Spiced Lentil & Butternut Soup/Stew

Rocket & Roses HQ Play List:

Those Crooked Vultures ~ No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
The Puppini Sisters ~ Crazy In Love
Shakira ~ Que Me Quedes Tu
Carole King ~ Oh No Not My Baby
Alannah Myles ~ Lies and Rumours
Sheryl Crow ~ Long Gone Lonesome Blues
Martina McBride ~ Be That Way
Jace Everett ~ A Little Less Lonely
Simply Red ~ Model
Def Leppard ~ Bringing On The Heartbreak
KT Tunstall ~ Push That Knot Away
Rolling Stone ~ Start Me Up
The Blow ~ Dred Indian Blues
Newton Faulkner ~ Dream Catch Me
Little Big Town ~ Fine Line
Sub Sub ~ Ain't No Love (Ain't no use)

Oh yes..this is indeed a real recipe blog posting! At last..but alas I didn't make it..the hard work of chopping things and throwing them into the slow cooker was all ML's. lol. However, it's real food and a recipe..so I am happy.

This soup is one that gets made quite often here..for the simple reason that it's the only cooked food I can eat when feeling..yuck. And I have managed to eat it this week..so an improvement eh? I can't remember where I found this recipe as it's now just a printed off recipe in one of my many folders of random recipes..but if it's yours or you do know where it originated then please..just email me..and I'll make the amendments.

I love this soup/stew (I can never decide because it's kinda both..lol) because it is very simple..I love Butternut and the spice comes from the fabulous blend that is Garam Masala..couldn't live without this spice. Makes me smile to just smell it in its pot..so when this soup is cooking I am in aroma heaven. lol.

Spiced Lentil & Butternut Soup/Stew
I take no credit for the recipes creation....
but thank you to whoever did!! ~R~

Spiced Lentil & Butternut Soup/Stew
Serves 4-5

1 cup of dried lentils (we use brown or continental lentils)
2 1/2 cups butternut, cubed (3/4 inch)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp garam masala
4 cups of low salt veggie stock or water

Rinse and drain the lentils. In a medium slow cooker place the lentils, squash, onion, carrot, celery. Sprinkle garlic and garam masala over vegetables...Pour over the broth/water.

Cover and cook on Low for 8 - 9 hours or on High for 4 - 4 1/2 hours. Adjust seasonings..to taste. And serve..Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Thursday is a good one...

~R~ *doing my happy dance because I wrote a foodie post again..* lol

Very Berry Breakfast Bowl

Workroom Play List:

Within Temptation ~ What Have You Done Now?
The Velvettes ~ Needle in a Haystack
Mildred Bailey ~ A Porters Love Song to a Chambermaid
Eurythmics/Franklin ~ Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves
Count Basie & Orch ~ Flight of the Foo Birds
Roy Orbison ~ Only The Lonely
Shakira ~ Objection (Tango)
The Eagles ~ Peaceful Easy Feeling
Within Temptation ~ The Howling

Very Berry Breakfast Bowl with Spinning Top lol

Now I have been loving the wholegrain breakfasts I've been having whilst I'm making the changeover to Macrobiotics. I do find the grains and beans in particular very pleasing first thing in the mornings. I naturally prefer a savoury breakfast so the changeover on breakfasts was quite easy for me.

But every now and then I find myself craving some berries. And in the main source for inspiration and information it is preferred that fruits are a 'couple of times a week' thing. Probably the hardest part of switching over to Macro...well that and the pickles..lol. Usually I can't get a strawberry over the threshold unless they are in season as My Love believes they are dreadful at any other time.

Two things came into play this morning...the first is that My Love is still away in Denmark..and second is that My Love can't have strawberries anymore due to the Salicylate content in them. So being sneaky I saw my chance to sneak some in the house and have them for breakfast. I was saving My Love from pining for the lush red lovely berries and I could eat them without feeling guilty.

I really don't feel the need for writing a recipe for this lovely breakfast as it is too simple throw together. I rinsed and quartered some strawberries, rinsed some blueberries and drained them. Put them in a bowl and sprinkled with pumpkin and sunflower seeds and then scattered some sliced almonds over them all.

And then enjoyed every single mouthful! Devoured them! I couldn't eat it everyday as a breakfast but as an occasional breakfast it will be a delight and still within the Macro way of eating. I hope..that's if I've got it right? lol.

Thanks for stopping by...I hope your Friday is a good one..

~R~

Aduki Bean, Butternut Squash and Spelt (Faro) Grain with Steamed Greens & Roasted Seeds

Kitchen Play List: Louis Armstrong ~ A Kiss To Build A Dream On
                                      Dido ~ I'm No Angel
                                      Thunder ~ Back Street Symphony
                                      Thunder ~ The Devil Made Me Do It
                                      Thunder ~ Yesterday's News
                                      Sheryl Crow ~ Strong Enough
                                      Vdawn Penn ~ You Don't Know Me
                                      Don Williams ~ You've Got a Friend
                                      Sheryl Crow ~ My Favourite Mistake

This recipe very nearly didn't happen at all. The reason being some particulary stubborn dried Aduki Beans. I have a history with dried Aduki beans...put simply..we hate each other! Which is a shame as I love them once they are cooked lol. It doesn't seem to matter which way I choose to cook them..I end up with little red pellets.

The recipe I was attempting to make was the Azucki Beans with Kabocha Squash from Alicia Silverstone's cookbook The Kind Diet.

I say attempting because after 13 hours soaking, 2 1/2 hours cooking I was left with hard red bullets with lumps of mushed squash. I was a little stressed out by the end of the afternoon that's for sure. I have vague recollections of a tearful call to My Love in exasperation but I could have dreamt that..ahem! lol. (In my defence I was exhausted and feeling grim..and yes..I may have pushed my body too far! I know..I know! Believe me the lesson has been learnt!) So to avoid the total destruction of my kitchen I turned off the gas and pushed the failed beans out of sight and sat and enjoyed a cup of tea. I took a breath and had a rethink.

I always have a few tins of Aduki beans in my stocks and I had some more Butternut Squash left..you can't get Kabocha around here so I was subbing it with Butternut. So this is the recipe that I came up with..so it's adapted from the The Kind Diet recipe.

For my evening meal I enjoyed a Macrobiotic Lentil Soup, a serving of Aduki Bean, Butternut Squash & Spelt Grain, Steamed Spring Greens topped with a roasted seed mix (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame & linseed) and 1/2 of pickled gherkin. I really enjoyed every mouthful and felt satisfied afterwards. No bloating or over full feelings..marvelous. lol. So here is my recipe...

From the left: Macrobiotic Lentil Soup, Pickled Gherkin Slices, Aduki Bean Butternut Squash & Spelt and Steamed Spring Greens with roasted seed mix.

Aduki Bean, Butternut Squash & Spelt (Farro) Grain
(Recipe adapted from a recipe in The Kind Life/Silverstone) Serves 2

1 14oz tin of Aduki Beans, rinsed well and drained
1/2 small Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into large cubes, steamed
5 oz cooked Spelt (Farro) grain
1/2 tsp Shoyu

Once the squash has finished steaming take a skillet and place the aduki beans and spelt grain into it and reheat over a med heat. Keeping a close check on it to avoid burning. When hot add the shoyu to the skillet and stir to coat the bean and grain mix. Then place the squash cubes into the pan and stir well to combine and to warm the squash back up.

If using greens: over an already boiling pan of water add the sliced greens to a steamer basket and steam for 3 minutes.

Place the greens onto a plate and top with a seed mix toasted into a small skillet. Then serve the Aduki Bean dish on the side.

Aduki Bean, Butternut Squash & Spelt Grain with Steamed Spring Greens topped with roasted seed mix.

So out of a rather exhausting cooking afternoon came this very simple and quick to make meal. If I hadn't of been so tired I would've cried. Ah well. Today is Sushi...wish me luck..I just may need it.

Enjoy!
~R~

Kim's Red Radish Tabbouleh

Kitchen Play List: Tan Dun & Yo-Yo Ma ~ Night Fight
                                     (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Sdtk)
                                     Patti Smith Group ~ Because The Night
                                     Jean Sablon ~ Je Sais Que Vous Etes Jolie
                                     Extreme ~ More Than Words
                                     Natalie Merchant ~ Break Your Heart
                                     Nicola Benedetti ~ MacMillian: From Ayrshire 1
                                     Rob Thomas ~ I Am An Illusion

Well..my great plans for yesterday came to a crashing halt...my body just could not keep up with my brain..or maybe not my brain..my stubborn resolve to 'just get on with it regardless'. Lesson learnt. But it hasn't stopped me from pottering about today and even though it's taken me three hours to make my lunch...I did it! HA!

Today is really my first day on a completely Macrobiotic eating plan. I've been 50/50 since I made the decision to give it a try..simply because the cooking and planning at first seemed so overwhelming (seemed? totally is!) even for this passionate cook. I didn't feel it was fair to ask My Love to start to cook all the dishes needed as well as work so hard already. So I did what I could to make the changeover and ate regular vegan the rest of the times.

This morning I will admit was harder than I thought it would be. Although the recipes were simple...it just took me ten times the time to make the dishes needed for lunch but I did finally sit down with my Macro lunch and enjoyed every mouthful and I'm sure I'll find my pickle love eventually. lol. My lunch was a very tasty Red Radish Tabbouleh which was from a recipe I found in the cookbook Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet
.

And using the Healing Eating Plan from Brown & Brown's cookbook Modern Day Macrobiotics I ate it with a Steamed Veggie Salad which was kale, julienne carrots and radish which were steamed for 3 minutes and then 1/4 tsp Shoyu and 1/4 tsp Brown Rice Vinegar were drizzled over. This was so delicious and I even used my cheats 'practice' chop sticks to eat it and did very well. lol. I also had a tiny bowl of pickled gherkin which I sliced. There is photo of my lunch further down this posting. I enjoyed it all very much but I am still trying to break free of the Furhman mindset that grains are Bad! lol But I feel full and satisfied and as I said before I am sure I'll get used to the pickles...eventually. I chose pickles that were pickled in brine, garlic and dill..not the sugared vinegared kind. I do like those..too much! lol.

I take no credit for this recipe as it's Kim's and is taken from The Kind Diet. It was really good and completely diferent to how I thought it would taste. I usually find Tabbouleh hard work..maybe it's the garlic etc. Strange I know for this garlic lover. lol. But I enjoyed every mouthful and look forward to it tomorrow. The recipe says it serves 2 but I think that is very generous portions. I will divide into 3 next time I make it.

Kim's Red Radish Tabbouleh

Kim's Red Radish Tabbouleh Serves 2-3
(Recipe from The Kind Diet/Silverstone)

1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup bulgar wheat
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil or to your personal taste/choice
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
2 scallions/spring onions, white & green parts, minced
1/2 cup thinly sliced red radishes

Bring 1 1/2 cups of water and the salt to a boil in a saucepan. Place the bulgar wheat and the boiling salted water in a heatproof bowl. Stir once, then cover the bowl with a plate and set aside until the grain has absorbed all the water, about 20 - 30 minutes.

Stir in the lemon juice, oil, parsley, scallions, and radishes and mix well. Add more lemon juice and salt to taste. Serve.

My Red Radish Lunch from the left ~ Red Radish Tabbouleh, Pickled Gherkin Slices and Steamed Veggies..Kale, Carrot and Radish with Shoyu & Rice Vinegar Drizzle. Delish!

Doesn't it look lush and colourful. It was a shame to eat it..well for a few seconds until I tried my first mouthful..lol. Now I have another two dishes to cook this afternoon if I can find my energy again. I have my stubborness *wink*

Enjoy!
~R~