Lentil & Vegetable Stew with Cauliflower White Bean Puree

So I realize this isn't the most attractive looking plate of food you've ever seen...  I was cringing as I put together this post, wondering why I thought brown on brown on brown was a good idea for food styling, or why I didn't add a garnish on top for some colour.  I will hopefully redo these photos in the future, but I wanted to make sure I shared this now while you're still in the mood for hearty winter comfort food.  Not that winter seems to be showing any signs of ending soon!

Hopefully you're willing to get past appearances here because I promise the taste is worth it.  And not only is this dish comforting, filling, and full of flavour, but it's also really good for you!

This stew is made with lentils (obviously), onion, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, vegetable broth, plenty of seasonings, and a splash of red wine for good measure.  So you're getting a ton of vitamins, fiber, and protein to fill you up and keep you energized through the day or night.  I love using lentils in meals because they're a great source of protein, they're easy to cook, and they're really cheap!

And to make this even more of a protein power bowl, I pureed white beans with cauliflower to serve as the base for the stew.  Steaming and pureeing cauliflower is one of my favourite ways to eat it and I honestly like it even better than regular mashed potatoes.  Sometimes I'll puree cauliflower with chickpeas or white beans and some flavourful mustard and just eat that for dinner on its own, but it goes even better with a hearty stew on top! 

In case you're skeptical, or plan on serving this to picky eaters, I told Ryan that the cauliflower was just mashed potatoes, and after I'd finished watching him eat his meal while trying to hold in my evil grin the whole time, I told him it was really cauliflower and beans and he was completely surprised!

You can also eat the stew on its own if you prefer, and if your leftovers thicken up more than you like in the fridge, just add a splash of water or vegetable broth before you warm it up (this makes great lunch leftovers!)

It may not be pretty, but this is just what you need to get through these never ending winter days!

Lentil & Vegetable Stew with Cauliflower White Bean Puree

Recipe adapted from Unprocessed People’s Lentil Not Roast

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

For the Lentil Stew:

1 cup dry green or brown lentils

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 lb (two 8oz containers) white or crimini mushrooms, chopped (around 2.5 cups)

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 cup red wine

2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (use vegetarian Worcestershire sauce to keep this vegetarian/vegan)

Salt and pepper

For the Cauliflower:

1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into florets

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

~1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add lentils, reduce heat to medium-low, and let simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through and water is absorbed. Set aside when done.

Meanwhile, in a separate large saucepan or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add mushrooms, carrots, onion, garlic, and dry seasonings (cumin through thyme), stir, and let cook for around 5-7 minutes, stirring often.  Add tomato paste, stir to coat, and let cook for about a minute. Add cornstarch, stir to coat, and cook for another minute.  Add red wine and let simmer for about 3 minutes.  Add vegetable broth and bay leaves and lower heat to a simmer.  Add lentils and let simmer for at least 5 minutes.  Remove bay leaves, stir in Worcestershire sauce, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

While your lentil stew is simmering, prepare the cauliflower bean mash.  Add cauliflower and garlic to a steamer basket and steam over boiling water, covered, for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor, add white beans, and process until smooth.  Slowly add olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.

Serve lentil stew warm over pureed cauliflower.  Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.

Caramelized Onion and Potato Soup

And just when we thought the worst of the cold weather was over, it came back this week to give us a reminder of why summer is so great!

I'd almost forgotten already what it feels like when your nostrils start to freeze up as soon as you step outside and your lungs hurt when you breathe in the cold air.  Needless to say, I'll be spending as much time indoors as possible this week and enjoying lots of hot chocolate and soup!

I've actually been making a lot more soup than normal lately, not just because of the weather but because I received an immersion blender for Christmas that I've loved trying out!  It makes pureeing soups so much easier than transferring it in batches to a blender, and more importantly it means a lot less dishes to clean up after, which is probably my favourite thing about it.

I have my eye on so many soup recipes I want to try now, but onion soup has stood out as the most comforting option lately, and it was an excellent choice!

This caramelized onion and potato soup is very similar to a French onion soup, but easier and faster to prepare, and perhaps a little bit healthier.  I didn't cook my onions quite as long as you would for a French onion soup - just long enough to give them that deep golden brown colour and rich flavour - and I also cooked them in just a bit of olive oil instead of tons of butter.  The other  main differences are that this version contains some garlic for flavour and potatoes for thickness, and that I pureed it all into a smooth soup (though next time I'll probably leave a few chunks in there for texture - I just got carried away with my immersion blender!).  Then I topped it with a simple piece of toasted whole grain bread with some melted cheese instead of baking the whole thing in the oven (with a lot more cheese).

You end up with a rich but light tasting soup that's perfect for a cozy winter evening indoors!

Caramelized Onion & Potato Soup

Adapted from different recipes found on Whole Living, Yankee Magazine, and Bon Appetit

Serves around 4 as main course servings; 8 as smaller side dish servings

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil

6 medium yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced into half moons (or 3-4 large onions)

4 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

8 cups (2L) low sodium beef broth

1-1/2 to 2 cups chopped yellow potatoes

2 bay leafs

2 sprigs of thyme

4-7 slices thick rustic whole grain bread

4-8 slices gruyere, swiss, or provolone cheese

Directions:

Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic, stir to coat with oil, and let sit for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper and stir.  Cook for an additional 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and caramelized with a deep golden brown colour.  (Cook for up to 45 minutes if needed).  Add vinegar to deglaze the pan.  Add wine and stir, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Let simmer until reduced slightly, about 2-3 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over onions and stir.

Add beef broth, potatoes, thyme, and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are softened.  Discard bay leaves and thyme sprigs.  If desired, puree soup with an immersion blender or by transferring in batches to a blender.  You may puree all of the soup if you want it to be smooth, part of the soup for some texture, or none if you want it to be chunky, depending on what you prefer.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat broiler.  Arrange cheese on bread and broil until cheese is melted, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Serve alongside or on top of soup.

Beet & Potato Soup

I hope that those of you who had the day off yesterday enjoyed your long weekend!  Yesterday was a holiday for many of us here in Ontario - we don’t celebrate President’s Day (obviously, as we don’t have presidents in Canada), but we do celebrate Family Day on the third Monday of every February. 

I love the idea of a holiday that celebrates the family and encourages families to spend time together.  This was actually the first year that every member of my family had the day off and could get together, so we took the opportunity to go for a wintery family walk along a trail around a frozen pond.  Even though I think I risked my life a thousand times because the trail was pretty much all ice and my boots do not seem to have even the slightest bit of traction, it was still a great way to get outdoors and spend some time with my wonderful family!  Here’s a little glimpse of our walk – the ducks were my favourite part :)

After spending a day outside in the cold, nothing is more comforting than a warm bowl of thick soup and a hearty loaf of bread.  Unfortunately I didn’t have any of this beet and potato soup left to enjoy so I had to settle for an Earl Grey tea latte from Starbucks, but just looking at these photos as I prepared them for this post had me craving this soup so bad!

I won't bore you with a long description of this soup except to say that it’s thick and creamy but still healthy, and is a gorgeous red colour! The first time I made this I used chicken broth but thought it didn’t quite work, so the next time I used vegetable broth, and also increased the cumin for more spice and let the soup simmer longer so the flavours would intensify, and it was so much better! If you hate beets, I’m not going to try to convince you to try this because the beet flavour is really front and center, but if you’re a beet lover like me then you will love this!

Beet & Potato Soup

Adapted from Cooking Light

Serves 3-6, depending on serving size

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

4 cups vegetable broth

1 pound of beets, peeled and quartered

1/2 pound yellow potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 bay leaf

1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon honey or agave

Sour cream or plain yogurt for topping

Directions:

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.  Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.  Add salt, pepper, and cumin, stir to coat and cook for another 30 seconds. 

Add vegetable broth, beets, potato, bay leaf, and thyme.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 30-35 minutes, until beets and potato are tender.  Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs.  If soup has reduced considerably, add a splash of water.

Puree soup in three batches in a blender. Remove the plastic stopper in the blender lid and cover with a paper towel or tea towel to let steam escape.  After pureeing each batch, transfer to a bowl, then once all the soup has been pureed, transfer back to the saucepan to heat through, if necessary.  Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and taste.  Add an additional teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of honey or agave to sweeten, if desired.

Serve each portion with a swirl of sour cream or yogurt.  Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Roasted Tomato and White Bean Soup

So I have one piece of disappointing (but not bad) news and two pieces of good news to share. The not-so-good news is that I’ve been super busy lately and this is the only recipe I have to share with you guys this week. I feel like I've been cooking a lot, but I’ve just been making easy meals (like egg sandwiches), or things that just aren’t special enough to share on the blog (like a mushroom bolognese dish that didn’t work out that well), or things that I’ve already shared before (like this tuna pasta I just made a big batch of!)

Now the good news is that I have a ton of recipe ideas that I want to try out (especially when it comes to holiday baking!), I just need to find the time!

And the second piece of good news is that this one recipe I do have to share this week is really good!

This is a warm and comforting winter soup with a rich flavour from the roasted tomatoes, and the added health benefits of protein and fibre from the addition of white beans. When I first saw this recipe, I pictured a smooth and creamy soup where the beans would be like an undetectable replacement for heavy cream. Mine didn’t turn out quite like that – I could still taste the beans and they gave the soup more of a chunky than smooth texture – but I actually liked it better that way!

Roasting the tomatoes and garlic takes some time, but very little effort, so it’s worth it! I highly recommend eating this with lots of grated parmesan cheese and a loaf of hearty bread for soaking up every last drop from the bowl!

Roasted Tomato & White Bean Soup

Adapted from Clean Eating Magazine, October 2012

Serves 2-4, depending on desired serving size

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered
1-1/2 pounds roma (plum) tomatoes, halved lengthwise
Salt and pepper
1 head garlic
1 (19 fl oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teapsoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Grated parmesan cheese for topping, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray. Spread onion and tomatoes, cut side up, in a single layer on the baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Cut the tops off the head of garlic so the cloves are exposed, spray with cooking spray, and wrap with foil into an enclosed packet. Add foil packet to the baking sheet with the onions and tomatoes, and bake everything together for one hour. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes once done.

Add the roasted onion, tomatoes, and garlic (squeeze out the cloves from the skins) to a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a medium saucepan.

Add beans and 1 cup stock to the food processor and blend until smooth. Add to the saucepan that holds the tomato mixture, and add the remaining 1 cup stock. Add seasonings (Italian seasoning, bay leaf, salt, pepper, sugar), bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Remove bay leaf, and serve warm, with lots of grated parmesan cheese if desired (though recommended!)

*Note that if you really want a smooth texture for the soup, you may be able to achieve that by using a blender instead of the food processor, but you may have to blend in batches.