Easy Vegetarian Lunch

 It can be eaten any meal, any time... You can also choose different vegetables...

I never made this before, but I had an "assignment." What's the story? The Health/Sick Fund I'm in has some free programs for the 65+ crowd. One of them is a Weight Loss Group via Zoom. We had our second meeting this morning, and she assigned us to make a balanced non-meat meal. This is mine. 

Ingredients

onion

sweet potato 

          eggplant 

squash 

          orange lentils 

carrot

Instructions

cut the vegetables bite-size

put in baking pan

add water and oil

cover

Bake at 160 C until lentils and vegetables are soft.

I added a bit of soy sauce when I ate it. I never measure exactly, but it was perfect.

Easy and Quick Vegetable and Orange Lentil Soup

 

I've been craving my homemade vegetable soup for quite a while, and I didn't have much patience to wait. An easy shortcut requires a can of beans, but we didn't have any. then I remembered the orange lentils I had bought. They cook up very quickly.

Ingredients (I don't measure exactly, so there's no need to obsess about exact quantities)

• large onion
• medium squash
• nice sized chunk of sweet potato
• celeriac
• coarse salt, pepper (coarse is best,) parsley-- either fresh or dehydrated
• if you have carrots, add one or more, mushrooms also good, ditto for fresh parsley or celery

Instructions: 

• cut in small chunks or slices
• put all in a large pot
• start sautéing in oil
• add at least a half cup of orange lentils
• boil a couple of liters of water
• add the boiling water and cover
• as soon as the soup begins to boil, turn down the flame to just simmer

Cook until it's all soft, and the lentils are mushy.

Red Lentil Mushroom Vegetable Soup

This Red Lentil Mushroom Vegetable Soup tastes unbelievably good, and I could say that I just threw a few things together. 

I served this soup to break the Tisha B'Av Fast on a very hot summer day. It was absolutely perfect and required relatively little cooking. I didn't measure all the ingredients, and one can be flexible and creative. It isn't some sort of chemistry formula.

You can see almost all of the ingredients here.

Ingredients:

• about half a cup of orange lentils (more can be used)
• 1 large onion
• 2 medium squash
• fresh garlic
• a can of mushroom pieces
• dehydrated parsley, fresh would be great
• a spoon or so of vegetable oil
• a bit of coarse salt and pepper

Directions:

• put the lentils in the pot and cover plus with boiling water. Leave covered for an hour or more
• dice up the vegetables, including garlic, then add to lentils, 
• put in pot with the mushrooms and liquid from can 
• top with the oil and some more water and parsley
• bring to boil, add salt and pepper, then simmer
• 40 minutes cooking time, unless you decide to add carrots or any other root vegetable you want in the soup. They take longer to cook.

That's it! ENJOY

One Bowl Meal Salad, Easy to Prepare

 

You can see almost all the ingredients here:

onion, tomatoes, cucumbers and canned peas

What you don't see is the olive oil, pepper and a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

You can substitute cooked or canned lentils or beans for the peas and even add canned tuna, or whatever.  You can also add other vegetables to the salad, like leeks or red pepper, fennel or whatever suits your fancy or you have waiting impatiently in the fridge. 

I'd love to know what version you make. Let me know in the comments, thanks.

Light Summery Lentil Vegetable Soup

Light Summery Lentil Vegetable Soup

Nutritionnix

I made this Light Summery Lentil Vegetable Soup on Sunday to break the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, but I've been enjoying the leftovers ever since. And my husband has had it for lunch with pasta added to make it more filling. It's labeled "light," because the orange lentils cook quickly and disintegrated, unlike peas, rice, barley or pasta.

Since I didn't measure the ingredients, I'll just list them. My cooking is very flexible. Measuring is very rare. 

• orange lentils
• onion 
• carrot
• squash
• pumpkin
• mushrooms
• a bit of vegetable oil, coarse salt and coarse pepper
• water, of course

Cooking was in two steps. First I poured boiling water over the lentils, covered and waited over an hour. Then I added the cut up vegetables and the oil. Once it was boiling, I added more boiling water, plus the salt and pepper. Once it's boiling nicely, lower the flame to simmer for 35 minutes to an hour depending on your pot.

You can add other vegetables or leave some out. Generally I add some dill or parsley-- dehydrated is fine, but since I was fasting my mind wasn't fully there.

This is a very easy to make soup. Enjoy.

Easy to Make, Healthy Salad, Mostly From Cans

Yes, I call this salad "Easy to Make, Healthy Salad, Mostly From Cans." And it's not an oxymoron.

It can also be titled Corn, Bean and Tomato Salad, Corona Lock-down Recipe #4, because the canned food was delivered to us as part of the senior citizen care package at the height of the corona lock-down. Following are the first three recipes I developed with canned food from the carton:

• Cooking With Canned Beans, Corona Lock-down Recipe #1
• Cooking With Canned Pineapple, "Apple-Pineapple Compote," Corona Lock-down Recipe #2
• "Sauerkraut Salad," Corona Lock-down Recipe #3

If you had inspected my pantry before getting these COVID-19 "care packages," you'd have found almost no cans, not even tomato paste. The few cans would have been "food gifts" from the Purim mishloach manot. But suddenly I found myself with all sorts of canned food and decided to make up recipes.

This salad is also a great vegetarian-vegan "one pot meal." It contains protein plus raw and cooked vegetables. Of course you can substitute different types of beans and vegetables and add more fresh salad. Just looking at it you can probably guess almost all of the ingredients:

canned corn
canned white beans
diced tomato
diced onion
coarsely ground pepper
dehydrated dill
dressed with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice

Yes, that's it. Think of the recipe more as inspiration than an exact recipe. Try it, and tell me how yours turned out and how you varied it. Enjoy in good health.

Tasty and Simple 21st Century Tzimmes

Tzimmes 

Tzimmes is a very traditional holiday food for Ashkenaz (European) Jews. There are still families who make it is a "one pot meal" with beef. That combination is from the days when most meals were thick soups or stews. Today's affluence has enabled the development of multiple-pot meals. Even in the half century I've been married, menus and cooking has gotten much more complicated. There are many more pots in the sink than a couple of decades ago, even though we are fewer people at the table. No doubt my grandmothers would find my tzimmes a bit strange, though familiar.

Ingredients (exact quantities aren't necessary)
1 larger or 2 medium carrots
1 medium sweet potato
piece of dlaat, pumpkin or similar preferable orange-colored squash 4"x4" or 10cm by 10cm
1 large apple
handful of raisins
handful of prunes
cinnamon to taste
approx 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
optional- a few slices of ginger root
2T vegetable oil
water up to 1/3 height of vegetables in pot
bit of coarse salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. slice carrots thick
2. cut other vegetables into large bite-sized pieces
3. place in pot, carrots first, then dried fruit and then the rest
4. top with sugar and cinnamon
5. add oil, water and cover
6. bring to a boil, then simmer until soft
7. add salt and pepper when cooking

Tasty with meat, poultry fish or add tofu or beans as a vegetarian meal.

Pasta-Chickpea Salad, Pre and Post-Fast Meal

One of the popular suggestions for pre-fast meals is to eat complex carbohydrates, which take longer to digest. The experts consider that a good idea before fasting. So, on Friday I decided to make a Pasta-Chickpea Salad. Of course I had to make sure I had enough time to soak and cook the chickpeas, which I did. You can "cheat" by getting a can of them.

Cooking Chickpeas
First I leave the chickpeas in a covered pot full of boiling water for a couple of hours. Then I pour out the water, add new boiling water and simmer on the stove until chewable. Leave covered for another hour or so.

Pasta-Chickpea Salad Ingredients

• cooked pasta, drained
• cooked or from a can chickpeas, drained
• cut tomatoes, large diced
• diced onion
• olive oil, coarse salt and coarse pepper
• optional other salad vegetables and leaves and/or grated cheese

Mix all of the ingredients together. Yes, it's that simple. It's a simple "one-pot" summer meal. Which additional ingredients do you add? I'd love to hear.

PS for the post fast, fast-breaking breakfast meal, I heated up the salad, since my husband prefers warm pasta.

Food Ideas for The Nine 9 Days

I really doubt that when chazal, our Jewish sages, decided that during the  Nine 9 Days, we shouldn't eat meat they could have known that fish meals would be much more expensive for us. That was the topic of this morning's post on Shiloh Musings, 9 Days Rather Ironic, Fish Yes, Chicken No.

My husband and I generally eat Shabbat leftovers for the entire week, and I have lots of portions of cooked chicken in the freezer. All you have to do is to recook them with vegetables and carbs. But during the Nine 9 Days, I have to cook every meal. Sometimes I have a stock of vegetable soup, but in all honesty, hot soup on hot days isn't a favorite.
Following are a few recipes. Your comments, recipes, reactions and ideas are welcome in the comments section, thanks.  Sorry, but I don't go for exact measuring of ingredients or cooking time. I encourage variations and would like to hear about yours.

Latest Breakfast, No Cravings
Yummy Cauliflower Casserole/Kugel
Frying Pan "Lentil Stew"
Do you Quinoa?
Simple Chickpea Salad
One-Pan Meal, Tuna Steak and Veggies
Shakshuka Plus
Lovely Lentil and Mushroom Dish
Pancakes
No Mayonnaise Egg Salad
Low-Carb, Crustless Dairy Quiche
This Year's Purim Soups, Yes Two 2

9

Which is your favorite? And what do you suggest from your own repertoire?

Simple Chickpea Salad

Since we were hosting a vegetarian for a meat meal, I needed to serve a suitable protein for the guest. Summer weather made a salad seem like a good fit.

You need chickpeas, either from a can or cooked. I cooked these. It does take a few hours plus. First you soak them in boiling water in a covered pot for a few hours until they begin to swell, and then you pour out the water and rinse. Add lots more water and boil them for another couple of hours until they are nice and soft. Let them cool.

Once the chickpeas are cool, pour out the water, and in a nice bowl add:
chopped garlic
onion cut in small pieces, red onion is great if you have one
diced tomato

Mix them with the chickpeas, then add some olive oil and then coarse pepper and a bit of coarse salt to taste.  If you wish you can also add leaves or/or additional fresh vegetables. My guests loved it, even those who eat meat.

Making Kitchen Progress, Who Wants These?

One of my tasks before redoing the kitchen, Gd willing, is to get rid of things that have been in it for decades, which I don't use.  And like many people, especially experienced and confident cooks, I don't open my old cookbooks.

Way back when I did love and utilize cookbooks, I'd frequently read them cover to cover and then internalize general principles. Except for cakes, I'd very rarely follow a recipe exactly. Besides eliminating or seriously reducing the amount of salt and other seasonings, it was usually impossible to find all of the ingredients in my pantry/kitchen. I became a "housewife" in late June,1970, and two months later we docked in Israel. Post-tzenna* Israel had plenty of food, but not all of the the ingredients in the American recipes.

My mother bought/sent me not only cookbooks, but lots of books about natural health, dieting, pregnancy and child-raising. I added many books and health/vegetarian magazines to the collection. But it has been a very long time, decades, since any of them have been opened and read. When I need a recipe, instead of taking down a few books, going through the index, putting small pieces of paper to mark the pages and then reading and comparing, I just check with Chef Google. Isn't that what almost everyone does?

So, as I've planned and envisioned my new kitchen, the bookshelves** will morph into my coffee corner. Gd willing in a few months, maybe by my next birthday, we'll be seeing my percolator, French Presses and coffee mugs on those shelves.

I've already given away more than half of the actual cookbooks. If anyone is interested in any of the remaining books, please come and get them.

*צנע tzenna or zenna, was the term for the austerity days of great financial difficulties and hardships in the early years of the State of Israel. The population grew dramatically, as Jews from all over the world hurried to our Historic Homeland. Basic food items were rationed, and families/citizens were given coupons to try to make it possible to share the limited supplies.

** That wall closet is to be re-doored with new formica to match the new cabinets on the other walls.

This Year's Purim Soups, Yes Two 2

I feel best breaking fasts on vegetable soup. The Jewish Calendar has a number of fasts in the year, and one of them is the day before Purim. My custom is to spend the afternoon making soup. That's what I did yesterday afternoon.

Since I no longer have, nor usually need, a supersized pot, I made two pots of soup. Another reason was that I had lentils and peas I wanted to use up. So instead of mixing them into one soup, I made two different ones.

Lentil-Ginger Soup

The Lentil-Ginger Soup ingredients:

lentils
onion
fresh garlic
carrots
sweetpotato
fresh ginger
parsley root and leaves
a spoon or two of vegetable oil
salt to taste, or a just a bit less

Instructions:

• A few hours before I plan on cooking the soup, I put the checked lentils in a pot and add boiling water to cover and then cover the pot.
• Afterwards I cut all the vegetables, add them, except for the parsley leaves, to the lentils, add the oil and some more boiling water. 
• Cover, start cooking on a high flame, then lower it to simmer for at least 45 minutes.
• Add the parsley and salt.
• Cook a few more minutes, and then let it sit covered.

Enjoy!

Simple Pea and Carrot Soup

The  Simple Pea and Carrot Soup Ingredients:

onion
garlic
carrots
squash
parsley
root and leavesvegetable oil
coarse black pepper and salt "to taste"

Instructions:

• A few hours before I plan on cooking the soup, I put the checked peas in a pot and add boiling water to cover and then cover the pot. 
• Afterwards I cut all the vegetables, add them, except for the parsley leaves, to the lentils, add the oil and some more boiling water. 
•  Cover, start cooking on a high flame, then lower it to simmer for at least 45 minutes. 
• Add the parsley and salt. 
• Cook a few more minutes, and then let it sit covered.

Enjoy!

After sampling both soups, I decided to try them mixed/together. 

I hope my neighbors like the soups they'll be getting for mishloach manot, Purim food gifts as much as I did.

Yummy Cauliflower Casserole/Kugel

Last week at our Book Bliss/Book Club meeting, one of my friends brought a totally irresistible Cauliflower Casserole/Kugel for our potluck dinner. I asked her for the recipe. She told me that she makes two versions, one dairy and the other parve, which is lactose free and good for vegetarians who eat eggs. The photos here are of the parve (lactose free) version, which she made a couple of days later.

She very kindly sent me her recipe. It is like many of mine; you don't have to be exact over every quantity.

Parve Cauliflower Casserole

1 800 gram bag frozen cauliflower, defrosted or lightly steamed, (I would use fresh)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 Tbl. flour

2 Tbl. oil

1/2 Tbl. salt

some pepper

1/2 cup mayonaise

3-4 eggs

Mix all together. Place in baking pan. Can sprinkle garlic powder or granules on top. Bake at 180 degrees C for around 45 minutes.

FOR DAIRY VERSION:

Double amount of flour and oil, use between 500 to 750 grams cottage cheese instead of mayonnaise. Can add a handful of grated yellow cheese to filling and sprinkled on top.

Break-Fast Vegetable Mushroom Soup

Here's my latest (made yesterday) version of a very easy and always tasty TNT Vegetable Soup. Since I had a lot of mushrooms in the fridge, they went into the soup. Yesterday was the Jewish fast day of Tzom (The Fast of) Gedaliah. I've made it a custom to break my fasts, whenever possible, on freshly made Vegetable Soups. They hit the spot, absolutely perfect for breaking the fast and any other type of day. I first started the custom when the children were still living at home. So then I'd also make fresh homemade rolls and/or pizza. But at our age, that's just too much food, whether after a fast or any time. I just serve myself a few bowls of soup. My husband gets a bit more of a meal.

Stage one:
Pour about a cup of dried *peas in large pot and check them for stones, etc.
Boil water and pour over peas. Cover the pot and let it wait for an hour or more.
*Instead of peas, you can use any lentils and/or barley. If you want to use beans, then start earlier, because you will have to cook the beans, depending on the type, for well over an hour, besides the soaking.

Stage two:
About an hour and a half or more before planned serving time, take the pot to the stove and start cooking the peas. Lower flame/heat to simmer as soon as it begins to boil. Make sure you have enough water, so that it doesn't burn, since the peas absorb the water.

Stage three:

Take out the vegetables you want in the soup. Besides an onion and fresh garlic, this time I used a squash, carrots and mushrooms. You can cook different vegetables, such as sweet potato, pumpkin, potato, cauliflower, zucchini, etc. If you want dark green or leafy vegetables, like broccoli, cabbage or spinach, save to add just before soup is fully cooked.
You may certainly add greens like parsley, celery, etc.
Cut/slice the vegetables into bite-sized pieces either by hand or food-processor and add them to the boiling peas/lentils/beans. Boil up water and add to the cooking soup to cover, plus. Simmer after it reaches boil.
Exact quantities depend on your pot and how thick/rich you want your soup. 
When the vegetables are soft, add salt and pepper to taste. After another few minutes, turn off the flame. The soup will finish cooking on its own. You can cover the pot with a thick towel to keep it hot if you won't be serving it for more than an hour.

If other things are cooking on the stove, then remove the pot to a heat-resistant surface to prevent the towel catching on fire.

Your soup is now ready to eat. Enjoy!

Vegetable Mushroom Soup

"One Pot" Baked Chicken and Vegetable Feast

Since you can't really see everything in here I'll list the ingredients under the photo. 

• sliced onion
• sweet potato
• chicken breast
• zucchini
• pumpkin
• pepper
• and a bit of vegetable oil

I baked it in a "medium plus*" oven, first uncovered and then covered with foil.

When you cook like this, you don't need to add salt, since the flavors intensify and interact. You can certainly add other vegetables or leave out some. I like using the onions as a base for this sort of meal. You can make it with fish, beef or chopped meat/poultry. Or you can leave out the chicken completely and have it as a vegetarian dish. If you substitute tofu, then add some soy/tamari sauce or tomatoes.

If you want more "tang" to it, then add fresh garlic or ginger.

Think of my recipes as "suggestions." If you try it, please let me know how it comes out and what changes you made, thanks.

*Exact temperatures will have to wait until I redo the kitchen and get one of those new ovens. Mine if very old, and the temperatures, which were never very accurate to begin with, must be guessed at by moving a dial that no longer has numbers around it.

Sprouts, Do You?

Do you eat sprouts, lentils, beans, seeds etc?
Do you sprout them at home or buy them sprouted?
Do you eat them fresh or cooked?
What's your favorite type of sprout?

I have neighbors whose children are athletic champions, and the family is more than vegan, they're raw food eaters. One of their dietary proteins is sprouts.

I've been getting a periodic supply from the newest member of our family who's vegan and sprouts lentils pretty regularly. But I haven't yet taken the plunge and tried doing it myself.

From what I understand you don't need expensive equipment, but even though I've heard the instructions, I keep chickening out. Oops, maybe a punny word.

Maybe I'd get some of the weight off if I have sprouts as my vegetarian protein more often instead of the sesame paste, but the fat in the sesame paste makes the meal more satisfying. And if I add a good olive oil I'd be increasing the calories...

Any suggestions?

Perfect Avocado

Avocados are rarely this perfect. OK, maybe I should say that it's rare to time the eating of an avocado when it's as perfect as this one. If you're a day early or a day late, it's either too hard or getting black and mushy. So, when I opened this avocado I was totally spellbound by the perfect, perfectly ripe and not a drop to be cut away.

It was so gorgeous that I "cheated" and had a slice, enjoying it even more than I would a piece of chocolate or slice of rich cheesecake. Cheesecake and chocolate are good comparisons, since calorie-wise they compete for sure. But an occasional piece of avocado in season is very healthy. And if one is vegetarian or vegan, then avocado in season is the perfect source of healthy fats, which help absorb nutrients . It doesn't have much protein, but it is great with lentils and sprouts combining into a delicious and healthy dish.

Gd willing you, too, will find the perfect avocado, and when you do, don't wait.

EAT IT!

Safety Glove and Vegetable Soup

I'm sure that I'm not the only person who has all sorts of scars on my fingers from "cutting accidents." Somehow the knife slices fingers more easily than a tomato. That's what happened to me other other night, and not for the first time.

A few years ago, I bought my kids and myself safety gloves that we're supposed to wear on the non-cutting hand to prevent these annoying, unintentional and sometimes long-healing slices. They were definitely not the most enthusiastically and graciously received gifts. Only one of my kids even admitted that it's needed. The rest made it clear that I had wasted my money. I kept one for myself and must admit that it has been sitting a the drawer with lots of kitchen gadgets I'd been given by my husband never to be used. But that last cut really bothered me, more as a reminder than anything else. I didn't need professional first aid.

I wore the glove on my left hand when cutting up vegetables yesterday for the post-fast, Ta'anit Ester-Fast of Ester, and Mishloach Manot (Purim food gift) Vegetable Soup.

Here's an illustrated Vegetable Soup Recipe:

For this vegetable soup, you need two pots, cutting implements and boiling water.

1- take a cup of dried peas, put them in a pot, add boiling water, cover for an hour or more so they will be at least partially cooked before you add them to the vegetables.

Here are all of the vegetables I used, 3 carrots, 2 squash, 2 onions, 1 sweet potato and some fresh garlic. 

As you can see, my left had is protected by the glove, even though I did very little actual cutting. That's because I "cheated" and used the food-processor for the actual slicing.

As you may notice from the magimix 2000 written here, my food processor is old and small. I work in batches and keep emptying it when full. There are two major advantages to using one especially for larger soups.
1- quicker and safer preparation since I don't have to do so much cutting.
2- it slices the vegetables thin, so cooking takes much less time. 

1- I put all the sliced vegetables in a large covered pot with oil and let it begin the cooking process.
2- I also boiled water, and when it was boiling...
3- I added the parboiled (partially cooked) peas to the vegetable pot and used the boiling water to rinse out the pea pot and added all the liquid to the cooking vegetables.
4- Lower to simmer after it all reaches a boil, and then have it cook for 40-60 minutes.
5- Just before you turn off the flame/heat, add salt and pepper. You can add parsley or whatever other seasonings you want at the same time.

Wait at least 15 minutes after turning off the stove before you serve the soup.

This is a "never fail," "TNT-tried and true" Vegetable Soup.

My Vegetable Soup, Always Perfect and Easy to Make

Above you can see my second giant bowl of vegetable soup,lentil to be exact. Yesterday was a traditional Jewish fast day, Tisha B'Av. After twenty-five hours without eating or drinking, it's really important to have something nourishing and easy to digest. For me that's Vegetable Soup. It doesn't matter which vegetables I include or the exact quantities, it always tastes good. That's one of the beauties of Vegetable Soup.

Years ago, I made it richer and heartier with carbohydrates like barley, wheat and rice. But as the house emptied and my weight increased, I found it necessary to tweak the recipe a bit. This is what I made:

Ingredients:
brown lentils
onion
carrots
squash
garlic
oil
salt, pepper and some parsley flakes
lots of water- I add boiling water to cut down on cooking time.

Instructions:

• check the lentils for rocks, bugs etc
• pour boiling water over it, to cover plus, and cover pot
• leave for at least half an hour
• add the onions, squash, carrots, garlic and oil (better less than more)
• add more boiling water, at least a few inches higher than the veggies
• cook on high flame until boiling, then simmer on low flame for between 40-60 minutes
• towards the end of cooking time add the salt, pepper and parsley
• always cook in covered pot
• turn off flame and leave in pot for at least 15 minutes before serving

Variations:

• replace carrots with mushrooms, or just add mushrooms to the classic recipe
• ditto with cauliflower, but since the cauliflower cooks more quickly, add later during the cooking
• substitute barley or peas for the lentils

Let me know how you've made the soup. Thanks.

Soup, of Course, for Breaking the Fast or Any Time

I made a large pot of soup, and it's almost gone. Just my husband and I are home to eat it, and he also got some noodles. But I didn't make anything else to break the 17th of Tammuz fast.

• brown lentils  1/3 cup
• split peas 1/3 cup
• onion 1 large
• fresh garlic a few pieces
• carrots 4 big ones
• squash 1
• oil, salt and pepper to taste

Yes, those are all of the ingredients, and no, I don't measure. I can't say exactly how much of anything, but I'll try to give you an idea by giving quantities, but please don't taken them as required. You should be flexible according to what you like and what you have in the house. I was going to add fresh pumpkin, but the carrots were so big and thick, it didn't seem necessary. You can certainly decide to use more or less of the peas and lentils or just use one kind instead of both. Instead of the squash add another carrot or sweet potato or fresh pumpkin. And of course you can and probably should add fresh greens, celery or parsley. It would make a better soup. That's how flexible soup-making should and can be.

• Check lentils and peas for bugs, stones etc.
• Put in pot and add hot water to cover, plus, then cover and let it sit for an hour or two or more.
• Cut up the vegetable, add to peas and lentils to cook. Also add water and oil. Reduce time by adding boiling water.
• When they seem almost ready (soft,) add the salt and pepper.
• Simmer a bit longer and then leave covered about a half an hour before serving.