Chard Lentil Soup

This is my new favorite soup in the whole wide world.  A serving of this is only 170 calories, and it's super filling.  With tons of delicious chard, fiber-rich lentils, and wholesome vegetables, this soup is a total winner, especially for those of us watching what we eat. 

Yields 2 servings

Ingredients:

¼ cup chopped onions

¼ cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped carrots

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped chard (chop stems and set aside)

1 tsp salt

½ cup lentils, soaked for 1-2 hours (masoor lentils work best)

3-4 cups broth

First, you wanna get your lentils soaked an hour or two before you start cooking. 

Here we go...

Okay, so fast forward to when I'm ready to cook!  Here I have my onions, carrots, and celery chopped up.  These three vegetables are amazing together, especially to start off soup.  I almost always start my soup this way.

So, in a large pot over low heat, soften the chopped onions, celery, carrots, and bay leaf in a tbsp of olive oil.  It usually takes about 5-7 minutes.

Now, here is my beautiful chard!  I used rainbow chard for this recipe because that's what I usually get in my CSA, but swiss chard works perfectly well. 

Now, I find that the stems work really well as a soup base themselves.  So I chop them up and toss them in the pot to soften along with the Onions & Company.

There we go. 

This is also a good time to add some garlic to the pot.  I don't put it in at the very beginning with the other vegetables because garlic cooks a lot faster, and you don't want it to burn.  This is my frozen minced garlic that I have in my freezer for whenever I cook!  Love it.

Okay, let's get back to our star, the beautiful chard.  While the veggies finish getting soft and lovely, I chop the chard roughly.  I chop them about the same as I chop my lettuce for salads, if that's a helpful comparison.

Alright!  Now, the chard's gonna sit there for a while, but I'm ready to put the lentils in.  Into the big pot with the veggies goes my soaked lentils, along with the 3-4 cups of broth.  I use chicken broth because I love the depth of flavor, but you can very easily substitute vegetable broth for a totally vegetarian soup.  Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a decent simmer (about medium low heat) and let the lentils cook for about 6 minutes.

At this point, the lentils should be soft enough to eat, but still have a little bite to them. 

To finish, I add the chopped chard that I had set aside.

Beautiful chard!  Let it wilt into the soup for a couple minutes, then remove from heat.

Soup's on!  Mmm, delicious!

Delicious!  The tender lentils are mealy and hearty, the vegetables are soft and flavorful, and the chard is so yummy!  It loses some of the sharp bitterness when you cook it like this, and it's just such a perfect pairing with the earthiness of the rest of the dish.

This is definitely my favorite soup right now...it even got a coveted "favorite" tag on this blog :)  It's affordable, it's healthy, it's filling, and it's so satisfying.  Make this on the next rainy day!

For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.

ANNOUNCEMENT: My Etsy Store is having a Spring Sale, from Friday, March 23 to Wednesday, March 28, where all mug cozies and boot toppers will be 20% off!  Don't forget to check it out!

Falafel

 

I love falafel.  They're like vegetarian meatballs made out of delicious chickpeas, which is one of my favorite foods in the world.  

I have been making these all the time lately.  I go through these major chickpea phases where I crave falafel, hummus, and pita like crazy.   

Let's get right to it!

Ingredients (3-4 servings):

½ medium onion, finely chopped

1 green onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed OR 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

½ tsp parsley (fresh is great too)

juice of half a lemon

a few dashes of water

 2-3 tbsp flour

(Turmeric might be the ingredient that's harder to find in basic grocery stores.  It's a bright yellow powder that I get at Indian grocery stores.  I've seen turmeric in spice aisles at non-specialized grocery stores too, but you might have to ask.)

First, food process or blend onion, green onion, and garlic until finely minced.  You can do this whole thing with a knife, but it saves a lot of time to use a processor.  I love my mini-prep :)  If you don't have one, ask for one for your birthday.  Do it.  Do it. 

 

Now, you add chickpeas.  I personally think it's better to use soaked, uncooked chickpeas because of the texture it gives.  On the other hand, if I use the canned kind, they're always there and require no prep.  Both are perfectly fine, but make sure that if you're using dried chickpeas, you give them a good overnight soak so they aren't still hard as pebbles when you go to process them.

Blend it until the mix is nice and smooth, then add your spices.  

Add water in small amounts until the whole batter is not clumpy.  It should be a smooth paste, not unlike hummus.  And you can totally eat a spoonful of falafel batter.  

Now, to kinda firm it up, add flour to the batter.  It should make it smoother and less sticky.

  

Heat up a skillet, add some oil, and saute dollops of falafel in the pan.  Squish it down gently to make it flat.  Fry for about 10 minutes on each side.  

OR!  You also omit the oil altogether and bake these in the oven at 425F for 20 minutes on one side, then 10-15 on the other.  They still taste pretty great that way, and it cuts out the calories.  It's up to you. 

When you're done, you get these beautiful little golden brown disks of goodness.  They're fantastic served with pita bread.

Hope you enjoy!

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For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.

Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup

I am in love with soups and stews of all kinds.  Nothing warms me up and cheers me up like a hot steaming bowl of soup.  Especially ones that are hearty, healthy, and packed with more flavor than you could expect in a small bowl.  When I found myself craving chicken tortilla soup, I came up with this recipe for chicken tortilla soup that only took about 20 minutes, but tasted like I had worked on it for hours.   

Ingredients (1 big or 2 small servings):
2 oz chicken, chopped
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp hot pepper flakes
salt and pepper
¼ cup chopped onions
¼ cup chopped celery
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
juice of half a lime

salt to taste
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ chipotle pepper in adobo, chopped
½ cup chicken broth
1 tbsp corn meal
corn chips
optional: ½ cup black beans

First, I got together the flavor profile I wanted to give my soup.  Cumin is at the top of the list.  So is garlic powder and pepper flakes.  I use these flavors so often, I buy them in bulk and store them in mason jars. 

So, I defrosted a few chicken tenders I had in my freezer, gave them a quick chop, and seasoned them with the cumin, hot pepper flakes, garlic, and of course, salt and pepper. 

I then cooked them in a small pan with a little olive oil in it over medium heat until the biggest piece was cooked through.  (Normally I write recipes in friendly imperative, but today I'm feeling past tense, like it's a story.  Just going with it.)   

 

Now, let's chop through our lovely onion and celery.  I love these two flavors together, they're wonderful.

I put these into a small pot and let them sweat it out over low heat in a little olive oil.

Now, where normally I would use crushed tomatoes, I actually ended up using my own crushed tomato concoction.  I had made this for a different recipe, but it's basically tomatoes, lime juice, and cilantro.  I don't expect people to have this just laying around, but you can easily just use crushed tomatoes, juice of half a lime, and a tablespoon of minced cilantro and add it to your soup.

  

So I added the tomatoes, the chipotle peppers (which are pretty darn spicy, even for me...I used use 1/2 a pepper per person for a sufficient kick), and the chicken I cooked earlier.  I also added the chicken broth here.

Another huge flavor boost is tomato paste!  I like to have tomato paste lying around.  Since it tends to get all can-rusty-gross if you leave an open can in the fridge, I line a tiny plastic container with a sandwich bag, put the tomato paste in there, and put the top on to make an airtight seal.  Lasts for months.

Okay, in goes in the paste!

Also, if you wanna make this soup a little heartier, you can add some beans at this point.

And now, this is the weirdest ingredient of all.  I wanted something to thicken the soup a bit, but not flour...flour is so wah-wah, especially for this type of soup that has so much pizazz.  So I googled around, and apparently corn meal is an excellent soup thickener.  So I added a tablespoon of corn meal to the soup.

Whoa, it looks like a magic potion!  Let all come to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low.  You might also give it a quick taste to see if you need to add any salt.  Depending on your broth, this may all differ.

After 5 minutes of simmering, it became a delicious, thick, hearty soup.

And of course, I have my awesome baked blue corn chips.  I love baked blue corn chips.  I get mine at Trader Joe's.

Satisfying.  Immensely satisfying.  That feeling when you crave something badly and you finally get to eat it.  Yum!  And it didn't take very long at all, but the flavor in there was amazing.  The spices that went in with the chicken, the broth, the tomato paste, lime juice, onions and celery, and chipotle pepper...all of that made this little soup crazy flavorful without having to spend tons of time. 

Hope you liked the recipe!  And as always, thanks for reading and making this hobby of mine so fun and rewarding!  

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For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.