Flowfit

Okay.  I’ve talked about easy before, but this soup is easy peasy!  Seriously, you can’t go wrong and it is soooo good.  With all this chilly damp, rainy weather we’ve had lately, this hit the spot nicely.

Carrot and Lentil Soup:

• 1 bag organic carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups (I used 4 palmfulls) red lentils
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, rough chopped
• 1 carton vegetable broth (or 4 cups broth of choice)
• 3 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• Sunflower Kitchen “Zest-Oh Pesto” Cilantro Pesto to garnish
• 4 slices stale country style bread for croutons (optional)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

In your favorite soup pot, saute onions and carrots with a good sprinkling of sea salt and pepper until onions start to turn colour and get soft – about 5 minutes.  Add in garlic, cumin, bay leaf and lentils and saute for another 2minutes.  Add in broth and water.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium low and cook uncovered for about 20-30 minutes.  Basically until carrots are cooked through and lentils are soft enough to squish with a fork against side of pot.

Get out your handy dandy hand held mixer (if using a blender to do this part, make sure you let it cool down a bit first), remove bay leaf and puree entire mixture until smooth.  Thin with water or broth to taste.  I like mine thick, but thin enough to fall off spoon.

Serve topped with garlic croutons and a few dribbles of Cilantro pesto.  Amazingly delicious!

Quick Garlic Croutons:

Simply cut stale bread (italian loaf or french loaf works best) into thick pieces.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with your favorite herb mixture (I used provincial herbs), sea salt and garlic.  Rub into bread.  Broil for about 30-45 seconds per side – watch them, they burn QUICKLY!  Remove from oven let cool for a few minutes and cut into bite sized pieces.  Awesome in salads, soups or just to munch on.

YUM!

Dontcha just love when something works?  I mean, when it works so well, you get to do it over and over again?!

This happened last night while making dinner.  Vegan mac and cheese, baked all hot and bubbly… waitin on my Plan B Box for fresh veggies to make a side salad… but dinner time was fast approaching and the ice had the delivery truck later than normal.  Okay, into the fridge to see what I can find – A yellow carrot, A zucchini and half a red onion.  Didn’t look like much when I put it on my counter.  So, how do you make little ingredients go farther?  Make them little!!

Out came the mandolin…

Match Stick Salad:

• 1 zucchini
• 1 carrot
• red onion

Grate selected veggies on mandolin, toss in some chopped spinach or parsley, add dressing of choice (I used The BEST EVER Lemon Dressing), mix and serve.

YUM!

My kids LOVED this salad.  And BOTH of them say they “hate” zucchini!  Guess they thought it was cucumber?  Shhhhh….. don’t tell them!  They liked it so much infact, I used this very same idea to make them lunch today!

Match Stick Veggie Wraps:

Using your handy dandy mandolin, grate veggies of choice.  I used same as above and added yellow pepper.  Place spinach tortilla on counter, wipe with favorite dressing (I used Caesar), place veggies in row, (add cheese if you want), and roll!  Super easy and super yummy!

Gotta love a two-fer.

Double YUM!

I currently have an over abundance of potatoes and onions.  What do you do with a bunch of potatoes and onions?!  Make Rosti, that’s what!

Traditionally a Swiss farmer’s breakfast and made strictly with potatoes, this dish is now mostly served as a side and can include many other ingredients.  I had carrots and squash on hand and wanted something less starchy than strictly potatoes.  Here is my updated version.  The addition of squash makes it taste a little sweet.  The texture is outstanding!
Vegetable Rosti:

serves 4-6

• 3 red potatoes
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 1/4 buttercup squash
• 1 medium cooking onion
• 2 green onions
• handful fresh finely chopped parsley
• 6 tbsp butter (I used earth balance)
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

before the flip

Grate potatoes and wrap in clean tea towel.  Squeeze to remove excess water.  Leave in towel and grate carrot, squash and onion.  Add to bowl grated potato, carrot, onion, squash and finely chopped parsley and green onion.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well with hands.

Heat saute pan to medium and add 1/2 the butter with a couple hits of olive oil.  When it starts to bubble, add rosti mixture, pressing down with spatula.  Cook for 15 minutes, pressing down every 5 minutes or so.

sliding back into the pan

Once 15 minutes have passed, give the pan a gentle shake to ensure a crust has formed and the rosti has loosened itself from the bottom of pan.  Use a large dinner plate, cover pan, and invert (flip) to remove rosti from pan.  Add remaining butter and more olive oil to pan – again, when it bubbles, gently slide rosti from plate, into pan cooked side UP.  Continue to cook for another 10 minutes.

To serve, cut into pie like slices.  Great on it’s own or served as a side or with a salad.  I like mine with a bit of lemon squeezed on top.

YUM!