Homemade Lentil Soup with Smoked Bacon (also in vegan version)

We are a family of soup eaters. Even in the summer my kids demand soup. The longest we ever went without was perhaps two weeks. And that was during a heat wave. We have our favorites so it seems to me like I keep making the same couple of soups over and over. 

Well this is one of those that only gets made in the winter, and no matter how big a batch I make it never seems enough.

I have altered this recipe a bit so it can easily be prepared as a vegan dish. The choice is yours.

Lentil Soup with Smoked Bacon

 Prep time 10 min Cooking time 60 min Servings 8

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

2 tblsp. Olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. of Himalayan salt

6 cups of water (if you are cooking with bacon) or 4 cups vegetable broth and 2 cups water or 4 cups of water (you do not want your soup watery!)

6 thick slices (about 0.5 cm or 1/4” thick) of smoked bacon Or 1 cube of organic vegetable stock

1 tsp. marjoram

1 cup of picked, rinsed split lentils (yellow, green, mixed – your choice)

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add onions, carrots and celery. Cook on medium heat for 5-8 minutes until onion is translucent. Stir occasionally. Add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. Add salt and marjoram. Stir. Add water.

Bring to boil. Add lentils. Turn heat down to medium-low. Simmer for 40 min. Cooking times will vary depending on pea size.

Put bacon in the soup about 15 min after the peas.

I like to use mixed lentils

When the soup is ready take the bacon out and slice thinly. Use for garnish.

Anyone else shares the soup love?

Homemade Lemon Curd

I have never made it before now. I have never made lemon meringue pie. I cannot believe it since I absolutely love everything lemon. 

start wit Meyer's Lemons

I first came across recipe for lemon curd a few years ago, on one of my long time favorite blog  Pigtown-Design. 

When I have recently picked up a bag of Meyer’s lemons I immediately thought that they would be great for making some kind of preserve instead of juicing like usual. Meyer’s lemons are sweeter than regular lemons. 

zest and juice them

I quickly looked up Meg’s recipe and here is my first ever, most delicious Lemon Curd. I will use it as a filling for little tattletales. After all, the evenings are long and cold and a cup of tea deserves some company.

and there you have it!

Ingredients

Yield 750 ml of curd

3 tablespoons of lemon zest (you will need about 6 lemons)

¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

11/3 cup of sugar

4 large eggs

1 ¾ sticks of butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

Beat the sugar and butter in a bowl using hand mixer. Add eggs one by one. Mix in between adding the eggs. Add lemon juice and zest. The mixture will look curdled at this point.

Pour it into thick bottomed pan and heat up over low-medium heat stirring occasionally until it becomes smooth. Do not let it boil. Increase heat to medium and cook stirring constantly for about 15 minutes until mixture thickens.

Remove from heat. Strain into jars. One large one in my case. Cover immediately to prevent skin from forming. Curd will thicken further as it cools. Refrigerate for up to a week after opening.

Enjoy!

Corn Decoded

I meant to write about corn for a while but a recent comment from a blogger made me finally do it. The comment was absolutely innocent, simply stating that the author does not eat corn product. That is fine. I personally do not eat a whole lot of it but cannot say that go out of my way to avoid it. However I try to buy Organic corn or products, like chips, made with organically grown corn. The reason is that organically grown corn is GMO Roundup Ready  free. At least it should be. That also means that it does not get heavily sprayed with pesticides.

Source

When I was looking into GMO free corn products I came across research stating that only about 4% of corn is actually of GMO variety. It mostly is types of corn used for oil and feed for farm animals and pets but also being added to various processed foods. Which means that is added to almost anything and there is no escaping GMO corn, unless you cook and bake absolutely everything from scratch, which I do not.

I like the grilled corn in the late summer, tortilla chips and popcorn to snack on and I wonder how much that affects my health. Not every single cob or chip I ate had organic origins and considering the abundance of corn byproducts in everything does it really make sense to go organic route?

Corn is an ingredient in more than 3,000 grocery products according to this website.

The more I read about corn and especially it’s GMO variety the less I knew. Some people claim that corn is not rich in nutrients but when you look at mineral content it has magnesium, selenium, manganese and iron in 25 -50 % range of RDV  I think it is quite good actually. It is also rich in fibre. Mind you, one serving is a cup.

Corn is not rich in protein, carbohydrates and vitamins and has high glycemic index. When a diet is mostly grain based that means that our bodies are deficient in many essential microelements and omega-6 fatty acids. That can lead to health complications like cancer, depression, obesity, allergies, autoimmune diseases such as lupus and arthritis, diabetes or asthma. Also farm animals raised with corn and soy meals (also GMO) are lacking in minerals. Consuming their meat means not getting enough nutrients from that source either. 

Corn is also a host to 22 different types of fungi, some of them give out dangerous, potentially lethal, mycotoxins. You can find a lot of interesting information on both corn and effect it has on corn fed animals, here:

https://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/grass-fed-meat-education/corn-its-whats-bad-you

As to avoiding corn altogether, see to what lengths the author of this post had to go to succeed http://www.commondreams.org/views/2013/07/28/bad-seed-health-risks-genetically-modified-corn

 I will give you a little expert on where she found corn based products:

“Back in 2011, though, I was desperate enough that I was willing to try the diet Mansmann recommended. After all, how hard could it be to give up corn? The answer was: way harder than I imagined. Corn was my Waldo, popping up everywhere: in tea bags, juice, and cheese culture; it lined my “to go” coffee cups and plastic bags of frozen vegetables; it coated my store-bought apples and was on the bottom of restaurant pizza—almost everything my family used, no matter how piously natural and organic, had corn in it. It came under the guise of dozens of names like “xanthan gum,” “natural flavors,” “free-flowing agents,” “vitamin E,” “ascorbic acid,” “citric acid,” and “cellulose,” to name a few. Almost daily, I’d find a new culprit. “Damn, this toothpaste is full of corn!” Then: “Wait, our dish soap is made from corn!” Or: “Oh my God, iodized salt has dextrose in it!”

Not to mention the corn that is fed to animals whose meat and eggs I ate, whose milk I drank. “

There is a lot of conflicting information out there so it is entirely up to us, the consumers to do as much research as possible and draw our own conclusions. I find it quite hard to do, not being a biologist or geneticist or even an MD. Rats!

Photo Source

So I am sticking to organic when possible and will pay more attention to what products are made with corn flour and contain corn derived additives (since they most likely come from GM corn). 

At the end of the day it all comes back to BALANCE. As long as we are aware of what’s on our plates, where it came from and making sure that grains and grain product do not make a base for every meal I think we should be fine.

Even super grains like Chia should not be eaten in large quantities on regular basis.

Non GMO shopping in Canada

http://www.nongmoproject.org/find-non-gmo/search-participating-products/

Non GMO shopping in USA

http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/

Source of information on GMO’s

http://responsibletechnology.org/gmo-education/health-risks/

What are your thoughts on GMO Roundup Ready corn? 

A Slice of Paradise

or I should say a sip.

A few days ago a fellow blogger posted her vacation pictures. Not only did She look amazing but the scenery was breathtaking. For those familiar with Virgin Islands, you know what I am talking about. For the rest of us here is a sample:

When I look out the window, the view is more like this:

So I have decided to bring a feel of a tropical island up north.

Here is my Slice of Paradise Smoothie:

Makes 4 servings,  Prep time 10 min

2 cups of fresh pineapple, cubed

2 cups of frozen bananas

2 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger (to fight colds)

Pinch of turmeric – optional

2 cups of water or coconut water

Blend all the ingredients together. 

This shake is really delicious and refreshing. I hope you will give this recipe a try.

Big thank you goes to Stardust for the inspiration!

5 Late Night Snacks - The Healthy Way.

Are you a late night snacker? I am. Perhaps it is because I am busy all day, than run errands in the evening, leaving little time for eating, that dinner does not seem to fill me up. 
When 9 pm rolls around I usually feel that I need to eat something. It is really way too late to eat, since 3 hours before bedtime we should stop, but if I get too hungry there is no way I can sleep.

What we snack on is important. It is best to avoid foods that are loaded with sugar and carbohydrates. Veggies and fruits digest quickly and are filling, especially when combined with a bit of hummus or almond butter. 

Since kitchen is not a place where I want to spend a lot of time, I came up with a few snacks that I enjoy and are very easy and quick to prepare. I hope you will find the ideas helpful.

Remember to drink a glass of water before eating as it helps us to feel full faster.

Air popped popcorn. Ready in no time.

Hardboiled eggs with chives. I usually have a few hard boiled eggs in the fridge, so they can be easily added to salads or used as a snack.

Guacamole with corn chips. This girl needs her chips! Guacamole takes a bit of work but I am willing to spare a few minutes to make this deliciousness.

Hummus with vegetables. Cut up celery, peppers, carrots, cucumbers for a feast or use single vegetable. It is great either way.

Green apples with almond butter.

All these snacks are great to have anytime of the day so I hope you will incorporate them in your diet. Perhaps it is time to say goodbye to muffins and doughnuts.

Let me know what your favorite, healthy snack is.

Enjoy!

Best of 2015 – My Reading List

Since New Year’s weekend, when I finally had time to relax and do almost nothing, I have been in a slow mode. Cannot put my finger on it, since all the chores are done, dinners are cooked and I seem to have more free time than I did in a long time. I am not complaining! I like it a lot actually.

I have bought an extra bookshelf to house the books that have been piling up against a bedroom wall and in the process of shelving them, I got to revisit some of the good stories I have read last year.

I have always been an avid reader, reading on average one book per week, with my book tastes all over the place. In the last few years I have been reading mostly mysteries, suspense, historical fiction and some chic lit thrown in for a good measure.  There is a bunch of novels that makes it and of course non-fiction books on health etc.

Most of the books I read are from the library (let me tell you, Toronto has the best libraries ever!), are passed on from the fellow readers or I buy them. Often I get asked how I choose the books, and the answer is a) I reach for the authors I know and like and b) I happen upon them.

That means that half the books I get, are a waste of time because are not to my liking. I still read them though.

End of 2015 was the best in terms of the quality of reading material. One book after another was great and worth recommending.

Here is the list of 12 books that I have really enjoyed:

1. January’s hit “As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust“ by Alan Bradley. Cannot wait for the next installment of Flavia de Luce’s antics.

Yours truly with Mr. A.Bradley

2. Blunt Giles “Crime Machine” this Canadian writer brings us closer to fur trading industry in cold northern Ontario.

3. Blake Sarah “The Postmistress” set in England during The Blitz, with US connection.

4. Dedman Bill “Empty Mansions” about elusive heiress to one of the great fortunes of XIX century

5. Archer Jeffrey “Only Time Will Tell” part 1 of 5 of a family saga.

6. Nesbo Jo “The Son” dark and grim but engaging. I would trim it a bit and if you want to be picky some of the characters are not believable. It is fiction after all.

7. Hall A.D “The Coroner” first in the series, female coroner taking over the position in a small town. Trying to close down old cases.

8. Stachniak Eva “Empress of the Night” about Catherine the Great. It is a sequel to “Winter Palace”.

Eva Stachniak talking about creative process.

Yours truly behind camera only, due to a bad hair day.

9. Hawke Ethan “Rules for a Knight” The last letter that a father writes to his children. It is a very small volume that we all should read. Rules for the knight that apply now as much as 500 years ago! Beautiful story.

10. Gowda Shilpi Somaya “Secret Daughter” Story of love, life, motherhood and family relations. The only downside is that I do not want to visit India anymore.

11. Franklin Tom “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter” solving decades old mystery in Mississippi.

12. Weir Andy “The Martian” I have not seen the movie and I do not think I will. Movies are usually loosely based on the books and I liked this one too much to have the vision ruined. Perhaps I am wrong. Will revisit the issue in a few months when book not so fresh in my mind.

Bonus: I reread “Bridget Jones Diary” after watching both movies at Christmas.

What was you favorite book?

My Favorite Winter Comfort Food – Shepherd's Pie

We have been blessed with unusually warm weather so far. It is only a matter of time before the cold snap arrives and what is better way to manage than make some great food.

I love all kinds of stews and creamed soups but my absolute favorite of late is Shepherd's Pie made with sweet potatoes. This dish is full of flavour packed with fibre and can easily be made in meatless version as well.

Shepherd's Pie
Prep time 20 min., Cook time 20 min.,  Serves 6

Here is what you will need:               

   

2 large sweet potatoes or more

3 tablespoons of butter

2 heaping tablespoons of shredded parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

1-1.5 lbs. (500-700 g) minced beef, lamb or any meat that you like (I mix beef with turkey)

1 cup of fresh or frozen green peas, canned would work too

1 large carrot, shredded (optional)

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 table spoon of olive oil

Peel and cube potatoes. Cook till soft in salted water. Drain water. Mash adding butter and parmesan.  Salt and pepper to taste. Cover to keep warm.

Heat oil in the frying pan. Add meat, stir breaking it down into smaller pieces until it starts to get brown. Add thyme, rosemary and garlic. Stir and let cook for a minute. Add a ¼ cup of water or a beef stock if mixture gets too dry. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, peas, carrots and onions. Keep stirring.

Pre heat oven to 400F (205C). Spoon meat sauce into ovenproof casserole dish. Even out. Spoon potatoes on top. Make sure it is evenly spread. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 20 min. till potatoes are slightly golden.

Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes.

Enjoy.

What is your favorite winter dish?