Fall = Soup

The weather the last few days (weeks?) has been spectacularly crummy. I like Autumn, but this business of raining constantly is just getting on my nerves. The one upside in this is that it's soup weather. In the Service (of Guelph) residence, it's always soup season, because we don't like to discriminate. But summer soups are lighter and brothier, for the most part, than the creamy, heavy, blended soups we consume so much in the fall / winter months.

I've had this soup out of ED&BV on my list for quite some time now. Fortunately, it's one of those soups that you probably always have the ingredients for on hand, so even though it wasn't in my meal plan this week, I had forgotten that the kid was going to spend the day with his grandparents on Wednesday and that it would be nice to send him with some food - as well as have some to take to work for lunch for myself! Whipped this up at 9pm the night before and tomorrow will be day 3 of lunch from it, so roughly 6 servings. Perfect.

Sniffle Soup

Now, the description says that it was originally made for Dreena's daughter, who had a cold. I would probably up the curry ante by about a tablespoon if I really wanted this to be a good sinus clearing soup, but as is, it's quite tasty and definitely super hearty. One thing I really like about most of the things I've cooked out of ED&BV (this is no exception) is that they're naturally low fat even though it doesn't profess to be a low fat book. This soup is no exception; you can cook the onions in as little or as much oil as you want, and there's no added milk of any kind to make this creamy, since the lentils make it that thick consistency all by their lonesome.

If you have the book and haven't tried this recipe yet, go for it; it's perfect for this time of year.

Cookbook Challenge: Week 1

My Week 1 cookbook was Eat, Drink & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. I actually purchased this for the spring cookbook challenge and did make some stuff out of it, but haven't really cracked it since.

As tomatoes are looking pretty lovely and are from Ontario fields right now, not just the hothouses, I decided to go with Roasted Tomato and Fennel Pasta with Pine Nuts and Capers.

The recipe is super easy, since it pretty much just involves throwing the fennel and tomatoes on a baking sheet and roasting them for a while. You boil your pasta and when it's done you add the roasted vegetables and some capers and fresh basil and chow down! I thought I had pine nuts but apparently I got rid of them in the last round of kitchen clean up so I was missing that element; bet it would have been great with them though. Although I don't really have 'staple' foods per se, I will definitely be making this recipe again. The smell of the roasting vegetables was phenomenal and alone is enticement to make it again!

I made my own balsamic dressing for the salad, an old stand by my mom taught me. It's balsamic, olive oil, a clove of garlic, a spoon full of dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Beat together with a fork until it forms a nice emulsion and voila!