May 14, 2013

Lentil Vegetable Soup

I love meat, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I enjoy a good meat free meal.  And this soup fits the bill.  If I were to serve a meat free supper, I am pretty confident that my husband would pack up his things.  He is a farm boy, meat and potato raised.  I don't believe the term "meat free" is even in his vocabulary.  That's ok, it just means I get to enjoy all the tasty recipes good ole blogland gives me!


This recipe is from a sausage lentil soup I have and have made before, this time I left out the meat and added more veggies.  I made a big batch and plan to eat it all week for lunch.  It's one of those soups that tastes better the longer it's in the fridge.

Lentil Vegetable Soup-
1/2 bag of lentils rinsed and drained
2-3 medium carrots- chopped
1 red bell pepper- chopped
1/2 green bell pepper- chopped
1/2 onion- chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/4-1/2 tsp. cumin
1 bay leaf
2 cans broth (I used 1 can vegetable and 1 can beef)
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

Saute carrots, peppers and onion in olive oil 5 minutes, add chopped garlic.  Mix in lentils, cumin, bay leaf and broth.  Bring to a boil and simmer until lentils are soft.  Remember to take out the bay leaf!


May 2, 2013

Freezer Cooking Day

One thing I have started doing since working outside the home is to do one day a month of freezer cooking.  I love having meals in the freezer that I can pull out and are ready to be baked when the girls get home from school.  My work schedule has changed for now because it has been so slow.  I've always had Friday's off, and now I get Monday's off too.  I know, don't hate me...*ducks*
Obviously, I love this schedule as it gives me lots of freedom to do things that I haven't been able to do since having kids!  Like go out to lunch with friends, volunteer in school and so on.  


I sure enjoy having that day to get things prepared for the week!  This week I made meatballs ala Pioneer Woman, they are soooooo delicious, and flavorful.  I also made Tator Tot Hotdish, Cheeseburger Quiche from my 30 Day Gourmet Freezer Cooking Manual, red sauce for lasagna, granola, pancakes and homemade Lara bars.   My fail for the day was the pancakes.


I found a recipe online for pancakes using coconut flour that I've had on hand for awhile, but never used.   I don't know that I will keep the flour, as it is very hard to work with.  Coconut flour absorbs liquids very quickly, therefore you need to use more liquid than normal.  This recipe called for 6 eggs.  Yowsa!  The pancakes were very eggy tasting and none of us cared for them.  Emma said she would eat them with a lot of syrup...Alayna said it tasted like a sugared homelet (her version of an omelet).  Not sure if my flour was old, or if that is really how they are supposed to taste???

Anyone else ever tried coconut flour?