The Kitchen Sink Soup

Cold winter days call for a heartwarming soup and some home-made bread. I got wish #1 today. My husband coined the term The Kitchen Sink Soup - according to him ... "Its got everything in it, but the kitchen sink!" ... well yes, it is kind of true. I always use the same basic recipe and it works like a charm, every time, no matter what you put in it. 

The Kitchen Sink Soup

Prep Time: 20-30 min

Ingredients:*

1. 2 cups Protein (Red Kidney Beans, Black beans, Chick Peas, Various Lentils)
2. 2 cups Vegetables (Onion, Spinach, Green Beans, Corn, Peas, Carrots, Kale, Celery)
3. 1/2 cup Starch (Red Potatoes, White Potatoes, Brown Rice, Wild Rice, Barley, Quinoa, Noodles)
4. 1/2 cup Mushrooms (white, cremini, shiitake, portabella, oyster)
5. 4-6 cups Vegetable broth
6. 6-8 Dry Sun-dried Tomatoes (I buy the Whole foods 365 brand), sliced/diced.
7. 1 tbsp Minced garlic
8. 1 tbsp Miso (Barley or Soy).
9. Pepper, to taste.

Directions:

Line a stock pot with vegetable broth and add garlic. Once the garlic begins to release its aroma, add remaining ingredients (except Miso). Bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer until whatever starch you've added are done. When I use beans and/or chickpeas, I typically use canned. When I use lentils, I tend to use red lentils which are quick-cooking. Once starches are done cooking, turn off heat and add miso. I used Barley miso today. I typically don't discriminate between various kinds of Miso and use them interchangeably in my recipes. Do a quick taste test and if needed added more broth (as needed) and miso for flavor, or salt (if you prefer). Garnish with freshly ground black pepper and serve steaming hot. 

The Kitchen Sink Soup

Today, I used Red kidney beans, Baby spinach, Red Onion, Green Beans, White mushrooms and a blend of Brown and Wild rice. Umm Umm Good!! 

Wish #2 (homemade bread) will be granted soon ... Santa brought me a B&D Bread Maker!!! Yeah!!!

* This is a 'no added salt' recipe i.e. no salt is added over and above what is already in the condiments. In this soup, all the salt is coming from Miso and the sun-dried tomatoes add a lot of flavor, thereby reducing the need for additional salt. 

3 Rice, 3 Berry, 3 Herb Salad

Summer Days call for chilled salads, Summer Days are Berry Days, and Summer Days are Fresh Herb Days as well. We had a 3x Birthday party in the family today and I wanted to make sure I had a plant-based dish to take along. I wanted to try Chef AJ's Quinoa Salad with Currants and Pistachios - but our niece is allergic to nuts and I wasn't sure if she'd ever been tested for Quinoa. But now, my mind was hooked on to memory of that salad :) !!! I decided to make a variation of it. Here's what I came up with. 

3 Rice & 3 Berry Salad

Prep Time: Overall 30 min, or so in 2 stages.

Ingredients: 

1. 1/2 cup White Basmati Rice
2. 1/2 cup Brown Basmati Rice
3. 2-3 tbsp Long grain Wild Rice
4. 2-3 tbsp Raisins
5. 1 cup fresh Red Raspberries
6. 1 cup fresh Blackberries
7. 1 cup fresh Strawberries
8. 2 tbsp Agave Syrup, or Honey
9. 1/8 cup Soy milk
10. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Basil, 
11. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Mint 
12. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Oregano

Directions: 

Boil rice, all 3 kinds together, in ample amounts of water until tender. Add the raisins to the boiling water for the last 2 minutes (this helps plump them up!). Drain and spread thinly on a cookie sheet and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (chill completely). Meanwhile wash and drain berries and slice strawberries and set aside. Put Agave syrup (or honey) in a small microwave safe bowl with the non-dairy milk and heat for 10 seconds to dissolve it in the milk. Once rice is chilled, move to a mixing bowl, add agave/milk mixture and toss well. Add chopped herbs and berries and give a final toss. Do a quick taste check - the rice should be just slightly sweet - add more 'agave in milk' if needed.

Cover and chill until ready to serve. The longer it sits, the better the flavors combine - the berry flavors and juices penetrate the rice, the herbs release their essential oils and flavor the rice and the berries! This is a salad where the wonderful aromas invite you to dig in.

My Assessment:  Loved it. What's not to like! The family liked it too :)

Spinach, Lentils, Mushrooms & Wild Rice Risotto

I was itching for a one pan recipe tonight. I knew it had to be some sort of grain, with veggies and maybe some lentils to make it worth my while ... !! I also got some Barley the other day and had been wanting to use it. So this evening's research yielded a rather interesting recipe - Barley and Lentil Pilaf with Mushrooms & Spinach. Now that seemed like the perfect thing to make tonight and I was looking forward to trying barley .. except, I caught sight of a packet of Near East Long Grain and Wild Rice Pilaf, which has been sitting in my pantry for a while ... so quite serendipitously my plans for a barley and lentil pilaf turned into a risotto. I used the same recipe, only I used rice instead of Barley and green lentils instead of brown. 

Prep Time: 20-25 min

Ingredients:

1. 1 Pack of Near East Long Grain and Wild Rice Pilaf
2. 1/3 cup Split Mung dal (Green lentils)
3. 2 sachets of Swanson Vegetable Flavor boost 
4. 1 cup water
5. 1 small Red onion, diced
6. 1 cup baby spinach
7. 4-6 large mushrooms, sliced  
8. 1 tbsp pine nuts
9. Salt and pepper, to taste
10. 1 tsp fresh Thyme leaves. 

Directions:

Line a dutch oven, or deep (non-stick) stock pot with half cup of water and mix in both sachets of flavor boost. These are small sachets of concentrated broth, that can be stored at room temperature. I like using these because I can use one, or more, depending upon my recipe, and I don't need to worry about the rest of the carton of broth going bad in the fridge. Once the water comes to a boil and the flavor boost paste is mixed in, add dal and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes while preparing everything else. Then, mix in the packet of rice, with provided seasonings. I did not use any oil for the rice.  

Turn the heat to medium low and let rice and dal simmer. Dice onions and add to the pot. Mix in and let simmer. Then add baby spinach, sliced mushrooms and pine nuts and continue to let it simmer until the rice and dal and both tender. If it begins to look a little dry, add a splash of water, as many times as needed. Given the slightly grainy nutty texture of the dal, the final dish should be a very moist, almost runny risotto, not a dry pilaf. I found that if you let it get too dry it doesn't taste as good. Once both the rice and dal are tender, add the thyme leaves, mix in, cover and let sit for 5 minutes to allow the flavors to meld together. Serve garnished with freshly cracked black pepper.    

My Assessment: I liked it .. and the best part, its a one-pot dinner, with enough leftovers for lunch too! My picture looks a little dry and not as moist as it should. My dinner sat for a few minutes while I ran around after Nik :) .. oh well! Life as a mom!!