Recipe: Cozy Up With a Hearty Bowl of My Special Lentil Soup Because Snow Is Coming!

My Special Lentil Soup 

Though I love soups all year round, I think nothing warms you up more on a cold winter’s day than a bowl of piping, hot soup. The recipe that I have for you today is one of my favorites for a hearty and satisfying lentil soup that you will make a roux and thicken.  Unlike the typical seasonings for this bean soup, I gave it a unique flavor from an unexpected twist of basil that brings out maximum deliciousness.

If you’re trying to lose weight, this is a good low-calorie soup to make ahead of time and reheat later for lunches or serve along with dinner.

Dried legumes usually need to soak overnight before you cook them.  However, lentils cook up rather fast so just sort for any small rocks, then rinse and put them in pot with the water to cook until softened.

To make it even more filling, I add some type of noodle or elbow macaroni but it tastes just as good plain. For the days when I’m lazy or rushed, I will dump in some dried ready-made pasta.  However, I do prefer homemade noodles every time.  There is no comparison of the taste and quality of homemade to what you can buy.  

Here is the recipe for my homemade pasta dough that I always use that is quite easy, especially when you whip it up in your food processor.  If you haven’t tried to make your own dough yet, you truly are missing out something so extra delicious. It also saves you money when you figure out the cost compared to boxes of those commercial brands. 

I use a pasta machine that you attach to your table and crank by hand.  It really isn’t a lot work or very hard to do.  It takes me only about 30 minutes to finish and clean up when I make a batch (about five cups) for both soup and a pasta dinner.  

I don’t recommend the electronic models because they are extremely slow compared to the crank variety. My friend had one and hated it so much that she sold it at her garage sale before getting a manual one like mine.

By the way, I also have another wonderful lentil soup recipe that you might want to try as well that I shared at an earlier time.  This one is for red lentil vegetarian soup with a tomatoes and spinach that you should check out also.

I do hope you try these wonderful recipes because they are full of fiber, protein, and lots of vitamins and nutrients to keep you healthy and going.  


My Special Lentil Soup

6 cups of water
1 cup of dried lentils
1 medium onion
4 or 5 stalks of celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup of olive oil
8 small potatoes or 5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon of dried basil leaves
½ cup of flour
1 cup of dried elbow macaroni or noodles 


Sort your lentils for small rocks because there is always a chance that you might find one. Rinse and then keep the lentils in water until the vegetables are prepared.  

Start with browning the onions and celery in the olive oil until golden before adding the carrots and potatoes to your pan.  

Continue cooking the vegetables for a few minutes and then take off of the heat and coat with the flour for your roux.

Add the coated vegetables and your seasonings to your water and waiting lentils and cook. Check periodically until the vegetables are soft as well as the lentils.

What I normally do is toward the end of the soup’s cooking time, I just throw in the dry macaroni or noodles and cook until the preferred degree of firmness.  On other days, I will make my homemade noodles, which I do boil first before adding some to the soup.  

Serve when the noodles or macaroni gets ready.  

ENJOY!

Recipe: Get More From Your Easter Ham With My Delicious Ham Bone Soup!

Many of us are going to make a ham for our Easter dinner. Before you throw out that ham bone, I have a suggestion. Why waste all that flavor when you can use it to make a great soup? My Delicious Ham Bone Soup is an excellent way to get more of that ham while giving you another very tasty light meal.

This is a hearty soup with beans, potatoes, celery, onions, garlic, carrots and just a few herbs that go wonderfully together. Feel free to throw in bits of some leftover ham, if you so desire.

Here is a tip that I want to pass on. Add the salt when you are cooking dried beans when they are nearly done to help keep them softer. Otherwise, your beans will be hard.

I just hope you try my recipe because it is very good and helps stretch your budget further!


My Delicious Ham Bone Soup

2 cups of dried navy beans
2 whole cloves
1 meaty ham bone
1 cup of cubed potatoes
1 cup of chopped celery
1 cup of finely chopped onion
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 cup of cubed carrots
1 bay leaf
2-1/2 quarts of water
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

　

Cook the beans in the 2-1/2 quarts of water for about two or three minutes before taking them off of the heat. Now you will let this stand covered for about one hour.

Next, add the ham bone and any small chopped pieces of that leftover ham you need to get rid of along with garlic, cloves, and bay leaf to the beans and water. Keep this covered and simmer for about two hours or until the beans are almost tender.

Now add the rest of the vegetables, salt, and pepper and simmer an additional one hour.

Remove the ham bone and cut off the meat, which you can throw back into the soup before pitching that bone.

Reheat to almost boiling and be sure to remove the bay leaf before serving.

ENJOY!

Warm Up With a Bowl of My Hearty Broccoli Soup!

The colder it becomes, the more you appreciate a hot bowl of homemade soup.  The recipe that I want to share with you is satisfying enough to serve as a simple meal along with a thick slice of French bread, a salad and a vegetable.   

My Hearty Broccoli Soup has a velvety cream base enriched with chopped ham, cheese, and lightly seasoned with nutmeg and parsley that is delicious and a sure way to warm the family up with its rich goodness.

This is the perfect soup to have on hand in the winter.   After that bone-chilling blast of Arctic weather we had just had last week, this is a great, easy recipe to make.  I do hope you try it sometime.  After all, we still have many more weeks of winter to go.  This soup can come in handy!

My Hearty Broccoli Soup

3 cups of milk
3 packages of frozen broccoli (10-oz. size)
1 cup of cooked ham, cooked in small pieces
1/2 pound of grated Cheddar cheese (any variety) or Swiss cheese
2 cups of chicken broth
2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 cup of light cream or half-and-half
1/4 cup margarine (not spread) or butter
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon of dried parsley flakes

Cook the broccoli in one half of the chicken broth.  Make sure to cover the broccoli while cooking.

Take the broccoli when tender off the heat and finely chop it.  Set aside.

Next, add the rest of the chicken broth, milk, cream, ham, nutmeg, parsley, and salt to your pot.

Bring those ingredients to a boil, then stir in the grated cheese, broccoli, margarine to melt and thoroughly combine.

ENJOY!

Recipe: Warm Up With My Healthier Recipe for Homemade Corn Chowder!

Nothing can be finer for cold winter days than a big hearty bowl of soup to warm you up!  Bacon has been traditionally used in making corn chowder.  However, I  do try to avoid artery-clogging ingredients as much as possible.  In the past, I will admit that I used bacon to flavor my corn chowder.  Now I can honestly tell you once you follow my recipe that I use now that you too will not miss it.  

Another good thing about making your own homemade soup is thinking of all the money you will save on those expensive cans often with less than ideal oils, preservatives, overabundance of salt, and the like.

For starters, I use olive oil to brown my vegetables in this recipe.  Another thing that I did was add a dash of ground nutmeg, and one-half teaspoon of thyme leaves, and one teaspoon of sugar for a wonderful flavor kick.  

You can make this soup even more filling and equivalent of a light meal by making a batch of homemade noodles from the recipe for pasta dough that I shared with you earlier. 

I do hope you will try this recipe for yourself because I am nuts about it!


My Hearty Corn Chowder

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup of chopped celery
2 tablespoons of flour
3 cups of milk 
1 can of cream-style corn (about 14.5 oz.)
5 medium potatoes, cut and diced
1/2 teaspoon of salt
dash of ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of thyme leaves
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/8 teaspoon of black pepper
1 cup of evaporated milk
3 tablespoons of olive oil

Fry your chopped onions and celery in the olive oil until they are lightly browned and tender.  Next remove from the heat briefly and coat those vegetables with your flour so the soup will thicken later. 

Return to the heat and stir in all the remaining ingredients, except for the corn and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Stir in the corn last along with your cooked noodles and cook 5 minutes longer to heat through. 

My homemade Corn Chowder is perfect for warming up.

My Easy Red Lentil Vegetarian Soup Recipe

This soup is delicious.

The spinach gives this simple soup something extra and will not require any noodles or rice because it's hearty enough!  Also, it is so tasty beyond belief besides being wonderfully filling and relatively inexpensive.  At the same time, it's good for your health and waistline.  Trust me, you will definitely want to save this recipe because it is one to be cherished.  

My Easy Red Lentil Vegetarian Soup

2  tablespoons of virgin palm oil
5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped fine
5 cloves of medium size garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons of flour
2 teaspoons of salt
1 can chopped Italian diced tomatoes (14. 5 oz.)
1 cup dried lentils, sorted and rinsed
6 oz. of frozen chopped spinach (half of a typical frozen bag)
6 cups of water
1 teaspoon of powdered cumin

Peel and clean your vegetables before chopping into slices and tiny onion and garlic pieces.  

Brown those veggies in your virgin palm oil until softened.  

Remove the pot from your heat and coat those vegetables with your flour before returning to your stove.  

Add the water and your tomatoes, cumin, salt and lentils until the vegetables and lentils are soft.  

The final step is stir in your spinach and heat through, then serve!

ENJOY!