Smokey Hot Vegan Red Lentil Soup

This recipe for Smokey Hot Vegan Red Lentil Soup is so easy to make. It cooks up quick, tastes delicious and is kid approved.

Our tomatoes are ripening almost faster than we can pick them. I should add, we planted 16 cherry tomato plants, and 34 other tomato plant varieties. Don't ask me what I was thinking. Really, I can't give you an answer, other than we started them from seed and I couldn't handle the idea of "wasting" one of our precious baby plants.

We gifted quite a few plants to friends and I've been busy canning salsa's and diced tomatoes like it's my job. I plan to give a few gallon sized bags of cherry tomatoes away, but I also want to use up and save as much as I can too.

This recipe is perfect for those of you who may have an over-abundance of cherry tomatoes coming in from the garden right now.

It's also perfect for those of you wanting a nutritious, filling plant-based meal option. We are not Vegans (though I was a strict vegan for a while in my past), however we do make plant based meals multiple times each week. It's incredibly healthy, sustainable and less expensive than a meat based meal.

Scroll down to make this easy, tasty vegan lentil dish.

Smokey Hot Vegan Red Lentil Soup

2 TBSP Avocado Oil

1 Large Red Onion Chopped

2 lbs Cherry Tomatoes Cut in Half

1.5 Cups Red Lentils

4 Cups Vegetable Stock

1 Tsp Smoked Paprika

1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper Flakes

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Fresh Basil (for garnish - optional)

1) In a large stockpot or skillet with a tall edge, sauté the chopped red onion until caramelized over medium/high heat.  Season with salt and pepper.

2) Reduce heat to medium and add the tomatoes. Let simmer for a bit until most of the juices have been released.

3) Add red lentils, smoked paprika and pepper flakes, followed by one cup of vegetable stock. Simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed and then add another cup of stock. Continue doing this until the lentils are soft and tender.

4) Serve hot and garnished with fresh basil if desired. We found the basil added depth to the dish and really was a great addition.

Grain Free Banana Bread Recipe

I thought a recipe post would be a nice break from the Eat Well on a Budget Series. I'll have Part 3 available for you soon. In the mean time, you should go make this Grain Free Banana Bread Recipe  - it's so easy and tastes delicious!

**This post was originally written for a blog I ran for a short time and is no longer online. I thought it would fit well here.**

We try to vary our diet as much as possible, especially when it comes to grains and starches. If you follow the Standard American Diet, think about how many times a day you ingest wheat (probably at least 5 servings, and that's a really low estimate). Now, imagine you were to replace every time you ate wheat in a day, with eggs. Would you really eat that many eggs in one day? Probably not. Just like you wouldn't eat that many potatoes in a day or apples and so on.

Variety is key to a balanced, healthy, nutrient dense diet. So while we do eat some wheat (and we change it up from Hard Red, Hard White, Spelt & Einkorn), we don't typically have more than one serving a day.  We also regularly eat oats, corn, buckwheat and other starches like beans. We have recently added organic coconut flour to our diets - it's a rich source of fiber, protein and healthy fats. It has a natural slightly sweet flavor, which reduces the amount of sweetener you need in baked goods and a little bit goes a long way.

This recipe is a HUGE household favorite. An entire loaf disappears in less than a day. Thankfully it's really easy to make and is loaded with healthy ingredients. You can find the original recipe here.

Grain Free Banana Bread
4 large Bananas
6 Pastured/organic eggs
8 Whole pitted dates (Unless you're using medjool dates, then cut in amount in half)
1/2 C Coconut Flour
1/4 C Chia Seeds
2 tsp Pure Vanilla extract
1/4 C Organic Coconut oil
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder

Optional:
Unsweetened coconut flakes
Dark chocolate chips


1) Preheat oven to 350

2) In a food processor, combine bananas, eggs, dates, oil, cinnamon, vanilla and baking powder. Puls until creamy and fully combined.

3) Add the coconut flour and chia sees, pulse until fully combined and then let rest for 5 minutes.

4) Use coconut oil to grease a loaf pan, then line with parchment paper so that it folds over the sides.

5) Pour the batter into the loaf pan. If you want to add dark chocolate chips, gently fold them into the batter after it is in the loaf pan. Garnish with cinnamon and unsweetened coconut.

6) Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Cardamom Pear Waffles - Recipe

 

I'm always trying to find new ways to sneak healthy food and spices into my children's diet. I always let them know what they've eaten after they decide if they like it or not. I've found that works better than announcing it ahead of time. When I do that, I'm usually greeted with crinkled noses and loud "Eeeeew!'s"

 

If they do end up liking the food, I make sure to tell them exactly all the good stuff that was in it - so in the future, they will remember those things (hopefully) and associate them with pleasant tastes and thoughts of good food.

 

 

 

Cardamom has a slew of health benefits. It's a cancer fighter, lowers blood pressure, and can prevent blood clots just to name a few. It also has a strong ginger-like flavor that doesn't always sit well with the younger crowd.

 

I put together this recipe for cardamom pear waffles. So far I am happy to report it has been a hit with my kids - they loved it!

 

 

 

 

Cardamom Pear Waffles

 

What you need:

1 C Unbleached flour

1/2 C Whole Wheat flour

1/4 C Golden ground flax meal

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Cardamom seed powder

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar or honey

1 1/4 C Milk

1 egg - slightly beaten

3 tbsp melted butter

1 peeled and grated bosc pear

********************************

1 bosc pear - thinly sliced as garnish (optional)

Whipped vanilla coconut (optional)

 

 

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, flax meal, baking powder, cardamom, salt and sugar (if using honey, add that later with the wet ingredients).

 

2) Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add milk, egg, and melted butter (add honey now if using). Mix well.

 

3) Fold the grated pear into the mixture.

 

4) Follow the instructions for your waffle press. You could also turn this batter into pancakes by adding an extra 1/4 cup of milk to the batter.

 

5) Garnish with sliced pears and whipped vanilla coconut. Drizzle a bit of maple syrup or honey on top if desired.

 



 

 

Can you tell my 4 year old loved this?

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

- Lisa :)

 

** This post is part of a natural livng link party over at Frugal by Choice **

Homemade Chicken Broth Recipe

 

Welcome back! Today is the final day in my week of immune-boosting recipes! If you missed the previous days, be sure to check them out here.

 

I'm sure at some point in your life, when you had a cold, someone suggested chicken soup. I think most of us just chalk it up to an old-school recommendation. Believe it or not, chicken soup actually does help cure a cold. Read more about that here. It has to be homemade though.

 

This is another easy recipe, it just takes some time and a little planning ahead.

 

 

What you need:

 

1 Cooked Whole Chicken - meat picked off

1-2 bay leaves

Peppercorns

1 large onion sliced

2-3 Carrots chopped

1-2 Stalks of celery chopped

6 Cups of water

Large Stock Pot with lid

Colander or mesh sieve

 

 

 

1) Put the whole picked over chicken in the stock pot and cover with the six cups of water. Add bay leaves, peppercorns, onion, carrots and celery.

 

2) Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 1 hour, skimming off any fat that rises to the top. I usually cover mine with a lid.

 

3) After an hour, remove from heat and pour the liquid into a heat safe container or another pot, with either a colander or fine mesh sieve.

 



 

 

That's it! Super easy, just a little time consuming.

 

 

I buy our free-range chickens from a local farmer and end up paying about $12 each. That may seem like a lot, however I can typically get about two real dinners out of the chicken meat, and I end up with 4-6 cups of stock for soup and cooking. So if you were to add all that up, I think it's a pretty good deal.

 

If you want to make chicken soup, all you have to do is add some noodles, extra veggies and salt and pepper to taste. We make these noodles.



 

Pair your soup with some crunchy homemade bread or rolls and you've got a quick, nutritious and warm lunch or dinner!

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

-Lisa

Garlic and Oil Saute Recipe

This is day four in my week of immune-boosting recipes. If you missed the other days, be sure to click here!

  Garlic is a great health-booster, and in my opinion necessary in a healthy, balanced diet. It has been used medicinally for thousands of years. Garlic lowers blood pressure and LDL Cholesterol. It helps regulate blood sugar and prevent blood clots. It also has anti-viral properties and antioxidants. It has a lot more health benefits, click here to read more.

  You need quite a bit of garlic to reap all those rewards. A super easy way to get a large dose of garlic is to saute veggies and pastas in garlic and oil. If you've never sauteed, don't be intimidated, it's actually really easy!

  Below is my go-to easy garlic and oil saute recipe...

What you need:

Large frying pan or saute pan
Olive oil (organic if you can)
Sea salt
Pepper
Minced Garlic
Wooden spoon
Any raw or lightly steamed veggies or cooked pasta


1). Pour enough olive oil into your pan to thinly cover the entire surface area.

2) Turn on your stove to med-high heat and sprinkle 1/4 tsp sea salt and 1/4 tsp pepper (or more to taste). Add 1-2 Tablespoons of minced garlic - again, depending on your tastes and how garlicky you want your dish.

3) Allow your oil mixture to heat up for about a minute and then add your veggies. Push the veggies around in the pan with the wooden spoon while they cook to avoid burning. Continue in this fashion until your vegetables are tender.

4) Turn off the heat. If you would like to add pasta (it must be fully cooked), now is the time to add that to the pan and again push everything around with the spoon to avoid sticking and burning.

5) Transfer everything to a bowl or serving dish and you're done!

This is so so good and has endless possibilities!

Ginger Tea Recipe

 

Welcome back! It's day three in my Immune-Boosting Recipe week. If you haven't already, be sure to check out day's one - Matcha Muffins and two - Green Smoothies.

 

  Ginger has been used in natural remedies for ages. Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties, and is very often used in cold and flu remedies. To learn more about the benefits of ginger, click here.

 

Ginger tea is one of my favorite drinks in the fall and winter. I also love drinking this tea when I have a sore throat. It's so easy to make too!

 

 

Ginger Tea

1 C Hot Water

1 Tbsp fresh ginger

Honey to taste

 

 

You will need a vegetable peeler, 2 cups, a fine mesh sieve and a grating tool for this recipe.

 

 

 

 

1) Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin from the end of a fresh ginger root.

 



 

 

 

2) Grate 1 Tbsp of ginger directly into the hot water. I usually eyeball this measurement, it's pretty forgiving.

 

 

3) Allow to steep for 2 minutes. You can cover the cup with a towel or small plate to help keep the water hot.

 

 

4) Pour the liquid from one cup to the other, using a fine mesh sieve to catch the ginger bits. Push any extra liquid out of the pulp in the sieve.

 

 

Add honey to taste if desired, and enjoy!

 

Green Smoothies

 

  Welcome back! This is day two of my Immune-Boosting Recipes week. If you missed yesterday's Matcha Muffins, be sure to check it out here.

 

  We are a smoothie loving family. I've been buying huge tubs of plain yogurt to make breakfast smoothies for years now. Plain yogurt (yes plain, everything else is loaded with either sugar, or even worse, artificial sweeteners) is filled with probiotics that play a large role in creating and maintaining a healthy immune system. Pair that with a bunch of fruit and fresh, raw greens that add more vitamins and antioxidants, and you've got yourself one healthy, immune boosting drink!

 

 

  These are so easy to make, and it can be done in a regular blender. If you're lucky enough to own a blend tec or Vitamix, your smoothies will be smoother - like that? But any old blender will do just fine. You will likely have little green specs visible in your drink, but be creative. You could tell your kids it's a monster smoothie, or alien tonic (that last one worked for me).

 

 

Another nice aspect to the smoothie is how versatile it is. You can mix and match fruits and juice and greens. Experiment a little and see what your family likes best.

 

 

Here is how we do ours...

 

 

Green Smoothie

 

1 C plain yogurt

1 C juice (apple, orange, grape - anything)

1 banana, broken into chunks

2 C frozen fruit

Fresh, raw spinach

1 Tbsp Chia seeds (optional)

 

1) Add all your ingredients except the spinach.

2) Add spinach  (I just fill it to the top)

3) Cover and blend. Using a spoon, push down the spinach and blend.

4) Repeat until blended to a uniform consistency

 

 

 

 

This smoothie we made didn't end up so green. We used a lot of blueberries in this batch, so it had more of a brownish color to it. Thankfully my little ones could have cared less. They absolutely love green smoothies and ask for them daily.

 

What are some of your favorite green smoothie combinations?

Matcha Muffins Recipe

 

 

  I hope you all had a great weekend! We were finally able to venture out of our house for a while - everyone is on the mend and feeling much, much better.

 

  Last week, I shared one of our favorite quick and healthy snacks, you can view that post by clicking here. I also mentioned that I was starting a new series on the blog - Immune Boosting Recipes. Every day this week, I will be sharing a new recipe that has immune boosting ingredients. Most of these I will try to keep kid-friendly since that was my main purpose in this pursuit - to boost my children's immune system as we march into cold and flu season. After this week, I will continue to add recipes to this category as I find good, kid-friendly and relatively easy to fix dishes and snacks.

 

  Which brings me to my first recipe to share... Matcha Muffins! If you're not familiar with matcha, you can learn more here. What is so great about Matcha you may ask? To start, it has more antioxidants than blueberries, pomegranates and spinach (source). While that would be reason enough for me, it has also been touted to help in the fight against cancer, HIV and obesity (source).

 

  Matcha is typically consumed as a tea, but I know my children well enough to not even attempt to offer that. I figured my best best would be to bake it in something I know they already enjoy. On a side note, when you are purchasing matcha, read the labels very carefully. I was distracted and in a hurry when I bought mine, only to find out at home that it is not 100% matcha, but a mix of that and green tea. So, when you make your muffins, they will be a bright green color, and not the color of the muffin here. This worked just as well, but it also has itty-bitty tea leaves in it. I ordered pure matcha from Mountain Rose Herbs (were I get most of my herbs and spices), but I have to wait for it to be shipped.

 

  I was so excited when my kids gobbled these up! I did drizzle a little honey over the top to add some extra sweetness. There is a distinct tea flavor in the matcha muffins and I was afraid they might get snubbed by my little food critics. Over time, once they are accustomed to the flavor, I will be able to use a little less honey and then hopefully none at all.

 

 

Matcha Muffin Recipe

 

1 2/3 C  Whole grain flour

1/2 tsp  sea salt

1 tsp  baking aluminum free baking powder

1 1/2  Tbsp Matcha

1/2 C  organic cane sugar

1  egg

1/3 C  applesauce

1 C  Milk

 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees - yeilds 12 muffins

 

1) Whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2) In a small bowl, add egg and applesauce. Whisk together.

3) Slowly pour milk into the egg and applesauce mixture, whisk while pouring.

4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix until just combined - be sure not to over mix.

5) Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.

6) Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean.

 

Allow to cool and enjoy!