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

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.

Perfectly Filling and Tasty Vegetable Soup

 

I discovered how to make vegetable soups decades ago, and to be perfectly honest now two are ever exactly the same. That's why I'm not very specific about quantities. I don't measure, though I do have a very good eye for quantities. I instantly know how much to put in a pot. You may have to experiment, but on the whole, especially if you're using dried beans, barley, lentils or peas, remember that they swell. So they should only cover the bottom of the pot. 

Ingredients

lentils, pearl barley and split peas
onion
fresh garlic
celeriac 
carrot
squash
coarse salt, coarse black pepper and dehydrated parsley

Instructions

1. Put the lentils, pearl barley and split peas in the pot, and check for small stones or anything that shouldn't be there.
2. Pour boiling water and cover. Wait at least a couple of hours.
3. Cut all the vegetables, and add them to the pot. 
4. Add a couple of spoons of vegetable oil, whichever you like for cooking.
5. Start cooking, and add boiling water, not too close to the top of the pot. Two-thirds full is good, usually.
6. Add the seasoning.
7. Heat to a boil, and then lower flame to simmer. 
8. Simmer for at least an hour.

That's it. Enjoy!

PS You can add other vegetables, seasoning etc.

Enjoyed Israeli Election Day, Grandkids, Baking etc.

photo by Yisrael Medad, yes, my husband

Yesterday there were elections here in Israel for the third time in less than a year. Of course I voted. I even managed to color-coordinate my outfit to blue and white, almost matching the election paraphernalia at the polling station. It's a good thing that denim is blue.

The weather was still pretty wintery, though my friend and I took a nice morning walk. Due to cold, damp winds, I decided not to do laundry, but I was busy with lots of other "domestic" activities.

For me the highlight of Election Day is that some of our kids still come to Shiloh to vote. I set up a table with all sorts of arts & crafts activities for the two cutest and most creative pre-school girls. They each left with a bag of pipe-cleaners, with which they could create even in the car.



Yesterday we dined on my version of "orange" lentil vegetable soup, freshly made. It includes two types of lentils, orange and brown. Besides onions the vegetables are all orange, carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. The only additional ingredients, besides water and some vegetable oil, are dehydrated dill, coarse salt and pepper. It was very easy to make; I just used one pot.



Besides voting and soup-making I baked. Between Purim and the next few Shabbatot, we're going to have to finish all this before Pesach. I used my standard recently tweaked challah recipe, which is very easy. I don't have a mixer. It was all hand-kneaded.

The cakes and cupcakes were a version of my standard basic simple one-bowl cake recipe, which I've been baking for almost half a century. This time I added mashed bananas and chocolate chips. Of course, I have almost always baked with brown sugar and whole wheat flour, nowadays 70% extra fine. And as I had mentioned earlier, I don't have a mixer. This was all mixed by hand with a large spoon, and the bananas were mashed with a simple low-tech potato masher.

Easy Filling Vegetable Lentil Soup

Why do I post so many Vegetable Soup recipes/posts?

That's because, they're all a bit different, and I never follow an exact recipe!

Yesterday afternoon, while observing the Tisha B'Av fast, an important event on the Jewish Calendar, I realized that I had better start preparations for my fast-breaking vegetable soup. Since I wanted a nice hearty soup with lentils and brown rice, it needed time.

Ingredients- Quantities aren't holy, just recommendations:
1/3 cup brown rice (I used round brown)
1/3 cup orange lentils
1/3 cup brown lentils
1 large onion, diced
2 medium carrots cut
1 large squash cut
1/2 sweet potato (you can use a whole one) cut
pinch plus of coarse salt
coarse black pepper
1/4 cup dehydrated dill
vegetable oil
boiling water

Step #1
Check the rice and lentils. Add to a large pot, pour in boiling water to cover plus, cover and leave for at least an hour.

Step #2

An hour or more before you want to serve the soup, add the rest of the ingredients. Water should not reach more than a couple of inches from the top of the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower the flame to simmer. Cook covered.

Step #3

Stir periodically. You may have to add a bit more water. Turn off heat when the lentils and rice are nice and soft. Keep covered until serving. Yes, that's it. Very easy and simple to make. You can add other vegetables, seasonings etc. 

Surprisingly Simple Low Carb Vegetable Soup

Today was a fast day according to the Jewish Calendar, the (delayed/postponed*) 17th of Tammuz. As is my custom, I made a vegetable soup for the fast-breaking meal. Personally, I feel better eating soup after a fast. Raw vegetables "burn" my mouth. I eat a few bowls of soup after drinking lots of water. Since the only lentils in the house were these quick-cooking orange lentils, that's what I used. They are perfect for soups, especially when you don't have much time, which was the case today. I slept away too much of the afternoon and started my cooking much later than usual. Orange lentils cook very quickly, barely ten minutes, which was perfect.

Ingredients, sorry but you don't need exact quantities

1/2 cup orange lentils
3 medium carrots
1 large onion
2 small squash (light zucchini)
generous handful of dehydrated dill
a bit of oil, coarse salt and pepper
water

Preparation

1. check lentils for stones, bugs whatever
2. cut onion rather small
3. add onion to pot with lentils and a bit of vegetable oil
4. heat on medium flame for a few minutes
5. add boiling water to cover
6. cover pot and lower flame to simmer
7. cut carrots and squash into bite size pieces
8. add to pot along with the dill, salt and pepper
9. add more water, but not too high in the pot
10. medium flame until boiling, then simmer
11. It should be ready in 15-20 minutes, though you can cook it longer. Just check if the vegetables are soft.

You can add more vegetables and seasoning in you want.

ENJOY!  And tell me how yours came out, how your varied it etcetera.

*The actual date 17th of Tammuz fell on Shabbat when we don't fast, with the exception of Yom Kippur. So the fasting took place on Sunday the 18th of Tammuz

Nothing Better than Vegetable Soup

Yesterday afternoon I made myself a much too full pot of vegetable soup full of brown lentils, onion, carrots, ginger, squash, garlic and finely sliced mushrooms. Yes, that's all the ingredients, plus a bit of oil and water, of course.

Cooking on my new gas stove top is such a pleasure. One advantage is that it heats and cooks so quickly. I no longer have to boil water in the electric kettle for cooking purposes. The old electric hotplate I had been using was so slow, I was always supplementing with the kettle, whether for pasta, soup etc.

To make this soup, I started a few of hours early and put the lentils in the pot, added water to cover, plus, and then boiled it for a few minutes, turned off the flame and covered the covered pot with a towel to keep in the heat.

Then, about an hour or more before I needed to eat the soup, I cut up all the vegetables and added them to the lentils, topping with some cooking oil, and began to cook it all on a high flame. As soon as it began to boil, I added more water until about an inch, 2cm from the top of the pot. Then I had it reach boil again and lowered the flame to simmer. Actually, I moved the pot from the double-flame to a weaker one.

When the soup looked almost cooked, vegetables were soft, I added some coarse salt and coarse pepper. It's better to add less than you think would be good, since people can always add more, but you can't reduce salt and pepper in cooked food. About ten minutes later I turned off the flame and let the food continue cooking on its own. It didn't need more than a total of forty minutes of cooking time.

This, easy to prepare, vegan vegetable soup is a full meal. If you eat dairy, you can put a slice of yellow cheese on the bottom of your bowl before serving for an extra tasty protein treat.

Enjoy!

Low-Tech "Blended" Vegetable Soup

I don't have a stick blender. I did have one many years ago, and since I didn't use it, I passed it on to one of my daughters. She loves it, and I'm pretty sure that by now, that cheap one I got as a bonus, when buying something else, has been replaced at least once.


To be honest, I can't even remember when I last used the potato-masher. It may have been decades ago.

Yesterday's Vegetable Soup was very easy to make. It's my basic one-pot recipe, which I've made before. I don't measure; there's no need to.

Ingredients

• dried peas
• onion
• garlic
• carrot
• squash
• pumpkin
• dehydrated parsley
• whatever vegetable oil you like
• coarse salt and pepper to taste
• boiling water, time-saver rather than tap

Directions

1. Check peas, put in pot, add boiling water to cover plus.
2. Cover and leave for at least an hour.
3. Cut vegetables.
4. Add vegetables and oil to pot.
5. Start cooking on high flame/heat until boiling, then lower to simmer
6. Add more boiling water, no higher than 2", two inches from top of pot. 
7. After half an hour add parsley, salt and pepper. 
8. Cook for at least 10 minutes more. Turn off flame, and let it "sit" for another 10 minutes.
9. Mash optional, and serve.

PS You can always add more vegetables or leave out the pumpkin or squash. And of course you can cook with fresh parsley. I almost added some sweet potato but wanted to cut our the carbohydrates, so added an additional squash. If you want a heartier soup, then add barley or rice to the peas.

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?

Sweet Vegetable Soup Sans Sugar

Yesterday was a fast day on the Jewish Calendar, the postponed 17th of Tamuz, which commemorates the beginning of the loss of Jerusalem and destruction of the Holy Temples. It's a daylong/light fast, beginning with the first light of dawn and ending in darkness. Being that (in the northern hemisphere) we're in early summer, when day's are longest, it feels like it goes on forever, and we finally eat after my usual dinner time. I like to break fasts on vegetable soup. And I enjoy spending the last few hours of a fast puttering in the kitchen preparing homemade vegetable soup.

Before I left for a morning's learning in Matan, Jerusalem, I left some chickpeas to soak in boiling water for the soup. Chickpeas take a long time to prepare, unlike lentils. But I figured that the day would be long enough for the chickpeas to soften.

A few hours before the fast ended, I decided it was time to go to the kitchen and turn the chickpeas into a soup. My soups are never the same. I don't measure, and I rarely plan.

Since I knew there was plenty of pumpkin and sweet potatoes in the fridge, I decided to base my soup on those ingredients. In Israel it's very popular to make an Orange Soup, which then gets blended into a creamy sweet soup. But I don't have one of those blender sticks, and I davka like to chew...

I added more boiling water to the chickpeas and put it on the stove to cook. Then I cut up onion and garlic and added them to the chickpeas.

Next I took out the pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, squash and some ginger root, which I store in the freezer.

I cut up all the ingredients and added them, too. Now, I do have a system when it comes to cooking different sorts of vegetables together. There is a big difference in cooking times between carrots and pumpkin, for instance. Carrots take the longest to cook, so they go in first. After that the sweet potato, squash, ginger and pumpkin.

I added some vegetable oil and boiling water, covered and then lowered the heat to a simmer. Once I could see that the vegetables had begun to soften I added a bit of coarsely ground pepper and some coarse salt. That was it.

The soup cooked for about 40 minutes. And then I left it to finish by itself, no flame. It was absolutely delicious, very sweet, not savory.

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.

Perfect Vegetable Soup

Yesterday I was home, sort of "chilling," totally relaxing and cooking a bit. It was a Jewish fast day, the 10th of Tevet. Luckily I'm not one of those "taste as I cook" people. I go by "eyeball" and smell. In the morning until early afternoon, besides lounging on the couch all I did was to take about a cup of dried peas, put it in a pot and pour boiling water over them. I covered the pot and let it all "sit." The peas cook best, get nice and mushy when prepared that way. You also need less time on the stove.

Ingredients, plus the peas and
a chunk of pumpkin

About three hours before the end of the fast, I felt energetic enough to start the soup. I took out the ingredients you can see on the right, plus the peas and a nice chunk of raw pumpkin. You can use an acorn squash or something similar if you can't get the pumpkin. I only cook with fresh vegetables.

The quantity I made was good for a pot of about 3-4 quarts or liters. I don't measure. By the time I put in all of the ingredients, the pot was pretty full to make a very nourishing soup. My Vegetable Soup is a meal, since the peas provide protein, and after fasting I can't eat raw vegetables.

Ingredients:
large onion
fresh garlic
mushrooms
carrots
green squash, zucchini would be fine, too
fresh pumpkin
dried peas, lentils can be substituted or combined with the peas
1T vegetable oil of your choice, optional
coarse salt and coarse ground pepper "to taste"
When in doubt under-season, since it's easier for people to add than to get rid of oversalting etc.

Instructions:
pour lentils/peas in the pot and cover-plus with boiling water
cover pot also with a thick towel to keep in the heat
after at least an hour, even 6 or more, add cut vegetables, except for the pumpkin
add the oil
start cooking
add boiling water to about 2 inches, 5cm, from top of pot
when boiling, lower to simmer
add pumpkin, since it cooks much more quickly than the other vegetables
season with salt and pepper
when it looks soft, turn it off and again cover with a towel until serving

Perfect Chicken-Less Chicken Soup With Vegetables

This is the soup I made for the pre and post Yom Kippur fast meals. For those who aren't Jewish, Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the year, and observing it includes a 25 hour fast, from just before dusk until night the following day. There are many Jews who aren't otherwise observant, but they still fast. For example, yesterday, just minutes before the fast was to begin, one of Israel's top tennis players, Dudi Sela, forfeited a game at a major tournament.

This is a Chicken-Less Chicken Soup, because, although I did make the stock with a nice big chicken, you can't see any sign of that chicken in the soup itself.  That's because I first began making the soup the day before. I boiled up a chicken in water for just over half an hour. I checked to see if the chicken was fully cooked before removing it from the soup. I then refrigerated both the soup and the chicken separately.

The next morning I checked and saw that there was a thick layer of hard fat on the soup stock. I carefully spooned it off and then began making the soup. First I put about two-thirds 2/3 a cup of barley on the bottom of a pot. You can use more or less, depending on what you like. And as you can see, I also cut up an onion for the soup. Then I poured the fatless stock onto the barley and onions and cooked it until the barley was swollen.

Once the barely seemed cooked, I added parsley root, carrots, mushrooms and parsley leaves to the soup.

If you think it needs more water, then add to the cooking soup. I did. Just before turning off the flame, I seasoned with a bit of coarse salt and pepper. Of course you can use different vegetables, though I do consider onions and carrots necessities.

Here's my bowl of soup from the pre-Yom Kippur meal. It was very easy to make.

Enjoy, and tell me what you did with this basic recipe, thanks.

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

Post Fast Vegetable Soup Simmering on Stove

As I had written on Shiloh Musings, it's a fast day today. I like breaking the fast on a nice freshly cooked vegetable soup. Yes, it's on the stove right now.

I trust it will be fully cooked in time to eat it right after the fast.

This is a very easy to make soup. The peas have been soaking for hours in boiling water, which has since cooled. Then before cooking I added fresh garlic, onion, carrot and squash. On top of that I poured a bit of oil and sprinkled some dill.

After it came to a boil, I lowered the heat to a simmer. Thanks to the facebook friends who helped me remember the proper word which didn't come to my fuel starved mind. I'll probably add some more water, boiling so as not to slow down the cooking and also some salt and pepper.

The delicious cooking aroma of the soup is driving me mad...

B"H the fast is over in less than an hour.

Just adding a picture. Here's the soup. I had a few bowls...