It's a souper day!

OK, so it may be summer, but I love soup and I love my new pressure cooker, so I had to test it out some more! This first soup was so simple. Black lentils, onions, garlic, spices cooked in the cooker for 10 minutes, then I added the veggies and cooked for 5 more minutes. How simple is that? I topped the soup with chives, truffle oil and fleur de sal. The veggies were zukes, summer squash and red peppers.


I was intent on following the recipe created by Fairly Odd Tofu Mom, but of course, I am incapable of that. I didn't have any sweet potatoes, so I added 8 oz of frozen butternut squash. Also, I sub'd half of the peanut butter for tahini because that was what I had on hand, and added 1 tbsp of spicy toasted sesame oil, the juice of 1 large lemon, some Trader Joe's mango chili vinegar, cilantro and siracha. Totally delicious. I adore quinoa in soups and stews. In fact, I think quinoa is my very favorite grain ever. The burst the little morsels give in your mouth are very satisfying.
Last, but not least, a 15 minute Indian Spiced split pea soup... the pressure cooker again. In ONE hour, I made these three soups. (I didn't use the pressure cooker for the African Peanut Soup).. I used my recipe for Spiced Lentil Stew, but sub'd split peas. Very good. My freezer will be nice and stocked for the next cool days we have.
Spiced Lentil Stew:
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 large onion
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 lb dried lentils, rinsed and sorted
1 quart veggie stock
1 29oz can stewed tomatoes or tomatoes with green chiles
water if needed
juice/zest of 1 lemon
2 cups cilantro
salt/pepper to taste
-In a heavy bottomed 4 quart pan place the olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and cumin seeds in a cold pan. Slowly heat over med-lo heat until the garlic is fragrant. Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Bring heat up to med-high and stir the onions until they begin to cook. Add the Lentils and stock. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat to a high simmer and cover. Cook for at least 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender, adding water if necessary. When the lentils are tender add the tomatoes and bring back to a boil uncovered for at least 15 minutes. Just before serving stir in the cilantro, lemon juice and zest and add salt/pepper to taste.

I worked on two cheez recipes today.. they will be great as a spread or on pizza, but did not firm up at all like I expected. The flavor was good.. and that is the base, so that is a positive.

My freezer is so stocked with cutlets, ribz,burgers and other foods that I didn't do any other cooking today. I want to utilize what I have... plus, it is summer and we eat a lot of salads and sawiches... so I didn't do any more cooking.
I did put my ice cream insert into the freezer, and plan on making mango sorbet, watermelon sorbet and some stevia sweetened ice creams for the near future...