Monday, July 21, 2014

LENTIL SOUP FOR THE SOUL

We just got back from the Dr and we spent the whole day there. It was a long and tedious day. James was thinking the worst, and we were in the office sitting on the other side of the Dr's desk waiting to compare lung X-rays from a year ago. There was that panic moment, when you are looking at the X-rays and thinking you see a cloud or something even more menacing. 

Good news, the Dr pulled up the X-ray from one year ago yesterday and they are identical. In other words, his Sarcoidosis has not progressed and he was probably suffering from a virus or a nasty bug. They also checked his eyes, and it has not affected them either. He will still need to see a Sarcoidosis specialist but we can now breath a sigh of relief. It probably is still stage zero. 

We walk two miles to get there, and we walked two miles to get home. I took some lovely photos of trees and fountains on the trek home. We also stopped at Trader Joe's. I realized I had not made my Italian Style Lentil soup in a while. 

When I returned home I checked my blog for what I wrote about this day last year, and I posted my Lentil Soup recipe. Yesterday this time last year was the hospital. I find the timing and coincidence of doing the exact same thing a year ago very interesting.

Here is the recipe, it is amazing and healthy and vegetarian. It is Vegan without the Parmesan Cheese. I now like to serve it with toasted Ezekial Sprouted bread with crushed garlic.
Manga'



ITALIAN STYLE LENTIL SOUP

You will need


One bag of dried lentils


A few tablespoons of olive oil ( I use two to three)

Chopped up onions, celery, and carrots. Enough to fill up the bottom of a semi large pot. I use Mirepoix 14.5 oz from Trader Joe's, it is already pre-cut and I just add my own garlic. I use about six garlic cloves.
If you do not find Mirepoix use one large onion, two carrots, and two celery stalks, chopped fine.

Two  cartons of vegetable stock 32 fl oz. I use trader Joe's.  You can use regular or low sodium, I have tried both. I usually use the low sodium vegetable broth.

One large can of diced tomatoes in juice.


One small can of tomato paste

Sea salt, ground pepper, dried basil.

Parmesan cheese to garnish

Saute garlic, onion, celery, and carrots in olive oil for a few minutes til the onion caramelizes and the vegetables cook down. Salt,pepper, and add some basil as you are cooking the vegetables. After they cook down mix in one small can of tomato paste.

Add full bag of lentils, 2 cartons of vegetable stock, and whole can of tomatoes with juice. You may need to add a little bit of water to fill pot up.

Add a bit more salt, pepper, and dried basil for flavor and stir.

Bring to a rolling boil, then simmer on low for 45 minutes covered.

When finished you can sprinkle Parmesan cheese and mix it in for more flavor.

I once sauteed some kale and added it to the soup right before it was finished cooking. It made it richer and more stew like.

I serve this with warmed whole grain bread from the bakery. It is absolutely delicious.

I hope you try and enjoy my Italian Lentil Soup Recipe. I love it and sometimes it is difficult to only have one bowl. Love and light to all from my west coast home to yours. Ciao for now.
Namaste'

Rose

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