Roasted Red Pepper and Red Lentil Soup

It was a little cool and windy outside today so it was the perfect weather for making a soup! This is a Roaster Red Pepper and Red Lentil Soup. Red lentils cook differently for green or brown lentils as they break down a lot quicker when cooking but that makes them perfect for soups. Also, even though this is called "Roasted Red Pepper..." you can use orange peppers too :)




Ingredients:
1 - Cup Red Lentils
4 - Cups of Vegetable Stock (to keep this a vegetarian dish)
2 - Large Red Peppers (or Orange)
1/4 - Large Onion (white, yellow or spanish)
4 - Cloves of Garlic




Directions:
Rinse your lentils under water (this is a must or they just taste bitter).

Add the lentils to 4 cups of stock, bring to a boil (you don't have to boil first) then lower the temperature to low and simmer for 20 ish minutes or until the lentils are nice and soft. Turn off heat and leave covered.

(I generally use beef broth as I like the flavor it gives the lentils but I had about 2 cups beef and 2 cups of chicken stock so I mixed them together.) 

Slice up your peppers.

Put the peppers into a small sauce pan.

Slice up the onion.

Pu the onions in the sauce pan, drop in a big scoop of butter then put it on the stove top on medium heat. Saute for about 10 minutes or until the everything goes soft and translucent.

While that is sauteing, peel and chop up your garlic.

 

When the peppers and onion are pretty much ready, put in the garlic and cook for 1 or 2 minutes more.

The lentils should look something like this (I know, not as bright red as you would have expected.)

 

Pour in the peppers, onion and garlic mixture.

Stir together.

Pour into a blender.

(Ninja Blender) 

Blend until smooth.

Pour into a large serving bowl.

Serve with a fresh loaf of bread.

And for a little bit of a different flavor, add in a little scoop of sour cream, then mix together and enjoy!

(I hate when the sour cream doesn't float like it supposed too...)

Lettuce Quinoa Wraps with an Amazing Sauce

I like having pre-cooked Lentils and Quinoa in the fridge as I can easily turn it into a snack or lunch for work. Today was a relaxing day and it was a little bit after 11 when I started to think about what to make for lunch. The other day my son has mentioned that he wanted Lettuce wraps for dinner but we didn't have any lettuce. I ended up picking some up a day later so I figured that I could make them today. Normally I use a mixture of quinoa and lentils or other random things and wrap them up (Balsamic Lentil Quinoa Snacks) but today I wanted to make a sauce for them. I was looking up "lettuce wrap" sauces and pretty much every entry was on how to make "P.F Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps" (Never had it). I took a look at the sauce recipe but I didn't all the stuff so I decided to do what I do best. Improvise!

Sorry for the lack of photos but I didn't know the sauce was going to turn out this good!

Ingredients (Lettuce Wraps):

2 - Cups of Beef Broth
1 - Cup of Quinoa
2 - Tbsp Butter
5 - Mushrooms (Sliced and chunked)
1/4 - Large Onion (Chopped)
2 - Green Onions (Chopped - set to the side)
1 - Head of Lettuce (pull off large leafs)

Ingredients (Sauce):

1/4 - Cup of Sugar
1/2 - Cup Water
2 - Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 - Tbsp Ketchup
1 - Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 - Tbsp Dijon Mustard

Directions:

Put the two cups of beef broth into a pot and bring to a boil.
Rinse the Quinoa under water, add to the pot of beef broth and reduce heat to a simmer.

In a small sauce over low-medium heat, add butter, onion and mushrooms. Cook until the onion is translucent and the mushrooms are browned then turn off heat.

While the quinoa (20 - 30 minutes) and mushrooms/onion (10 - 15 minutes) are cooking we can move on to the sauce.

In a medium bowl, add in sugar, water, soy sauce, ketchup, lemon juice, dijon mustard and whisk together. Put it in the fridge to cool a bit.

One of the things I didn't add to the sauce, which I normally would have, is garlic. I haven't tried it so I don't know how it will affect the flavor but I will try it for next time.

At this point the mushrooms/onion should be done and the quinoa should be getting close. When all the broth has been absorbed into the quinoa, you will notice that it starts to stick to the bottom of the pot a little bit. Add at Tbsp or two more broth to help loosen it.

Add the mushrooms/onion to the quinoa, mix together and then transfer to a bowl for serving.

On a large plate place two of the lettuce leafs, spoon in a couple of scoops of quinoa mushroom/onion mix, top with green onion and spoon on two or so scoops of the sauce. Wrap and enjoy!

Chocolate Cake with Shaved Chocolate on top

This is my most favorite cake to make. It's pretty simple, very light and fluffy but I cheat a little by using a store bought icing. You won't blame me though as it tastes amazing!




Ingredients:
2 - Large Eggs
1/2 - Package of Chocolate Cake Mix
1/2 - Package of Chocolate Pudding Mix
1/2 - Cup of Sour Cream
1/4 - Cup of Olive Oil
1/4 - Cup of Water
Betty Crocker French Vanilla Icing
Bakers Chocolate

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, break and mix up both eggs.

Pour in cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil and water.

Mix together with a fork. This will avoid all the dry mixes from flying all over the place when you use the blender in the next step.

Using a blended, blend for at least two minutes. Pour into a 9" round cake pan.

Bake in oven for 25 minutes. Pull it out at the 25 minute mark and check with a tooth pick, if clean you are done, it not bake for another 2 - 3 minutes.

While the cake is still warm, carefully spread the icing on top. The warm cake will melt it enough to allow it to spread easily. Using a chocolate shaver, shave the bakers chocolate all over the cake.

Serve with Ice Cream :)

Butternut Squash Soup

After attending the Startford Garlic Festival on the weekend and seeing a presentation where Christine Gingerich through together a Butternut Squash soup so quickly I knew I had to try and make my own. Spoiler - It was super easy!

Ingredients:
1 - Butternut Squash
2 - Cups of Carrots
1/2 - Large Onion (or 1 Medium Onion)
1 - Orange Pepper (or Red)
3 - Cloves of Garlic
1 - Tsp Cinnamon
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
1 - Cup of Chicken Stock
1 - Cup whipping Cream

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the ends off the Butternut squash and discard them.

Chop the Butternut squash into slices.

Clean out all the seeds and discard.

Chop again into smaller chunks and put it into a roasting pan. Leave the skin on as I'm told that it has extra fiber in it.

Chop up the pepper and add to the roasting pan.

Chop up the onion and add to the roasting pan.

Chop up the carrots and add to the roasting pan.

Chop up the garlic and add to the roasting pan.

Drizzle olive oil over the everything, add some salt and pepper then mix together. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the cinnamon over everything and mix again.

Put half the mixture into a blender, add 1/2 Cup of Chicken stock and 1/2 Cup of whipping cream.

Blend together. You may need to add more chicken stock to get the correct consistency that you are looking for. Repeat with the second portion

Pour both portions into the same blow and mix well. Taste and add additional salt and pepper as needed.

Ladle into a bowl and serve with a baguette or fresh bread.