to look translucent. About 5 minutes.
Add garlic, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne and stir until fragrant – about 30 seconds.
Add bay leaf, stock, canned tomatoes, salt and pepper, and lentils
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for about 30 minutes.
Add cabbage, zucchini, and green beans. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until cabbage is to your desired softness.
Add more salt or pepper if needed. Remove bay leaf.
Serve and enjoy.
And while you’re at it drink a booch.
Because there isn’t anything more healing than carbs, booch, and lentil soup.
I’d swear by it.
The End.
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