Mexican Red Lentil Soup

Yummy!

Healthy!

Easy to make!

What else do you want?

This soup was easy and came together in under an hour.  We will definitely make this one again. We had dinner for two with this recipe, plus another 6-8 servings ready to go in the freezer, perfect for a lunch or a starter on a cold night.

A word about the canned tomatoes, you could easily used diced tomatoes with green chilies, or just regular diced. I only had an Italian spiced diced tomato, so I used that.  If you had people that don't like bigger chunks of tomatoes, used either crushed tomatoes or petite diced instead.

If you don't want it too spicy, you can omit the jalapenos and the hot sauce! I like everything kind of spicy though.

Makes about 8-12 servings (Freezes well)

Ingredients:

2 cup dry red lentils

4 cups water

1 T olive oil

3/4 cup onion, finely chopped

3/4 cup finely chopped celery

3/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)

1 1/2 T minced garlic

1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. chili powder

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken if not doing a vegan soup)

1 T. hot sauce (optional)

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1/2 – 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Serve with additional lime wedges, sour cream and a sprinkling of cilantro

Put red lentils in a small pot, rinse and drain if needed, then add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, turn off heat and cover. Let lentils sit in the hot water 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely chop onions and celery and mince garlic. Heat olive oil in heavy soup pot, add onion and celery and saute for 3-4 minutes, just long enough that vegetables are starting to soften. Add garlic and cook a few minutes more. Add ground turmeric, ground cumin, and chili powder, stir, and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Add diced canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, and hot sauce. Add lentils after they have soaked for 30 minutes.

Let soup simmer for 15-30 minutes (or until lentils are as soft as you’d like them, about 25 minutes.) When the lentils are softened as much as you’d like, stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice and cook 5 minutes more. If it seems too thick for your liking, add a bit of water and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Serve hot, with additional cut limes to squeeze into the soup. Can top with sour cream or vegan substitute if desired.

It was a great soup to enjoy on a very snowy day!

Egg Bites- like Starbucks

 I love these little egg bites. I first had them at Starbucks, like so many of you.  The secret to making these is blending cottage cheese with the eggs!  Who knew?! Also, the cottage cheese somehow makes the egg bites more tender than normal baked eggs.

The cottage cheese has a lot of flavor (and salt), so you don't even need to season these, isn't that crazy?

You can make many variations, depending on what you like and what you have on hand.  For these, I used those mini pepperoni, minced jalapenos and mixed Mexican blend cheese.

Here's some other ideas you could create:

• Feta, green onion and bacon
• Mozzarella, tomatoes and basil
• Taco meat, cheese and onion
• Cheddar and chives
• Ham, bacon and jack cheese
• Cream cheese and smoked salmon

Ingredients:

• 8 large eggs
• 1 cup of cottage cheese
• add-ins of your choice... (see above)

Add one cup of cottage cheese to your blender, add in 8 large eggs and blend until not chunks of cottage cheese are noticeable.

Back at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Note- I recommend a silicon muffin tin for this... it makes it much easier to get out. I use some spray Pam before adding the 'add ins" and then pour in the egg mixture. I fill about 7/8 full and bake.

Let cool and remove from the pan.

These egg bites last in the fridge about 4-5 days, I take two in my lunch almost every day. 

Easy to eat, taste good and lots of protein.

Here's some pictures of the steps:

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Vietnamese Caramelized Ground Pork Bowls

We'd bought some ground pork and were wondering what to do with it.

I Googled "ground pork" and made a match with this recipe, Original recipe .

We've made it about 3 or 4 times, trying to perfect and simplify the recipe.  It's very simple and delicious. This will be one that we make again and again.

Funny story, we took this in our groceries at a VRBO vacation we went on, and I premixed the sauce. Unfortunately, I felt so confident to make this recipe that I didn't consult the original recipe before making it. However, I use SIX bird's eye chilies.... please do not that. It was so hot, and yummy, so we ate it all up. However, we had tummy troubles for days, LOL!!!

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/2 onion , finely diced

2 tsp ginger , grated or minced

2 garlic cloves , minced (2 tsp paste)

1-2 birds eye or Thai chili , finely chopped (or sub minced jalapeno)

20 oz.  ground pork

2  tbsp brown sugar (we used Swerve no carb brown sugar with success)

2 tbsp fish sauce

 

SERVING:

1 green onion stem, finely sliced

Steamed rice (or cauli rice!)

Sliced tomato, cucumber for garnish

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.

Add the onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the ground pork and cook for 2 minutes or its fully cooked and no longer pink, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon.

Add the sugar and fish sauce. Stir, then leave it to cook without touching until all the juices cook out and the pork starts caramelizing - about 2 minutes. Then stir it and leave it again, without stirring, for around 30 seconds to get more caramelization.

YUM!

Stuffed Cabbage Bowl

We both agree, how can this be comfort food if you never even had it as a kid?

I can't actually say I really even like Stuffed Cabbage, but I do love this!I  know lots of people remember their mom's stuff cabbage rolls for dinner.... I assure you, my mom made many, many amazing dishes in my childhood, but I never specifically remember her making these. My husband's mom was definitely more challenged in the kitchen, so she never made something exotic as stuffed cabbage rolls! I seem to remember making them once, decades ago, and I thought they were fussy and not that great. So, in other words, a recipe NOT to be repeated.

We're trying to reduce how many carbs we eat, so when I saw this recipe it really intrigued me. We were both instantly in love with this.  A couple months went by, but I remembered we liked this, so I bought the ingredients again to see if it was a fluke, or did we really like this?  Guess what? We so LOVE this! 

Easy, fast, comforting and cheap.  Something to enjoy in this uncertain times of a pandemic. Let's call this one a dinner hug.

Serves 4-6 (makes great leftovers)
Ingredients

1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 to 1 cup diced red bell pepper (optional)
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef, low fat
4-6 cups shredded cabbage
1 can diced tomatoes plus juices
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp Italian seasoning
Red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt & Pepper

Chop the onions and pepper into a dice, saute over medium high heat in a large saute pot or dutch oven, for about five minutes. Add the pork and the beef and cook breaking into medium size chunks while it cooks. Add the Italian seasoning and the garlic, plus some generous salt, pepper and red pepper flakes (as desired).  Add the canned tomatoes and the shredded cabbage.  Cook until the cabbage starts to wilt, about 3-5 minutes.
Serve in a low bowl as the meat/veggie mixture, or over steamed rice.

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Lazy Girl Chile Verde Pork Stew

This is variation of one of my all time favorite ways to cook pork, Chile Verde.  However, the recipe I have always used calls for tomatoes, which are RED, and not VERDE (green) at all, so it has always bugged me a bit that the end result was a reddish dish.  In this recipe, I have substituted the tomatoes with canned tomatillos instead.

As I was making this, my hubby walked in and said "aren't you going to brown that pork?". To which I answered,"No, I am not" feeling a bit grumpy at being challenged about being a accomplished lazy girl. Now, honestly people, I do realize that browning adds carmalization and therefore, more flavor.  BUT, in this case, there is SO much more flavor ingredients in this dish, you honestly should save yourself some time (and a greasy stove top) by skipping the browning and throwing it altogether in your crock pot.  Set it, forget it, do something awesome with your day and come back to a great dinner.

Serves 5-6 
Ingredients

3lb pork, large, cut into large chunks
1 large can (14 oz) whole tomatillos, with juice
1/2 onion, diced small
1 small yellow bell pepper, diced small
2 jalapenos, diced small
1 small can (4 oz) diced ortega green chilies
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped small (about 1/2 bunch)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp cumin
1 tsp oregano

Topping:

• green onions
• cojita cheese or feta cheese (optional)

Add all the ingredients to the crock pot, and cook for 8 hours on low.  Serve with green onions and cheese, as desired.

Below is a picture of the crock before I cooked it. I didn't brown the pork, as I guess, I am a lazy girl. LOL.  You can definitely brown it before starting your crockpot, and it just might be even better.  Me?  I can't decide if this stew is actually better for having browned the pork first.