Lentil Soup x2

Lentil Soup is a very easy and tasty dish to make. I made it two different ways and will have both represented here. Originally I made a simplified version only consisting of Lentils and Onions. The second version has more in it. I will explain Version 1 first and follow it with Version 2.

Ingredients:
Version 1:
1 White Onion
1 cup Red/Orange Lentils
1 cup Green Lentils
Italian Seasoning
Celery Salt
Perfect Pinch Cajun
Garlic Salt
6 cups Water
1/4 stick Sun Dried Tomato Basil Butter

I began by getting my spices together.

I then got out my White Onion and proceeded to dice it up.

Oh my, found some tasty Butter to caramelize the Onion in.

Now put Onions in with the melting Butter.

Once Onions are caramelized, add in 2 cups of Lentils.

Pour in your water.

Let it cook, stirring once in awhile, until done. The Lentils will be like little sponges and soak up almost all of the water.

I served this on Wild Rice with some shredded Cheese on top. Enjoy.

Version 2:
1 White Onion
1 cup Red/Orange Lentils
1 cup Green Lentils
Italian Seasoning
Celery Salt
Perfect Pinch Cajun
Garlic Salt
Ground Black Pepper
6 Celery stalks
8 Sm Carrots
1/4 stick Butter
6 cups Water

Alright, this recipe mainly follows Version 1 with a few changes.

First off, like no pictures. Sorry but it's sort of redundant. You begin by dicing up your Onions, Carrots, and Celery stalks.

Then you caramelize the Onions in regular Butter.

Add in the diced up Carrots and Celery when the caramelization begins. Stir together thoroughly.

Add in Lentils once Carrots soften up a bit.

Add in Water at same time. Stir.

Once Lentils are soft enough to eat, turn off heat and serve. Enjoy.

Root Vegetable Salad

This recipe has been bouncing around inside my head for the past couple weeks and I finally found Parsnips so cooking had to happen! It's my first time cooking something like this, so this should be fun!

Ingredients:
5 Parsnips
10 Carrots
7 Red Potatoes
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herb Mix
Olive Oil

Turn your oven to 400 degrees BAKE. Make sure it's empty.

Now this recipe I began by finding Parsnips at the grocery store for once! I then gathered everything together.

I went in order Parsnips first, Carrots second, and Potatoes third. By that, I mean I cut them into large pieces as evidenced by the cut up Parsnips in this picture.

I did my best to mix them up and ended up having enough cut to fill two entire glass cooking dishes with the ingredients.

I then poured on a heavy dose of Olive Oil. On top of that I added 2 pinches of Sea Salt, 3 of Ground Black Pepper, and 1 large pinch of Italian Herb Mix. This is per glass dish. Then they went into the oven. Yes, I was cooking these at the same time as I was cooking Sweet Potato Fries.

They should cook for about 45 minutes.

Take them out and use a spatula to serve. I dusted with some Italian Herb Mix. Enjoy.

Beef Irish Stew

So the other day I threw together a vegetable irish style soup stew thing and that got me thinking about trying the real deal. So today that is just what I did. I really wanted to get lamb meat for the stew, however I could not find any worth getting this week so I chose beef as a replacement. I think it turned out quite well and was a delicious lunch for me today.

Ingredients:
1 lb Beef Stew Meat
1/3 cup Shallots, diced
6 Garlic Cloves, diced
6 Scallions, diced
3 Leeks, sliced
6 Celery Stalks, sliced
10 Carrots, sliced
15 sm Potatoes, halved and quartered
1 can Guinness beer
3 cups Beef Broth
1 can Tomato Paste
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Fennel Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Sweet Paprika
1/4 stick Butter
Lowry's Seasoning

I began this recipe by gathering my ingredients.

I then proceeded to slice up the Carrots first. They got the first mixing bowl, which I then added the sliced Celery Stalks and Leeks while topping off with the sliced Scallions.

In another bowl, I put the diced up Shallots and Garlic Cloves.

The third bowl got the halved and quartered Potatoes.

I put a pot on the stove and that is where I put the 3 cups or so of water and a beef bullion cube to make the beef broth. Put the heat on high and mostly cover. It should be ready in a few minutes.

Now, I put this to the side for a second while I threw the meat into the large saucepot with the Butter and a healthy dash of Lowry's. Once the meat was done browing, I took it out into a bowl on the side. Using the liquid still in there, I put in the Garlic Cloves and Shallots. Mix together quite well.

Once the Shallots have begun to caramalize and turn translucent, put the meat back in there.

I let this go for about a minute. Then the vegetable medly bowl had it's contents put into the mix. Then of course mixed together.

Next were the Potatoes. Mix together.

I put in about 1/2 the beef broth. At this point I added the can of Tomato Paste.

Mix it together and add the rest of the beef broth.

Now add the can of delicious Guinness beer. Any stout would do, but Guinness is great so why not that one!

Now let the stew come to a boil, reduce heat to just above simmering and let cook for about an hour.

Taste test at the end to make sure it's done, if not let cook more. Enjoy.

Vegetable Irish Stew..or Soup?

Today I made a nice delicious dish of Irish Stew. Well, somewhat. That is the inspiration I had for it, along with the chilly weather we are getting here this weekend. I could just call it a Vegetable Stew but I like giving credit to the Irish for my inspiration. Cheers.


Ingredients:
1 Red Onion
1.5 lb Potatoes
1 lb Carrots
1 cup Scallions
1.5 cup Pearl Barley
Flax Seed
Rosemary
Sage
Parsley
Fennel Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Sweet Paprika
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Butter
2 qt Beef Stock

I began by gathering some of my ingredients. This really was a throw together as I found things in the fridge.

I then diced up the Red Onion and put that in the slow cooker along with about a half stick of Butter.

On top of that I put in the Sage Leaves, Parsley, and Rosemary. I also turned the heat on HIGH at this point.

On top of this, I added in the Pearl Barley and a half handful of Flax seeds.

Now, I chopped the Potatoes, Carrots, and Scallions up beforehand and only now get to putting them in. I like order, so I went with sliced Carrots first.

Then the Potatoes and Scallions.

Now I put on the spices. A dusting of each and a larger dusting of Italian Herb Mix.

Finally, I poured in my 2 qt container of Beef Stock.

Cover and let cook on High for about 3 hours or so. Then mix it up together.

Check on it about an hour after that. Taste test to see how the Carrots are doing. Carrots take longer to cook than the Potatoes, so you'll know all is done by tasting the Carrots.

If it's not done, then let it cook some more. Otherwise, just serve!

Chef's Choice Chili

So as many of my friends around here know, I absolutely LOVE to make chili. I love it. I make it a lot during the colder months, however after making the Tomato Sauce yesterday, I decided that I have gone too long without chili.



Homemade Tomato Sauce:
-Get your soup pot or large saucepan depending on how much you are making. Mine filled a large saucepan since I did not make my normal amount(about 1/2 of normal).
-Mix all your spices together in a bowl to your liking, or straight in the pot like The Chef does. I went heavy on the basic ingredients as well as the Tumeric and Cajun Perfect Pinch. The rest I went light on since they are just there to smooth out all the flavors.

-Now that your spice mix is making your kitchen smell amazing, onto the food processing happy times! Basically I like my chili smooth with not a LOT of huge chunks in it. The order I processed was Roma's, Greenhouse Tomatoes, Onion, Carrots, Poblano Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers. Add to pot as you go, turn the heat on med-high when you add the Roma's and stir them in with the spices. A little olive oil will smooth it out if necessary.

-Grab your grouping of green onions and dice them up almost to the white part. You can put the green onion's roots into water and they will grow back! Add to pot.

-Stir everything together evenly and turn to medium heat. Once it starts boiling, change the temperature to low or simmer.

-Let simmer for about an hour, then it should be tasty enough to eat!

Homemade Tomato Sauce:
6 Roma Tomatoes
2 Greenhouse Tomatoes
1 White Onion (Large)
2 Jalapeno Peppers
2 Poblano Peppers
4 Carrots
1 cup diced Green Onions

Spices for Tomato Sauce:
Cayenne Pepper*
Chili Powder*
Garlic Salt*
Ground Cumin*
Ground Allspice
Ground Cloves
Paprika*
Celery Salt
Ground Black Pepper*
Ancho Chili Powder*
Ground Tumeric Powder
Curry Powder
Mesquite Seasoning*
Perfect Pinch Seasoning - Cajun

*are the basics, the rest are choice ingredients.

For Chef's Choice Chili:
-First get a pot the size you think you need for the chili, or maybe a little bigger.

-Get your pound of ground beef and brown it in the pan with Lowry's Seasoning, maybe some butter too if you love calories as much as I do!

-Once the beef is all browned and tasty smelling (yes take a sample to make sure, you know you want to!), you get your tomato sauce and add it directly into the pot. Stir.

-Use food processor for white onion, then add it in. Stir. Let it cook on low to medium-low for about 30 minutes.

-That time frame is just a rough estimate of time needed, so whenever your frequent tastings of it say it is done just dish it out.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 White Onion
Lowry's Seasoning
Shredded Cheese