Winter Lentil Soup

It is soup season and I am so so excited! I truly believe that Winter is my time to experiment with my meals, especially with soups! I usually try and have at least one night a week for soup with bread of course. If you are like me and go grocery shopping once a week, try having your "soup night" dinner on the day before you go grocery shopping. This will be your last chance to use your veggies that could be starting go, and a soup is a perfect place for them!


Here is one of my favorite soups! It is easy and oh so delicious!

Winter Lentil Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 leek (white and light green parts), cut into 1/4-inch-thick half-moons

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup spinach (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup lentils (any color works)

1 tablespoon thyme

salt and black pepper, to taste

Grated Parmesan (optional)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.

Add 6 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Stir in the sweet potatoes, lentils, thyme, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Simmer until the lentils are tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Add in spinach for the last 5 minutes. 

Spoon into bowls and top with the Parmesan, if using.

I hope you enjoy this soup as my family does. Hubby loves it (add its vegetarian)!!! Hailey loves it (we have her cooled sweet potatoes and lentils)!!! I love it for so many reasons. One main one is that it is a vegetarian dinner, secondly, this soup only takes about 45 minutes to make! How awesome is that?! 

-Kir

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers was always one of my favorite meals that mom would make when I was younger. I had always thought it was a difficult dish to make, however, making it myself, I now realize that it is super simple to create! I make my mine vegetarian style, however you can easily add ground beef or turkey if you would like. This is a gorgeous dish with lots of color and is a great healthy dish that we have at least once a month! I almost always make enough "inside goodness" to freeze for a future quick meal, or if Mark just wants a snack on the weekends without the bell pepper. 

Stuffed Bell Peppers

2 Tb. olive oil

1/2 onion, diced

1 zucchini, diced

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 cup rice, cooked (I use brown)

3 Tb chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1/4 cup cheese, grated (I like either mozzarella or colby jack...whatever you have should work)

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. chili powder (or more if you like some heat)

salt and pepper, to taste

4 peppers, stemmed and seeded (depends on size of peppers, might need more)

4 slices of cheese (to cover the peppers at the end of cooking)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking dish with parchment paper.

In a frying pan, heat oil and cook onions and zucchini until softened.

In a large bowl, combine rice, beans, corn, tomatoes, and the cooked veggies. Mix well. 

In a small bowl, combine spices and combine with rice mixture. Add in cilantro and grated cheese. Set aside.

Boil water in a large pot and cook your bell peppers until they begin to get soft. Take out and cool.

To assemble peppers: Place pepper in the baking dish and fill with rice mixture. Fill all peppers with mixture and bake about 25 minutes. Place sliced cheese on top for the last two minutes of cooking. 

Serve immediately. 

My combined rice mixture

Boiling the peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers!!!

This is a simple meal that can be made with basically whatever you have. One of the many reason why I love it! 

Hubby's Rating: 4 MMMM's! The sweetness of the yellow peppers is fantastic.This is a delicious way to get lots of veggies.  Definitely good stuff.

Enjoy your veggies this week!

-Kir

Summer Veggie Pizza

There are few meals I actually feel comfortable cooking for other people...  But give me some pizza dough and some fresh veggies, and I've got enough confidence to feed someone my culinary creations. 

This pizza is perfect for summertime because the veggies it calls for are fresh and in season (ie: inexpensive). Hit up your favorite grocery store or even better, farmers market, to stock up on zucchini, tomatoes, and sweet onions. 

Ingredients

Pilsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough

Pesto Sauce

1 large sweet yellow onion

2 medium size zucchinis

2.5 ounces cherry tomatoes

4 ounces goat cheese

3 handfuls of shredded Italian cheese blend

Start off my chopping all of the veggies. This is a perfect meal to prepare with a spouse or

 significant other because there is quite a bit of prep work. 

 

Don't worry about cutting the onion perfectly... I don't! ;)

 

Loooove tomatoes! Such a pretty red color! Cut the tomatoes in half!

 

Slice the zucchini! 

Start off my caramelizing the onions. Coat your pan with a non stick cooking spray, throw the onions inside, place on the stove, cover, and turn the heat to medium. Stir every few minutes or the onions will burn on the bottom of the pan. Carmelizing onions takes about 30 minutes. Your onions are done when they look like this...

After the onions have been cooking for about 15 minutes, coat a pan with non stick spray, place the zucchini in the pan, and place on the stove on medium heat. Saute the zucchini until the centers are slightly translucent and look like this...

 Now, prepare the dough according to the instructions on the package. 

After the pre-bake segment, spread the dough with pesto and top with goat cheese.

 Next, top with all of the veggies. First add the onions, then the zucchini,

 and last but not least, those cute little tomatoes!

Then add the cheese! I used three handfuls of an Italian cheese blend, 

but you can use your favorite cheese and I'm sure it will be tasty!

 Pop that baby in the oven and bake according to the dough instructions! 

Get ready to enjoy this amazing pizza, piled high with fresh ingredients!

Cheers!

Meg