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!

Yesterday at Healthy Snack we served broccoli, cauliflower and carrot sticks along with cheese wiggles (new white cheese curd-like thingies) and crackers.  The grades JK to 5 loved all aspects of the snack, however, the six, sevens and grade eights dissed ALL the veggies.  Really!! This is the second week in a row our fresh veggie offerings have been met with harrumphs and grumbles….I have no idea what has changed!  Hopefully this is only a temporary set back.  Perhaps it is time to survey these grades… ask them what has changed?

Sigh…

Thankfully none of the food goes to waste.  We do pass any leftovers to the Halton Women’s Shelter, who are always happy to receive our produce.

Speaking of waste… I really do not like to see food going to waste.  I am one of those people who thinks of starving children every time I throw food in the recycle bin.  I can still hear my mother repeating over and over again….”do you know how many starving children there are in this world that would give their right arm for that food?!!”

Ah-hem

In keeping with that thought, I couldn’t throw out the broccoli stems left from the lovely flowerettes cut for the children’s snack now could I?  Nope.  I bagged em up, brought em home and made soup!  And Broccoli Stem Soup was born!  YUM!

Broccoli Stem Soup:

• broccoli stems, peeled and rough chopped
• onion
• celery (I used celery root)
• potato
• garlic
• broth
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

No measurements here.  Into heated heavy bottom pot add olive oil, onion and celery.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Add broccoli and potato.  Cover whole lot with enough broth so that nearly all veggies are submerged.

Bring to boil, stir and reduce heat to medium low.  Cover and cook for 45 miinutes or until all veggies are soft.  Remove from heat and puree (I use a hand blender but you can use your blender if you prefer – if using blender you must let it cool further).

That’s it!  Ladle it up, add salt and pepper to taste, serve with fresh bread, pitas or croutons and side salad.  Dinner is served!  And nothing went to waste )

YUM!

This week was my first fall share with Plan B for 2010.  As I’ve mentioned before, I love the fall shares!  Wednesdays have become our favorite day of the week… waiting for the truck to arrive, dragging in the box and finally, opening up our box of goodies and eyeing for the first time what we will have to create with!  The not knowing what will be waiting inside is half the fun!  Every Wednesday, I have no plans for dinner.  I patiently wait and get my inspriation from the goodies found inside our home delivered box of fresh organic produce.

I needed something quick and easy for dinner before going out to a friends house for the evening.  Opening the fridge I saw I still had some veggies begging to leave this world before they shrivelled up.  I think they’d be happy going out this way ;o)

Autumn Soup

• 2 leeks, white parts only
• 2 carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups chopped potatoes
• 1 cup chopped butternut squash (or whatever squash you have on hand)
• 1 zucchini
• 2 cups napa cabbage or chinese lettuce
• handful fresh “living broccoli” (from this weeks delivery – didn’t you just love em?!) – Can substitute fresh parsley
• juice of half lemon
• shot of sherry (optional)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cups broth of choice (chicken, vegetable)
• 1/2 cooked chicken breast (optional)
• pinch of powdered sage
• sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

To prepare leeks, chop off green end and root end.  Cut in half diagonally.  Rinse well under running water to remove any dirt. Slice halves into 1/2 inch pieces.

Heat large soup pot on med/high.  Add olive oil, followed by leeks, carrots, celery, squash, sage and garlic and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook stirring frequently for about 10 minutes.  Do not brown – you want to sweat the veggies.  Add the broth, potatoes, lemon juice and sherry.  Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through.  Taste as you go and add more salt if needed (it’ll depend on the broth you used).

Once potatoes are cooked through, remove soup from heat and add zucchini and Napa cabbage – stir and cover (also add cooked shredded chicken at this point if using).  Let sit for 5 minutes and serve!

Add fresh broccoli sprouts and a sprinkling of salt and pepper to serve.  Goodness in a bowl.

YUM!

Monday night football anyone?  Not that I’d serve this up at a Superbowl party, but it sure does make a great quick and energy packed dinner for an 8 year old football player!  And all in about 10 minutes – swear!

Clean Green Asian Soup:

• 1 medium sized head of broccoli
• 1 large head bok choy
• 2 green onions
• large handful baby spinach
• large handful fresh cilantro, rough chopped
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 cloves grated garlic
• 1 mushroom bullion (or broth or bullion of choice)
• 4 cups boiling water
• 1 package rice noodles (mine had four separate “cakes” of noodles in package – we used one for 4 of us)
• 1-2 tbsp good quality soy sauce (I use Shoyu)
• 1 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• black sesame seeds for garnish

Into a heated wok or large saute pan, add oils, garlic and ginger, stir.  Add washed and chopped bok choy and broccoli – should still be a little wet, the extra water will help steam veggies.  Keep wok hot and stir continually for 2 minutes.  Meanwhile, add 2 cups boiling water to boullion in separate bowl, stir to combine.  Add the remaining boiling water to a bowl with noodles.  Cover with plate and set aside – will be cooked through in 3-4 minutes.  Add soy sauce, green onions, cilantro, spinach and boullion to wok.  Bring to boil.  As soon as it reaches the boil, remove from heat.

To serve – add noodles to bowl.  Top with broth and vegetables, sprinkle with sesame seeds.

YUM!

We like ours topped with some Li Ju An Dipping Sauce sauce!

This soup is wonderful in the summer when zucchini are fresh from the garden, but it is also a great soup to warm up with on snowy or rainy days… plus, it reminds me of summer! Today is dark and rainy and I’ll be making this for dinner tonight!

CURRIED APPLE ZUCCHINI SOUP

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium sized apples (peeled and chopped)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tsp curry powder or 2tbsp curry paste (or to taste)
• 4 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup brown rice
• 3 cups chopped zucchini
• salt and pepper to taste
• dollop plain yogurt (for garnish)
• chopped cilantro (for garnish)

In a soup pot, sauté the apples and onion in the oil for 5 minutes on medium heat. The onions should become translucent. Add Curry and let cook for another 2-5 minutes, stirring often. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add rice, s&p. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid off. Add zucchini and continue to cook until zucchini becomes quite soft. Puree using blender, food processor or hand mixer (my preference is hand mixer), add extra water to thin if needed. Be careful, it’s HOT!

Add dollop (spoon full) of plain yogurt and sprinkling of fresh cilantro before serving.

YUM!