Rain Makes Soup

Fall has fer shure arrived here in Seattle. Brisk, sunny days are followed by buckets of rain.

We visited with some friends who were in town from LA this weekend. They flew in on Friday, which was gorgeous up here. They were greeted with blue skies peppered with white fluffy clouds, temperatures in the high 60's, & a few dots of reds and oranges in the maple trees. We met up with them that evening in a pirate (yes, pirate!) bar. She and I discussed the reality of the rain here in Seattle.

her: I wasn't sure what to bring as far as clothing: rain boots? rain jacket? Gortex?
she glanced down at my grey high heeled Miss Mooz boots.

her: ok, so those are super cute . . . I didn't think something like that would work here in the rain. I've only been here in the summer, when it's gorgeous.

me: well, when it rains here, it mostly drizzles. Sometimes it will downpour or shower for a minute, but it's mostly just drizzle.

flash forward to Saturday.
early morning: drizzle
mid to early morning: showers
11:00am: commence downpour
downpour continues & continues & continues, until . . .
. . . Sunday, around 4:00 pm: downpour tapers off to a light drizzle and a quick sunbreak from 5:00pm to 6:00pm

Sorry, friend. I misled you.
It's really hard to say how the weather is going to go here. It's unpredictable in the fall (ok, and also in the winter, spring and summer for that matter).

The good news is that the rain and drizzle and occasional downpours that keep us stuck inside can really get Seattle-ites to innovate.

It makes me want soup.

Sunday evening, I trolled through the pantry and refrigerator for random ingredients to make a healthy and cozy soup. Our bones need defrosting after 2 days of soccer games in said downpour.

Here's what I found. The soup turned out super yummy and hearty. I even got requests to make it again from all members of the family.

Red Lentil Vegetable Soup

By Suzie

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups chopped carrots

4 medium zucchinis, sliced and then halved

3 cups broccoli

1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 8 oz can tomato paste

2-3 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons “21 season salute” (from Trader Joe’s, or sub no-salt spice mix)

1 t turmeric

1 t oregano

dash red pepper

2 cups dried red lentils

7 cups total liquid (I mixed 3 cups vegetable broth with 4 cups water); *more if needed (see instructions

salt & pepper to taste.

Serve over wild rice

Directions:

1. Heat oil up in large stock pot over med-low heat. Add onions and carrots and sauté until just beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and sauté another 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes, broccoli and all seasonings including garlic (salt and pepper can be added now or at the end of cooking) and stir to coat vegetable mixture with seasonings. Cook together about 1 minute.
2. Add the red lentils, tomato paste and liquids and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft. *Add more water while cooking, ½ cup at a time, if soup looks like it needs more water.
3. add salt & pepper to taste

This is really great served over Lundberg brand wild rice blend. I make the wild rice with a low sodium vegetable broth. Lundberg makes a few types of rice blends that are all fabulous.

I just threw in vegetables that we had sitting around in the fridge. You could try this with different seasonal vegetables. I would definitely suggest that you keep the onion and carrots as your base veggies however.

Black Bean & Pumpkin Dahl

With the start of fall, all my food ideas are leaning toward soups and stews and how I can add pumpkin to them! I adapted a recipe for yellow spilt pea dahl to make it much more fall-ish and pumpkin-ful.

This recipe is vegan and gluten-free. It's also super easy, hearty and super yummy!

Sorry, I didn't take a photo of it.

Tell me if you try it and what you think!

Black Bean & Pumpkin Dahl

by me

Ingredients:

2 cups dried yellow split peas, rinsed and sorted

1- 15 oz can of light coconut milk (about 2 cups)

4 cups water

1 large onion, diced

1-15 oz can of pureed pumpkin

1-15oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 Tablespoons of Garam Masala

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Salt & pepper to taste

Cilantro (optional)

Fresh spinach (opt)

Serve with basmati rice

Directions:

1. Rinse and sort the yellow peas. Cover them with water and soak for 10 minutes
2. While the split peas are soaking, sauté the onions for about 10 minutes or until just starting to become translucent and soft.
3. Add garlic and spices to onions and sauté about 1 minute more, or until the spices become fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Bring water and coconut milk to boil. Add the peas and the pumpkin stir and turn down the heat to low.
5. Stir in the onion & spice mix and cover. Continue cooking on low heat for approximately 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. While the peas are cooking, cook the basmati rice
7. Stir in the black beans and continue cooking for about 5 – 10 minutes, or until the peas are soft.

Serve over rice and add cilantro on top.

Another serving option is to put the rice in the bowl, add fresh spinach, and then top with the dahl. The heat from the dahl will cause the spinach to wilt perfectly.

Serve with basmati rice

saucy recipes

There's a long story behind these recipes...in short, we recently found out through an Ayurvedic naturopath physician that my 13 year old son has pretty severe food allergies to lots of foods we eat. Luckily, his allergic reactions fall into the GI category therefore can be resolved by eating a modified diet.

Basically, he should not have gluten, soy, peanuts, dairy and chicken eggs. In solidarity with my son, I have decided to give up gluten, peanuts, and reduce my intake of processed soy products. As a pescatarian that doesn't eat a lot of fish, soy products have been my go-to protein. I am now trying to use healthy vegetarian protein choices, such as beans, lentils, and quinoa more often. Luckily, my son eats meat, which for a growing 13 year old is very beneficial to him getting enough protein. He is just happy that I can't tell him that he has to eat his tofu!

Over the last two weeks, I have been immersing myself in recipes that we CAN eat. We have re-started our CSA box after a spring hiatus as the doctor said we all should be eating more fruits and veggies. I thought we were doing pretty well, but apparently not quite enough.

One yummy meal we made the other night was based around Vietnamese rice paper wraps, which is perfect for a warm summer evening. We filled them with rice noodles, carrots, cabbage, spinach, basil, cilantro, protein (chicken for the kids and shrimp for the adults), and the following yummy sauces. We used to love Thai influenced peanut sauce, but given that we are not eating peanuts, I modified the sauce using roasted almond butter and it turned out amazing! I also created a delicious coconut ginger curry sauce to drizzle inside the wraps or as a dip.

We all loved this! It will definitely be repeated.

Thai Almond Sauce

(To be used in place of peanut sauce—no peanuts)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce (opt) or 1 teaspoon coconut amino (opt)

1 teaspoon ground coriander

2/3 cup roasted almond butter (no or low salt)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon cooking sherry

2 teaspoons Asian chile sauce (opt)

In a small saucepan, sauté the garlic and ginger in sesame oil over low-medium heat. Add the water, soy sauce or coconut amino (if using either), and coriander and bring to a boil. Add the almond butter and turn the heat to low. Whisk well until the ingredients are smooth and combined. Mix in the maple syrup, vinegar, sherry and chile sauce (if using). Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Makes about 2 cups

Coconut Curry Sauce

1 14 oz can light coconut milk

2 tablespoons red curry paste

1 tablespoon tamarind paste

1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger

In a medium saucepan over low heat, whisk coconut milk and red curry paste until well combined. Whisk in the tamarind paste until combined. Add the minced ginger. Stir occasionally and continue to cook over low heat until reduced by about 1/3. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes about 1 ½ cups

Wonderful over rice or rice noodles & veggies

Recipe: Sloppy Lentils

Vegan Sloppy Joe's
by Suzie

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar or 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 8oz can of tomato paste
7 cups water
2 cups dried lentils, rinsed


In a large 3 quart soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and peppers and saute until soft. Next add the garlic, oregano and salt. Continue sauteing until the garlic is fragrant. Next stir in the rest of the ingredients except the lentils. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil. Add the lentils, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the lentils are soft.


Serve on hamburger buns.
This is really yummy with sour cream or vegan sour cream on the bun with the lentils.

Recipe: Vegetarian Kibbeh

Vegan Pumpkin Kibbeh
with chickpea, pine nut & spinach filling

by Suzie

1 cup dried bulgur wheat
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 onions, chopped
3 tablespoons cinnamon
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt & pepper
1 cup pine nuts
3 cans cooked pureed pumpkin (15 oz ea.)
1 teaspoon paprika
1/3 cup flour
½ teaspoon coriander
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 cans chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained, (15 oz ea.)
2 1/2 cups spinach

Yogurt or soy sour cream & pita bread (optional)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Reconstitute dried bulgur wheat by putting bulgur in a medium bowl and pouring 1 cup boiling water over it, stir and let sit for 30 minutes. This should yield about 2 cups of bulgur wheat. Spray a large casserole dish (13 x 9 or 14 x 10) with canola spray, or slightly grease with oil.

Heat 1 T canola oil in a large pan over medium heat. Sauté the onions until soft. Add 1 T cinnamon, garlic, and salt & pepper and sauté until garlic is fragrant, about one minute. Remove from heat and set aside.

Toast pine nuts in a dry pan over med-high to high heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and golden. Be aware that the nuts quickly go from toasted to burning. Remove nuts from pan as soon as they begin to toast. Place in a dish and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix pumpkin, 2 T cinnamon, paprika, reconstituted bulgur, 1 cup of the onion mix, flour, coriander, maple syrup and 1 teaspoon salt.

Drain and rinse the chick peas. Place in a bowl and slightly mash.

Press half of the pumpkin mixture into the pan. To create the filling, begin by spreading the chick peas over the pumpkin. Secondly, spread the rest of the onion mixture on top of the chick peas. Next, spread the pine nuts over the onions. For the final layer of the filling, spread the spinach over the nuts. Finally, add the rest of the pumpkin mixture over the filling and press into the pan.

Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes, or until the surface looks dry (the inside will be moist.)

Let kibbeh sit about 35 minutes before eating.

Place a dollop of yogurt or soy sour cream on top of individual kibbeh servings, if wanted. Serve with pita bread.