Spicy Vegan Soup - slow cooked

Everyone thought I was crazy starting to prepare soup on a 35 degree day. I must have had an inkling in my subconscious that it would cool later in the day...sure enough it did. A huge southerly hit and the temperature dropped 15 degrees in about 20 minutes. This soup was easy to make, it's healthy as, and it's Vegan. It takes about an hour and this amount serves 6 bowls...lovely served with crusty rolls.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• ¼ cauliflower, cut into florets
• ½ green capsicum, roughy chopped
• 3 tablespoons pearl barley
• 400g tinned corn (or 2 full length corn cobs, kernels removed and cob discarded)
• 400g tin lentils (or 400g dried green lentils, rinsed and pre-soaked)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon rock or sea salt
• 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 500ml water

Method:

1. On a medium to high heat in a large saucepan, heat the oil, throw in the onion and garlic and stir with a wooden spoon
2. Add the celery and carrots, turmeric, curry, cumin, coriander, fennel, salt and pepper and stir well
3. Add a splash of water and scrape the bottom of the pan to mix the spices into the water
4. Stir often, for about 5 minutes so the carrots can soften slightly
5. Add the cauliflower, capsicum, pearl barley, vegetable stock and water, then stir, bring to the boil and turn down to simmer for 20 minutes
6. After 20 minutes add the corn and lentils, stir and simmer for another 40 minutes
7. Serve into bowls with crusty bread rolls...D-E-L-icious XD

Lentil & Cauliflower Stew

Miss 17 and I watched a movie called Fork Over Knives. It's a movie about the benefits of eating a plant based diet and eliminating meat. It was very interesting and occasionally shocking. She has now decided she would like to become vegetarian. As she is still growing, her dad and I have agreed that we, as a family, will eat more vegetarian meals in support, but we won't eliminate meat totally. We will, however cut down our meat consumption. At present we eat meat 6 nights a week, so agree that we can cut down to two or three times a week.

Therefore Miss 17 went hunting for some more vegetarian dishes to try. And because I've recently bought a new slow cooker, I insisted that she find some slow cooker vego recipes too. This is the first one we came across.

Ingredients:

• 375 gram packet of dried green lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 400g cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 2 leeks, white and green parts, halved, washed carefully and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 8 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 cups chopped kale

Optional toppings:
Greek yoghurt, crumbled fetta, graten parmesan, low-fat sour cream.

Method:

1. Place all ingredients into the slow cooker, except the vegetable stock and tomatoes
2. In a large jug mix together the stock and tomatoes and pour gently into the slow cooker
3. Toss gently and cook on high for 4hrs or low for 8hrs
4. Serve topped with any of the optional toppings D-E-L-icious XD

Halloumi with lentil salad

My apologies for not blogging in so long...have been busy with my business and my job. So the other day, out of the blue, hubby brings home some halloumi cheese and a recipe and hints he would like to try it...meaning he would like me to cook it :)

Anyway I looked at the recipe which was so simple and thought: why not? This is salty, sweet and tasty. It's light and healthy, simple, fast and vegetarian.

Ingredients:

• 2 x 400g tins lentils, drained and rinsed
• 1 small red onion, peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
• 1 cucumber, quartered and sliced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup mint leaves, shredded
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 250g halloumi cheese, sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil for frying

Method:

1. Combine lentils, onion, cucumber, tomatoes, mint, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large bowl and toss to combine
2. In a hot non-stick frying pan (I used a griddle) cook halloumi in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 1 minute each side or until golden
3. Drain halloumi on paper towel then place atop the salad...D-E-L-icious  XD