{IHCC}Food Goals with Heidi

I have never been a big veggie eater.  As a child I ate, and still do, cauliflower and broccoli which was strange for a small child.  Corn of course.  FROZEN peas. But other veggies – no thanks.

Over the years I have learned to eat and love raw spinach, okra, cabbage, squash, and lentils.  In fact lentils are now one of my favorite veggies.

My goal this year – try more and eat more veggies?  This lentil soup from Heidi fit right into that.  And since it’s pretty chilly outside it was the perfect lunch.

Red Lentil Soup

 

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 shallots, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

6 cups good-tasting vegetable stock (or water)
1 1/3 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed
1/2 cup brown rice, picked over and rinsed
as much fine grain sea salt as you need

slivered almonds, toasted black oil cured olives, chopped feta, crumbled for toppings

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, brown onion, shallots, and red pepper flakes in the olive oil .

Add broth,  lentils, and rice and bring to a boil. Simmer  until the rice is very tender.The lentils will “dissolve”. You may need to add more water/broth to get the soup to the consistency that you want.  Salt to taste.

Serve each bowl topped with almonds, olives, feta, and a slight drizzle of olive oil if you like.

I made 1/2 of the recipe (three nice servings).  Even with salt I found it to be a little bland so I added 1 1/2 tsp of curry powder.  That added a really nice flavor and a little heat.  I topped it with yogurt because that is used quite a bit in Indian cuisine.  The yogurt added a little thickening and enhanced the flavor even more. LOVED IT!!  I will definitely make this again.  Definitely!

You can find her recipe at 101 Cookbooks

Want more Heidi.  Visit IHCC for this week’s Food Goals.

 

{IHCC} Hello, Heidi!

This month we said good-bye to Curtis Stone and Hello to Heidi Swanson.  Heidi is a vegetarian chef with several cookbooks with  lots of tasty recipes  as well as her blog with even more.  This will be a fun 6 month!

Besides saying Hello to Heidi I am also saying good morning as the first recipe of hers I used was for …

Coconut Macaroon Pancakes

This is probably the first time I have every made pancakes with so little flour (1/4 cup) and so much coconut (3 cups!) along with 14 oz of coconut milk.  They were nicely sweet without having to use sugar {altho’ Heidi does sprinkle a little brown sugar on the top of the pancakes while cooking}.

These came out a little browner than I would have liked.  I blame it entirely on they griddle having a bad morning.  No matter how much I sprayed the pan they stuck.  And browned!  Lord KNOWS I would never  burn over brown anything!  Brown or not they were tasty.  I drizzled with a little honey and didn’t, and this is unusual for me, use ANY butter on my pancakes.  But then why ruin a good vegan pancake!  These were like eating coconut macaroon cookies.  Who says you cannot eat cookies for Breakfast??

I found the recipe at Heidi’s blog 101 Cookbooks.

For more welcoming recipes from Heidi Swanson visit I Heart Cooking Clubs!

It’s going to be a fun 6 months – especially for someone who is NOT a big veggie fan!