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Squash and lentil leftovers soup

I've been away for a few days in the Eastern Townships and am only getting around to posting this now.  I had some leftovers I needed to clear out of the fridge at the end of last week and wondered what they would be like together in a soup so... necessity being the mother of invention, behold Squash and Lentil Leftover Soup!

It started with the leftover of the baked butternut squash (400f for 30-40 min, drizzled with a little olive oil, salt and pepper), canned green lentils leftover from the stroganoff, and a red bell pepper that was starting to look sad.  Added onion, garlic, some Indian spices and ended up with a hearty fall soup bursting with flavour.

Squash and Lentil Soup:
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed and sliced
- 1-2 t fresh grated ginger, to taste
- 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
- 1/2 t ground coriander
- 1 t ground curry
- 1/4 t tumeric
- 1/4 t ground cumin
- 1/4 t salt
- 1 cup cooked lentils (I used green but I bet red would be great)
- 2 cups baked butternut squash, mashed
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (I used GoBio! organic vegetable bouillon cubes)

Sauté onion, garlic, pepper and spices in olive oil in a medium heavy pot on low-med heat, stirring frequently until soft (4-5 minutes).  Add lentils, squash and broth, mix well and heat until desired temperature reached.  Remove from heat and blend partially with an immersion blender, if desired.

Serves 3-4

Same old, same old... soy allergy?

Do you ever get yourself into a cooking rut?  Sticking to the same meals/recipes time and time again?  I seem to be in one these days.  I think its due to part crazyness that is the back-to-school season, part lack of imagination and part desire to turn to good reliable foods repeatedly.  

Case in point this week, for the umpteenth time, I made a favorite quick and cheap fall-back I found on My Vegan Cookbook:

Mushroom-lentil stroganoff

I tweaked the recipe a bit by substituting a container of Belsoy cooking cream for the silken tofu, which makes it extra creamy and sour-cream-like.

The next night we had the tempeh 'crab' cakes previously featured here, along with oven fried Quebec potatoes and baked local butternut squash, which I love just drizzled with olive oil and a little salt and pepper.

I then had leftovers of these meals for lunches.  That's all good... except... over those days I had an increase of symptoms, mainly dermatological, like itchy skin with welts, and sinus congestion, that I've been bothered by on and off on a fairly regular basis since going mainly veg at the beginning of the year.  It finally dawned on me to look up the symptoms of soy allergies.  Aha... this is sounding pretty familiar to me I thought.  So I haven't had any soy since mid-day yesterday and I'm already feeling much better.  I'm going to go a few more days and then introduce a small amount to see what happens.  Depending on how the experiment goes, I'll be needing to get much more creative with my recipes. 

The Great Pumpkin Beer

You know its fall in Montreal when.... St. Ambroise brews up their Great Pumpkin Ale. 
A spicy blend of malt, wheat, hops, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and .. yes.. pumpkin. 

Chickpea cutlets are da bomb!

Okay, okay, so I’m late to the party.  I wonder how many people have actually blogged these babies from Veganomicon already?  There’s a reason people rave about them.  Yes, in case you were still wondering, they ARE as good as everyone says :)

 

I went to town in the kitchen today, for me anyway, knowing that my days of carefree cooking time are likely coming to a close.  I even soaked and cooked the chickpeas from scratch.  No cans were harmed in the making of this meal.

Served with smashed new Quebec potatoes (skin on) and braised local leek, carrots and broccoli.  Topped with a quick gravy of veggie "chicken" broth with a little flour and nutritional yeast.  When only comfort food will do.