Coconut Red Lentil Soup

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

* Picture from 101 cookbooks

* Recipe adapted from 101 cookbooks

1 cup yellow split peas


1 cup red split lentils

7 cups / 1.6 liters water


1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice


2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger


2 tablespoons curry powder


2 tablespoons butter 


8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced


1/3 cup golden raisins chopped

156 ml  tomato paste
 (or one mini can)

1 14-ounce can coconut milk


2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt

2 tbsp honey

1 ½ cup cooked quinoa

1 can of diced tomatoes (398 ml)

one small handful cilantro, chopped

cooked brown rice or farro, for serving (optional)

Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse - until they no longer put off murky water. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful though, you don't want to burn the curry powder, just toast it. Set aside. Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add the green onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk, salt, honey, cooked quinoa, and diced tomatoes. Simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like. Or simmer longer for a thicker consistency.

You may enjoy big ladles of this soup over ~1/2 cup of warm farro or brown rice would be good as well. Sprinkle each bowl with cilantro and green onion.

Kabocha Squash French Lentil Soup

Kabocha Squash French Lentil Soup
*Photo from 101 Cookbooks
*Recipe adapted from 101 cookbooks

1 kabocha or buttercup squash 1 1/2 lb

1/2 cup water


1 tablespoon olive oil


2 tsp sea salt
(divided)

1 cup green lentils, rinsed


5 coins ginger, 1/8-inch thick


1 whole star anise


8 cups water


2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste


1/4 cup / 60 ml olive oil


1 yellow onion, medium dice


1 leek, sliced into

1/4 moons


1 fennel bulb, medium dice

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp sugar

Sour cream (optional - topping)

Croutons *see below

Preheat oven to 425F, with the rack in the top third of the oven.

Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Oil and salt the squash and roast cut side down (in a rimmed baking pan) with the 1/2 cup of water poured into the pan. Roast until tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. When cool enough, scoop out cooked squash and set aside.

In the meantime, in a medium saucepan, combine the lentils, ginger, star anise and water. Simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt.

In a large stockpot combine the olive oil, onion, leeks, fennel, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1 tsp salt. Cook covered over low heat until vegetables soften, about 7 - 10 minutes.

Remove the star anise and ginger coins from the lentil sauce pan, then add the lentils, lentil broth and squash to the vegetables in the stock pot. Add 2 tbsp sugar. Stir well and cook for another 15 minutes or so, allowing the flavors to blend. Taste and adjust the seasoning here with more salt / cinnamon/ sugar if needed.

Serve as is, or topped with sour cream and lots of garlicky homemade croutons.*

*For the croutons I simply rip up the remainder of a day-old loaf of bread into tiny shreds, douse it in olive oil, garlic, and a bit of salt, and toast it in the oven until golden and crunchy - set the oven to 375.

Apple and Carrot Shortbread

*Recipe adapted from 101 Cookbooks

*Picture from 101 Cookbooks

You're going to want to use metal (or sharp-edged) cookie cutters here, it will help cut through the shreds of apple/carrot more easily.

1/4 cup  semolina flour 

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt


3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature


2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup grated carrot

1/4 cup grated apple, grated


zest of one lemon

milk

Preheat your oven to 350F degrees. Combine the semolina, flours, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir the carrot, apple, and lemon zest into the flour mixture, and mix until well coated and evenly dispersed.

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until a dough forms, then knead a couple times to bring everything together. Split the dough in two, flatten each piece into an inch-thick patty, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes.

When you're ready to bake the shortbread, roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface ¼ inch thick. Use a metal cutter to stamp out cookies, then place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush lightly with a bit of milk and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown just a bit.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Grilled Pizza - The Dough

Grilled Pizza - The Dough
Recipe and picture found on Sunday Suppers

1- envelope dry yeast
1- cup water – room temperature or warm
1 teaspoon honey
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup fine ground flax meal- corn mean can also be used- I even sometimes substitute semolina flour
3 1/2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons good quality virgin olive oil
3 cups all purpose flour

1- in a large bowl add the water, yeast and honey
2- after all is dissolved slowly stir in the flax meal, whole wheat flour, salt and olive oil
3- slowly stir in the flour until a firm dough has formed
4- remove all contents from bowl and continue to knead on a floured surface until a smooth dough has formed adding additional flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
5- after you have achieved a smooth sough clean of any lumps transfer to a large bowl that has been lightly coated with olive oil. add oil to the top make sure a skin does not form while rising. cover the bowl and let rise for about 2 hours. remove dough and knead again.
6- let the dough rise again for about 30 minutes.

* One batch of dough makes approximately 10 Oz  (2-3 pizza's)

Grilled Pizza- the technique

Grilled Pizza Technique
Recipe and Picture found on Sunday Suppers
 Hold your hand 3-5 inches above the hot part of the fire for a count of 3 before the heat forces you to remove it. Then you know the fire is hot enough to start grilling pizza. A cold grill is not going to work. Then place a 5 oz ball of dough on a well oiled metal sheet pan and stretch it out  with your fingers, using a roller is ok but make sure it doesn’t stick.  Oval shaped almost football like are the easiest shape to achieve. The thickness should be about 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch and even all around. Don’t make a loop around for extra crust as you would a traditional pizza, make the thickness consistent throughout.


When the pizza is about 8-10 inches long you can transfer the dough lifting it on each side with your thumb and pointer fingers and spread it across the hottest part of your grill. Let it cook for about 2-3 minutes or until bubbles appear on the top almost like a pancake,


Using tongs and a spatula flip your pizza over on to the cool part of the grill. Quickly brush the top with olive oil and add toppings as fast as possible. The idea is to get each ingredient on to every part of the pie evenly. Then using the tongs slide the the pizza over to the hot side of the grill. When the cheese is melted and starts to bubble its ready. Slide it off to a wooden cutting board, garnish cut and serve right away. The ideal crust is chewy in the center and crunchy at the same time. Practice makes perfect.

Grilled Pizza - Margarita

Grilled Pizza - Margarita

Recipes and Picture Found on - Sunday Suppers

5 ounces pizza dough- see above recipe
5 ounces Mozarella di Buffalo
Fresh grated Parmigiano- Reggiano
1/3 cup Pizza Sauce- see recipe above
I branch Fresh Basil

* See above post for grilling instructions and dough instructions

Pizza Sauce

2 large cans whole San Marzano tomatoes- about 12

1/4 teaspoon chopped garlic

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste

1- in a medium sauce pan saute the garlic in olive oil until golden brown. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

2- stir in the tomatoes and lower the flame to med. if you have time to chop the tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds if makes for a much sweeter sauce.
3- stir slowly for about 5 minutes then place heat on low and cook covered for about 20 minutes.

4- add salt to taste and set aside off heat for cooling.

Preparation

When you flip your pizza over on the cool side quickly brush with olive oil. Then drizzle over the Parm cheese evenly. Rip the mozzarella into small pieces and squeeze out the excess water, almost like ringing out a sponge. Be careful not to squeeze to hard. After the cheese is evenly spread across the pizza apply the sauce in small dollops around the outside of the pizza. Then add more Parm and a a few splashes if extra virgin oil. Slide off grill and add basil. Eat right away and enjoy!

Gluten Free Muesli

Gluten Free Muesli

* recipe adapted from green kitchen stories and photo by green kitchen stories

Gluten Free Muesli
2 big glass jars

2 cups quinoa flakes
1 cup hemp seeds
1 cup almonds (chopped)
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup walnuts (chopped)
1 cup dried coconut flakes

4 tbsp honey
3 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix the dry ingredients with apple syrup and cinnamon. Spread them out on the baking sheets and let it roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Stir around a couple of times to keep it from getting burnt.

3/4 cup dried dates (chopped)
1 cup  dried apricots (chopped)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup raisins

1 cup puffed buckwheat
1 cup puffed amaranth

While the dry ingredients are in the oven, chop the soft ingredients roughly and put in a large bowl. Let the roasted dry ingredients cool of before stirring it all together.
Store the muesli in large glass jars.