Meatless Monday:The Fall/Winter Soup Edition

Once again we find ourselves at Meatless Monday. It is amazing to me that since I began this Blogapalooza, (I confess that I blatantly stole that from my Aurora friend!) the Meatless Monday posts have generated the most feedback. It seems that we all are in search of new, refreshing, and healthy ways to feed our families. Once again I urge you to try to reduce the amount of meat in your diets. I have become tremendously fond of all of you and meatless meals, as I have stated before, are generally more healthy for your bodies and for the environment. Given the distinct chill in the air today, my Meatless Monday post is focusing on soups. I love soup. A hearty soup with a light salad and some fresh bread is a wonderful way to increase vegetable consumption, warm up the insides, and it is tremendously filling. Here are some of my winter favourites. Enjoy your Meatless Monday!

Lentil Soup Sababa Style
There is a wonderful middle eastern restaurant here in north Toronto called Sababa. Several years ago they shared their recipe for lentil soup which is to die for!


Ingredients:
1¼ cup red lentils
½ cup white rice
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
6 cup warm water
1 tablespoon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon cumin , ground
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon salt , or to taste
lemon wedges, optional

Directions:
1. Soak the lentils and rice in warm water. Add onion to hot vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Add the 6 cups of water and bring to a boil.
2. Drain the soaking lentils and rice, rinse well then add to boiling water with onion and boil 15-20 minutes.
3. Add vegetable stock, cumin, olive oil and salt. Serve each bowl with a wedge of lemon.

Spicy Black Bean Soup


Ingredients:
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 ½ cup red onion, chopped
1 4 ounce can mild green chiles, diced
2 clove garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon jalapeño, chopped with seeds
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 15 ounce can black beans, undrained
2 cup vegetable broth
8 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
sour cream (Plain yogurt works just as well!)
tortilla chips

Directions:
Heat oil in heavy pot over medium high heat. Add onion, green chiles, garlic, jalapeno and cumin. Saute until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add beans with juices and broth. Bring soup to a boil. reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer until flavours combine, aout 15 minutes. Puree 3 cups soup in batches in blender. Return puree to same pot. Add 6 tablespoons cilantro. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls with dollop of sour cream and tortilla chips. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro.

Tomato Bean Soup


Ingredients:
4 large onions, chopped
1 green peppers, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 28 ounce can tomatoes, undrained
3 tsp. chili powder
4 cups vegetable stock
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can chick peas, drained
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Saute onion and peppers together is olive oil until soft. Combine remaining ingredients and cook until flavours come together. Could it be easier than that?