Anyone have a recipe for vegetarian lentil soup that actually tastes worth a tinkers' damn? There are a lot of mediocre, uninteresting veggie lentil soups out there -- mediocre when they are not downright nasty.

Meat stock in lentil soup works better, and even adding saturated fat in the form of bacon grease or butter improves veggie lentil soup -- looks like the addition of chopped cooked bacon may be just the thing. Of course, that wouldn't do for a vegetarian recipe -- so who has one they actually like, beyond faint praise? Trying the pea-soup trick of adding a few drops of dark sesame oil seems to show promise.

I've not tried this recipie but sometimes rice is a good filler for meat. I personally would use white rice so as not to overpower the lentils. I would also add celery and carrots too. I like bean soup but have been skeptical about trying lentils.

I think the onion soup mix might give you the flavor you desire. I have some creole seasoning mix that is really good for beans too.


LENTIL & BROWN RICE SOUP 3/4 c. dried lentils
1/2 c. brown/reg. rice, uncooked
6 c. water
1/2-1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 pkg. onion soup mix (I sub. 2 bouillon cubes)
2 cloves minced garlic
3 oz. spinach, cut into 1/2" strips (about 1 c.)
2 tbsp. snipped cilantro or parsley
3 tbsp. lemon juice
Heat lentils, rice, water, cumin, salt, pepper and soup mix (dry) to boiling in 4 quart Dutch oven; reduce heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 40 minutes.Stir in spinach, cilantro and lemon juice until spinach is wilted. Serve with additional snipped cilantro and lemon slices if desired.

Chicken Breast Bundles
 

An old friend came by for lunch today. We made 1/2 of this. I had the breast cooked in butter and olive oil when she came. She did the rest was great.

Bundles
1/4 cup butter or margarine
8 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 oz each)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cans (8 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 package (4 oz) garlic-and-herb spreadable cheese
1 egg, beaten, if desired

2. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray. In 12-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Sprinkle chicken breasts with pepper; add to skillet. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until well browned on all sides. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Unroll both cans of the dough and separate into 8 rectangles; press each into 6x4-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.
4. Spread cheese evenly in center of each dough rectangle; place chicken over cheese. Bring corners of dough together over chicken and press to seal; place on cookie sheet.
5. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until deep golden brown, brushing lightly with egg during last 5 minutes of baking time. Stir chutney; serve with warm chicken bundles.

I'll probably be making a batch of this this week sometime.


Sauce Bolognese
Prep time 90 min to 2 hrs. This is the old-school stuff from an 80-y.o. Italian mama.

5 cloves Garlic, 3 and 2
¼ cup Olive Oil
about 1 lb. Ground Beef or Ground Pork
2 cans Crushed Tomatoes
¼ cup White Wine
fresh Parsley
fresh or dried Basil, optional
Black Pepper, Red Pepper, to taste – light on the Red

1. On low heat, brown three of the Garlic cloves in the Olive Oil.
2. Remove cloves, add ground Beef or Pork, brown.
3. In a separate pan, simmer crushed Tomatoes over low heat. Keep at light simmer. Use diffuser if necessary – like if you have cheap cookware.
4. When meat is browned, drain excess oil if necessary, add White Wine, simmer about 5 minutes.
5. Add meat to the simmering tomatoes, cook about 1 ½ hours. Cooking time depends on your taste for the acidity of the tomatoes (longer cooking means less acidic?), and how acid they are.
6. ½ hour after adding meat, add fresh Parsley and the other two cloves Garlic, and the Basil – 1 sprig if fresh Basil, or sprinkle in some dried, to taste.

Tried it out last night. Definitely simmer two hours if not more, or at the two-hour mark do what I did and stir in one small can of tomato paste to thicken without burning. Slow simmer really seems to be the secret. Something else that will affect how long you cook it is how wet you want the sauce -- I dislike sauce that leaves a puddle of red water under the pasta, so I'm going with longer simmering.

Cranberry Liqueur

24 oz Cranberries; pkgs fresh
4 c Sugar
3 c Gin (the most inexpensive
Chop Cranberries in food processor or blender. Put in a large lidded jar.
Add sugar and gin. Store for 2 weeks, turning or shaking container daily. Strain off cranberries reserve for dessert topping, or use in cranberry nut bread.
Decant liqueur into appropriate bottle. Keeps indefinitely.
(To strain off cranberries I use a bandanna and squeeze the hell out of them)
This is awesome in champagne
To make a cranberry martini
In good whiskey
Just on ice
The dregs are awesome on ice cream with a reduction of the liqueur, mmmmmm

Blueberry Liqueur
2 lb frozen blueberries, chopped
4 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups (cheap carbon filtered) vodka

place in a container (I used an old 1 gal plastic vinegar bottle).
I used to use fancy glass decorative storage containers, the fuckers are heavy and don't have handles. Not worth it unless you are trying to impress someone.

Shake and mix until well combined.
Shake and mix once a day for two weeks.

Decanting:
Strain through a mesh strainer over a bowl.
Take the leavings and place into a clean (duh!) bandanna and squeeze it over another bowl (in case you slip and some of the leavings spill out) to get as much of the denser juice out.
Get your strongest friend to do this or use blocks of wood if you like.
The harder you squeeze the better.

Combine the contents of the two bowls & decant into bottles or jars.

Save the contents of the bandanna and use on ice cream, in muffins, cheesecake or a blueberry upside down cake

Tabbouleh

5 Bunches of curly leaf parsley
1 Large tomato (use two if small, 1½ if medium)
1 Large cucumber (use two if small, 1½ if medium)
1 Medium onion (I use the Red Onions, they do not get bitter)
1 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 Cup of Lemon Juice (Lime is fun too)
1 Cup Bulgur Wheat (cracked wheat found at most health-food stores)
Kosher or Sea Salt to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Boil 4 cups of water & add to the Cracked Wheat in a bowl.
Chop the parsley, tomato, cucumber (with the skin on), onion, & tomato very fine.
In a large bowl, mix chopped ingredients, with the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, & pepper.
Drain the wheat & fold it into the other ingredients.
Refrigerate & serve when chilled.

Some like to drain off the juice so the salad does not get soggy after it has been chilled and use it like a dressing. Most leave the salad in the juice.

If you do not like the consistency of the grain you can use Couscous though it will get soggy very quickly.

Tabouleh is best eaten the same, or next, day of preparation.

Some like to use Salsa instead of the Tomatoes, add Garlic, Paprika, or Cumin. Playing is best after making the base a few times, depending on your taste.

humus
4 cups cooked chickpeas (two 19oz cans, drained)
1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/3 cup hot water
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
4-6 cloves fresh garlic (or more, if you're like me)
2-4 tsp ground cumin
juice of 1 or 2 lemons
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

In your food processor, blend the chickpeas, tahini, hot water, olive oil and the juice of one lemon until smooth. Add the garlic and spices, and blend again, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally. Taste and adjust the lemon juice amount, if needed. Add the salt and pepper, and blend again.
Serve with warm pita bread, cut up fresh veggies or crackers. Also great as a Mayo substitute on sandwiches or burgers.
Variations
My Favorite is with some dill and cucumber!! (Rob)
Sun-Dried Tomato: This one is soooooo good. Add 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (preferably those that have been packed in oil) and process well to make it smooth. Very tangy.
Green: Add one bunch of fresh, chopped cilantro (stems removed) and 1/3 cup chopped, fresh dill (stems removed) to the recipe. Process until smooth.
Mexican: Add 1/2 cup hot salsa to the recipe. Omit water, or use 1/4 cup if needed, to blend.
Sweet and Sour: Add 1/2 cup drained sweet pickles to the recipe and process until smooth.

Humus and Tabbouleh wraps are awesome!

Thanks, Rkzen, those look delicious. The blueberry thing probably works well with the strawberries we grow out here. Or rhubarb, too, with all that sweetening.

When I was 19 I got a job in a bakery bagging bread. MOst of the baggers would bag up all the loaves as soon as they cooled and then stand around waitnig for the next batch to come out. I was so slow That there was no room left for the bread to cool. I constantly fell behind the bakers.

My boss was very cool, though. He decide to train me as a baker, reasoning that everything was doen by clock. e.g. the mixer starts on the hour, after ten minutes the first part of flour goes in and mixes until half past, etc.

So I beacme a baker at 19. For the next four years I worked as a baker in about four different bakeries and learned how to bake just about everything you could imagine.

What I'd do was jot down the recipe from the recipe box on a slip of paper and scale it up or down according to what I needed to bake that day. Usually, when I got homw I'd have four or five in my pocket. By the time I quit baking for a living I had amassed a large collection of tested recipes.

Even though this was more than 20 years ago, after four years of baking, there are a lot of things I can bake off the top of my head and without measurements. There are certain ratios that are constant, a little more or less and your muffin becomes a bar or a cookie, your chewy becomes crunchy, etc. Playing with these ratios can be like a musician riffing on a classic melody.

In the spirit of Ibrams music trivia game here is a bakery question. Whoever answers it correctly gets to ask the next question.

I was going through my recipes and found the following slips of paper. I neglected to write down what the recipes were for. What do you think this is a recipe for? Baking times and temps optional.

First:
3C flour
1/3 C sugar
2 1/2t B.P.
1/2t B.S.
3/4t salt
1/2 lb Butter
1 C milk
3/4 C currant
1t Orange rind

The second one is harder since I didn't even write down what the ingredients were, just the quantities. Although I did write down time/temp.
1/4#
1/4#
2 C
4
1C
1/2t
1/2C
325 degrees f
20-25 minutes

I have since figured out what these are for.

Was that a major thread hijack up there? Sorry. Didn't mean it like that.

First:
3C flour
1/3 C sugar
2 1/2t B.P.
1/2t B.S.
3/4t salt
1/2 lb Butter
1 C milk
3/4 C currant
1t Orange rind

This is close to a Welsh Cookie recipe that you do on a griddle, but no egg... I'm in over my head.

Hot cross buns?

Scones. (I was thinking Irish Soda Bread for a minute there, but there's more baking powder than soda involved.)