About Me

I'm an Orthodox Christian, and I strive to follow Christ day by day. I'm blessed to be married to Deacon Steve. We have four wonderful kids! I love to create comics, art, sew, write and read. :)

Friday, December 03, 2004

Soup!

There is nothing quite like the winter comfort of having a pot of soup rolling to savory perfection, combining even the simplest ingredients for an edifying soup as opposed to opening a tin can of sodium-packed Campbell's.

I am currently lunching on last night's leftovers of Christina's amazing Lentil Soup! By golly... I thought it was outstanding last night-- it's even better reheated! Some foods are like that, though :) A HUGE thank you to Christina for another one of her "tried and trues"!

Anyways, I thought I'd share another lenten soup recipe that is startingly easy! I found it on Allrecipes.com, where you can read it's fifty 5-star reviews (hey, can't go wrong with those stars!).
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Vegan Split Pea Soup:

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups dried split peas
1/2 cup barley
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
7 1/2 cups water
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 potatoes, diced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper


DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot over medium high heat, saute the oil, onion, bay leaf and garlic for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add the peas, barley, salt and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.


Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and ground black pepper. Simmer for another hour, or until the peas and vegetables are tender.
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I got by without the barley and the parsley (because I didn't have any) and the evil onion and it's textural cousin, celery (both consistent omissions from my food :D). But I have barley now, and I look forward to repeating this recipe soon!

5 comments:

Job said...

Both soups are excellent I recommend them both :)
Job

Christina said...

How do you live without onions and celery?!?!? Glad you like the lentil soup... now you know why when I was growing up, I would request lentil soup for dinner even when it was a non-fasting day! My mom thought I was crazy that lentil soup was my favorite food:)

Anonymous said...

LOL, it's textural cousin? Is this why they're omitted?

Xenia Kathryn said...

Yes, the onion and celery both have the same "crunch" factor. And it's not the crisp, "snap" crunch of a carrot, it's the lingering, finger-nail-across-the-chalkboard crunch. You know? And then comes the pungent, B.O. taste of the onion. Then the throat convulsions begin and I grasp for the closest napkin I can find and... well... you know.

Um, can you tell I've got some deep-rooted issues with onions? My sisters tease me for my long-abiding hatred (they all think it's mental, and it might be true). Although I have forced myself more recently to eat minutely minced, thoroughly cooked, dehydrated onion (as long as it's disguised in plenty of sauce and spice). I do hope to repent of this sad paranoia... life would be easier. But at the same time, a huge chunk of my existence--my very person, my identity if you will-- would vanish if I started to accept the Onion Factor into my life. I'm so used to fishing out the onions in my food... sometimes at the store I want to buy onions just so I can put them in my food to pick out. How crazy is that? Ahh!!!
Lord have mercy.
There's an answer to your question, Dawn :) And you too, Christina!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the answer! Ah, the onion factor. lol. :) BTW, I hope you had a happy birthday, and have a blessed and joyous Nativity!