Cozy Lentil Soup

It's been raining all day here in south Florida. I know - shocker! To tell you the truth, I like the rain. I find it comforting and cozy. Plus, my lawn needs the nourishment. This soup was the perfect end to our comfy, cozy Sunday.

What you'll need:
3-5 links chicken sausage (depends on how much sausage you want - I used 3)
Olive oil
1 large peeled carrot, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 fennel bulb, diced
salt and pepper
2 cans diced tomatoes
5 cups chicken stock
1.5 cups dried lentils
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a large handful of spinach
Parmesan cheese

What to do:
Add a little olive oil to a cast iron pot and heat on medium to medium high heat. Remove the casing from the chicken sausage and cook in a cast iron pot until brown and cooked through. Remove from heat and transfer to a paper towel to drain the fat.

Next, add a little more olive oil to the pot and add the vegetables. Toss the vegetables and scrape up the sausage bits. Throw in some salt and pepper. Cook just until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, lentils, and parm.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to low. Add the sausage bag to the pot. Allow to cook for 2 hours. Just before you are ready to serve, throw in the handful of spinach. Put a lid on the pot and allow the spinach to wilt in the soup for about 15 minutes.

Top with shaved parmesan cheese and serve with crusty bread.

Everything Bagel Super Stuffing

The stuffing is my favorite part of the Thanksgiving feast. I briefly thought about making several types of stuffing as part of a stuffing bar, but I ran out of time. So, I settled for this new take on a old recipe.

What you'll need:
3-4 everything bagels torn into small pieces
12 slices thick cut bacon
1/2 red onion, diced
3 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 eggs
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsley

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 300. Spread the bagel pieces on a large baking sheet. Bake in the upper part of the oven for about 30 minutes. Toss them at least once. Let cool. Increase the oven temp to 375.

Cook the bacon in a large skillet until brown. Then transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Once the bacon cools a bit, break the pieces into small bits.

In the same pan, add the onion and allow to cook in the bacon drippings for just a few minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk the broth and eggs and season with salt and pepper. Add the bacon, bagel pieces, onion, and parsley. Toss to combine. Allow the mixture to sit for 15 minutes. Toss a few times during this process.

Pour the mixture into a greased shallow large glass baking dish. Bake about 45 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.

Enjoy!

Kale + Spinach Salad

My sister recently returned home from a weekend getaway to Alabama. Not only did she get to visit a dear friend, but she also got the chance to live off the land. That's right, her friend lives on a farm. Luckily, I also reaped the benefits of farm living; she brought home fresh picked kale. With Thanksgiving just days away, I figured the perfect side to bring to our annual feast would be a simple kale + spinach salad - a nice way to offset the massive amount of stuffing I planned to consume.

This is the perfect salad for any occasion though and is so simple to make.

What you'll need:
A bunch of kale (any kind will do) - rinsed, dried, stems removed
A handful of baby spinach -rinsed and dried
1/4 cup currents
one lemon
1.5 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp organic honey
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
salt and pepper
Shaved Parmesan cheese

What to do:
I like to chop the kale and spinach nice and small, so I throw it in the Vitamix. This is, of course, optional, but it makes the kale and spinach dense. If you use the vitamix, throw in the kale and spinach in small bunches and set the vitamix to low just for a few seconds. Empy the container and throw in another bunch. Continue this process until you chop up all the greens.

In a medium size bowl whisk together the juice of one lemon, olive oil, honey, and salt and pepper. Then add the kale, spinach, currents, pine nuts, and cheese. Toss until the greens are nicely coated with the dressing.

That's it!

Lemon Blueberry Greek Yogurt Bread

I can tell it's almost summertime. Suddenly, I want to try new recipes. Ahhh...only a few more weeks, and I'll be free to cook all day everyday! Baking typically isn't my thing that's mostly because measuring isn't my thing. Though I tried my best to measure here, I still just threw the salt in by eye (I added a measurement for this recipe though).

Anyone who spends a bit of time with me knows I'm always trying to make something both delicious AND healthy. My friend Liz said it best, "I feel like everything in the grocery store is poison " Boy is she right. Although I'm not going to be perfect with everything I eat, I do want control over what I'm making at home. That means less sugar, less processed garbage, and less fat (without sacrificing quality). So, this recipe is adapted from others I found and tried, but here I substituted honey (only processed once) for sugar (processed many times) and I substituted half the butter for unsweetened applesauce.

What you'll need:

Whenever possible, use organic. Those pesticides are poison!

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup lemon yogurt (I one lemon Chobani mixed with a little plain from a larger container)
• 3/4 cup honey
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 4 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed
• 1 Tablespoons flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease bottom and sides of 9×5″ loaf pan.  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.  Yes, you need to sift here. Don't cut corners and believe me, I get it - I'm just as impatient as you are. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, honey, eggs, butter, applesauce and lemon zest.  Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with 1 Tablespoon flour, then gently fold into batter.  

Pour the batter into loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.  

Because there aren't any preservatives n this bread, it's best to keep it in the refrigerator for up to a week or simple slice freeze the slices individually. 

Enjoy!