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

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!

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

"Sweet" Vegetable Soup, Kosher for Passover and Good All Year

Generally my Vegetable Soups are based on some sort of legume, which I don't eat on the Passover Holiday, but this soup is different. I made it to go with the Vegan aka "Eggless" Matzah Balls, Kneidlach.

As you can see from the photo above, these are the ingredients, cut in bite-size chunks:

onion
carrot
mushroom
parsley root
sweet potato
fresh parsley

I sauteed them in olive oil and then added water, covered of course, to boil and then simmer after adding the matzah balls.

The sweet potatoes and mushroom added the flavor and richness to substitute for my usual peas or lentils. As it cooked the aroma was sweet. This is definitely a filling and festive soup, but so easy to make.

Chickpea Mushroom Vegetable Soup

Yes, it tastes as good as it looks!

Like many Jewish housewives, this is the season to try to use up what has been hiding in the pantry before the Passover Holiday. I'm not quite sure when I bought a package of chickpeas, but it was certainly many months ago, most probably in the summer or even the spring. That's because I found it unopened in the fridge. If it had been bought in the fall or winter, it would have been in the closet.

Beans can keep for years. Just look at the expiration date on the packages, but like many Jewish housewives I like to get the house as empty of food as possible before Pesach.

Usually I make my vegetable soups with quicker and easier to cook lentils, split peas etc, not beans or chickpeas which need more soaking and cooking. But Saturday night when I realized that I'd be home most of Sunday and Monday, I began preparing the chickpeas for a soup.

1. I checked for bugs and stones first; all was clear. Then before going to bed I left them soaking in water. In the morning, I spilled out the water, added more and boiled them. Then I let them simmer and then they sat in the hot water. I ate one to see if they were sufficiently soft, and they were chewy enough. 
2. Time for the cut vegetables:

• onions
• garlic
• carrots
• squash
• mushrooms
• a couple of spoons (I never measure) of vegetable oil
• salt, pepper and parsley

    3. Saute the vegetables in a covered pan on a low flame until they begin to soften.

    4. Add the chickpeas, including the water, and even add more water--boiling water for faster cooking. 

    5. After half hour or more, when it all seems cooked, but not overcooked, add the salt, pepper and parsley. Cook another few minutes, turn off heat and leave it for at least ten minutes before serving.

EXACT MEASUREMENTS ARE NOT IMPORTANT!!

Enjoy! I'd like to know how it came out if you try the recipe.

Mushroom and Vegetable Soup, Easy to Make and Delicious

For most people it's Mushroom and Barley Soup or Cream of Mushroom Soup, but yesterday while making my extra easy Vegetable Soup, I suddenly thought of those nice big mushrooms in the fridge and decided to add them to my break the fast extra easy Vegetable Soup.

It was so delicious that my husband even complimented me on it. And it really was easy to make.

Ingredients, no need to measure:

• enough dried peas to very generously coat the bottom of your pot
• boiling water to drown the peas and later more to speed up the cooking process
• large onion cut up
• a few big carrots or lots of small ones, thickly sliced, or thin in the food processor, however you like it
• a few pieces of fresh garlic cut up
• a couple of green squash or zucchini
• a few or a lot of mushroom, cut into large pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• cooking oil, soy, canola or olive, whatever you like

Instructions:

• A couple of hours before cooking, if you have the time, pour some boiling water over the peas, cover the pot and leave to pre-cook the peas. If you don't have the chance to do it early, you'll just have to cook the soup a bit longer until the peas soften. 
• Cut up all the vegetables and add them to the peas. Also add more boiling water and a couple of spoons of oil. The water shouldn't go over a thumb length from the top of the pot.
• Heat on a medium flame/heat until boiling, then lower the heat to simmer. Always cook soup covered. 
• When it's almost ready, add the salt and pepper. You'll need less that way.

If you had pre-cooked the peas, then the soup will be ready in about 45 minutes, otherwise it will take at least an hour or more. Don't serve it immediately after turning off the heat. The soup will finish cooking from its own heat, so take that into account. I sometimes cover the pot with a heavy towel after the flame is turned off to make sure it's really cooked well.

You can also add other vegetables and also greens like dill or parsley. Let me know how it comes out if you try it.