Monday 24 March 2014

On the mend spiced red lentil-kale soup

This soup is wonderful! It's from Angela Liddon's new cookbook - Oh She Glows Cookbook.

1 tsp coconut oil or olive oil
1 sweet onion, diced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 bay leaf
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 to 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, to taste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their juices
5 to 6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup uncooked red lentils, rinsed and drained
Fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls destemmed torn kale leaves or spinach

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the celery, season with salt, and sauté for a few minutes more.

Add the bay leaf and all spices and stir to combine. Sauté for a couple of minutes, until fragrant.

Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, the broth, and the lentils. Bring to a boil.reduce heat to simmer, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until the lentils are tender and fluffy. Season with salt and pepper. Remove and discard bay leaf.

Stir in the kale and cook for a few minutes more until it has wilted serve immediately.

Friday 21 March 2014

Muddling and mending into spring.

On my way to work this morning I heard the seagulls. Rejoice! This is good news. Spring is on the way. My body is in resting mode this afternoon. I am making soup. Recipe is separate from this post so you can find it.  The soup is the mending part. Muddling? I've been muddling into spring. One step forward - clean something or organize, maybe take out a cooler jacket. Wham! One step backward - parka back on and retreat into comforter with a good book. I'd like to get on with it. It isn't happening yet. I'm okay with that. I suppose.

Spring early

I don't mean that spring is early but I flew into spring last week while in Vancouver. Lovely, just lovely!

Thursday 6 March 2014

I have no complaints, none!

The last little while I have let my thoughts run rampant. Yes, I meditate every day, as if it was as necessary as air or water, which for me is now true if I want to laugh and be joyful. And in meditation I have a lot of thoughts but I don't pay attention to them, so they just come and go and I stay here. But this winter has been long and weary, at least weather wise, and I have slipped more into grumbling than I would like. Or maybe I have always been this way and now just noticed. I've never done a thing about Lent but someone the other night said she was giving up sugar for the 40 days and 40 nights and I wondered what I might do. I said to Don that maybe I should give up coffee. He said too easy. Why not give up complaining? I said I would if he would. And we are "on"! It's the second day
and I'm not doing too badly today. Yesterday I failed many times. This takes way more vigilance than I thought. I know that thoughts have all the power.  I know that anything I think has an effect on me and yet I have  an easy going attitude about seeing the thoughts. No more. I am on a mission! I am now a "lert". Alert=a lert. Lent to Lert.
My mantra - I have no complaints, none.
You could have any Lert, so just pick one. They all bring you eyes to see.