Lentil Soup

I really should be making soap but I have been trying to spend more time making healthy meals.
Last night I made this great lentil soup. I have not made many soups from scratch (besides tortilla soup) so I was quite pleased how it turned out. I definitely will be making this soup again.

Serves 6

 Ingredients        

1 tablespoon olive oil       

1 medium yellow onion, cut into ¼-inch cubes       
2 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½-inch cubes       
4 stalks celery, chopped      
4 carrots, chopped       
2 leeks, white and light green only, thinly sliced       
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed       
8 cups vegetable stock       
2 cups brown and/or green lentils, thoroughly rinsed and picked over       
2 bay leaves      
2 tablespoons dried parsley       
1 tablespoon dried basil      
1 tablespoon dried oregano       
Salt and pepper to taste       

1.  In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion, potatoes, celery, carrots, leeks, and garlic until golden, about 5 minutes.     
2.  Next pour the vegetable stock into the pot, and add the rinsed lentils, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.     
3.  Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil.
4.  Cover, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 1 hour.     
5.  Make sure the level of the stock isn’t too low, adding more stock as necessary.     
6.  Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.     
7.  The soup should be thick and creamy, and the lentils nice and soft.

Daily Veggie Smoothie

I really try hard to eat a lot of veggies everyday. I have become addicted to my daily veggie smoothie using my Vitamix. It is so easy to make and it is a great source of fiber and vitamins.

Today I made a smoothie using coconut water, 1 cucumber, kale, spinach, broccoli, 1 banana

and 1 pear.

You can add any veggies and fruit you want. Just add your liquid and throw in the veggies/fruit and blend. I have found that I like using coconut water rather than plain water because it adds a little sweetness along with electrolytes.

I have these great glass water bottles that I pour my smoothies into. They are perfect for taking the smoothies to work.

Quick San Diego Trip

My kids really wanted to go to the beach this summer so we did a quick trip to San Diego.

Friday we went to LEGOLAND, we had fun but it definitely is a place to go with little kids. My kids are 12 and 8 – my 12 year old (Justin) is not a fan of rollercoasters so they were scary enough for them and my daughter (Ashley) enjoyed all the rides. We went to the LEGOLAND waterpark in the afternoon and it was so packed, we waited in line for a log ride for 1 hour and the ride maybe lasted 1 minute. The lazy river even took a long time to get in and after that we decided we had enough of the water park.

Justin and Ashley at LEGOLAND

Saturday we went to Mission Beach and had a great day hanging out at the beach with my college roommate and her family. There were tons of jellyfish in the water, people were scooping them out with nets but luckily the kids avoided a jellyfish sting.

Jellyfish on Mission Beach

Ashley, Samantha and Danica

Justin

We headed back home on Sunday but made a quick stop at my husband’s Aunt’s house and caught up with family. It was a quick trip but we had a great time.

Tofu Eggless Salad

I am a vegetarian but aspire to be vegan. I really try to stick to vegan dishes but there are times that I will eat ice cream, cheese and deserts that contain eggs.

One of my favorite lunch dishes is Tofu Eggless Salad. I don’t like to spend a lot of time cooking so this is the perfect lunch for me to take to work and this recipe makes enough to last several days.



Ingredients:

1 package of firm tofu

1 cup vegenaise

2 celery sticks finely chopped

¼ onion – you can use more but I hate onion breath

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

¼ cup nutritional yeast

2 tbsp parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Drain the water from the tofu package and crumble it into a bowl. Add vegenaise, celery, onion, dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. It is that easy and it is super yummy and very filling! I usually eat 1 slice of rice bread with it.

Celebration with Friends

My birthday was June 25 but since it is so hard to schedule time with my friends we celebrated my birthday Saturday night. The four of us get together for each other’s birthdays and we always have such a great time. Saturday we went to Elote, a local Sedona restaurant, and had a great dinner then went to Reds for coffee to chat and catch up on each other’s lives. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

From Left: Erin, Me, Christina and Sara