Carrot and Lentil Soup, with Lime

I'm liking Emily's idea of being more loose and free with recipe trials.  If something works, write it down with a few notes about your tweaks and fails.  And for me, that means even if I don't have a great picture.  If the tummy loved it, it deserves to be remembered for that time I can't think of anything to make!  I have a little black book for this purpose... but I haven't used it for over a year.  Which obviously means it's not working.

Which leads me to this mustard colored soup.  It's delicious.  I was rather dubious at first.  I mean come on, lentils and carrots.  But what's a girl's to do when her husband is out swimming in the cold rain and his return is imminent and he's sure to be shivering and class is soon afterwards and her cupboards are missing so many key soup ingredients.

So this girl went to her trusted online recipe folder of "things to try one day" and scanned through the soup recipes.  Nope, don't have onions. Nope, I don't have potatoes. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Hmmm... carrots and lentils...

Here's the recipe:

http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/10/carrot-and-lentil-soup.html

Tweaks 

i.e. what I did

~2 cups green lentils

3 carrots, shredded (that's all I had)

water

McKay's chicken seasoning

Ground cumin

Garlic powder

Onion Powder

Tumeric

Squirt of Bragg's Liguid Aminos (for that umami depth)

salt/pepper

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Savory cashew cream/mayonnaise stuff I had in the fridge.  I'm sure yoghurt, milk, or coconut milk would work great too.

On Top:

Fresh Lime juice (don't skip, this made it DELISH!)

Cilantro

Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

My Open Tabs

Thought you might enjoy looking at what I have open right now :)  yes - it's too many!

Individualism, Community, and Moral Obligation in the Hebrew Bible

The Shepherd Motif in the Old and New Testament

Lightbearers: Resources

Jons Bushcraft

Back to Eden Film

Silver Threads Among Gold

Preventing Sewing Machine Maintenance

Quince&Co: River Design

Brooklyn Tweed Lookbook

Sweet Potatoes Stuffed with Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Salad

Roasted Sweet Corn and Tomato Soup

Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas

Roasted Cauliflower + Leak Soup with Pea Shoot and Almond Pesto

No Bake Greek Yoghurt and Berry Cheesecake

Frozen Mango "Cream" Pie

Hibiscus Syrup

Autumn Abundance

I know that it's winter for many of you, but it's still Autumn here in SoCal.  We have been super than excited to pick our first few tomatoes from our garden.  For those that have hear our gardening woes, you will understand how awesome this is for us!  And for those who haven't, yes - we should have had tomatoes long ago.  But we are just now getting them and for that, we are very thankful!  The other fruits include persimmons and either tangerines, clementines, or tangelos (we can't figure out which they are!)

On friday, I turned 20 pounds of this....

...into four loaves of this!  We're enjoying it immensely!

Birthday Apple Fritters (Vegan)

Once a year on my birthday, it is tradition to make homemade donuts.  This year, I made apple fritters, and they were blow-you-away good.  I made two batches - one vegan and the other non-vegan.  We then conducted a randomized and controlled study where we compared the vegan batch with the non-vegan.  It consisted of Barry closing his eyes and me feeding him.  He couldn't tell the difference and no one else could either.  I'm including the recipe below, but I only recommend that you make these once a year.  More often than that might get you addicted ;)  I also suggest that you invite lots of friends to help partake of the feast.  They are too good not to share!

Vegan Apple Fritters

Adapted from Lara Ferroni

400 grams flour (I used both cake flour and all-purpose.  Next time I'll sub in some white whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
75 grams sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons Smart Balance or vegetable oil
1 large or 2 small apples, chopped into small pieces (I used Honey Crisp and they were DELICIOUS!)
5 tablespoons applesauce
1/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
High-heat vegetable oil (canola, safflower or peanut) for frying

cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar or doughnut glaze as desired

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and spices. Add the butter to the flour mixture and work in with your fingers to break up the big pieces. Add the apple pieces, and stir to coat.

Whisk the applesauce, soy milk, and vinegar together, and add to the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. (I had to add quite a bit of flour here.  I indicated an additional 100 grams of flour in the directions but feel free to add more if the dough is still very sticky.)  You should have a dough that resembles scone dough… so it’ll will hold together but likely be a little sticky.

On a well floured surface, with well floured hands, press the dough out into a 1/3-1/2 inch deep round.  Cover, and let the dough rest while you bring the oil (2″ deep in a pot) up to 350F.

When the oil is hot, cut the dough into small rounds, about 2 inches in diameter.  I just used a spoon and my hands.  And I used plenty of extra flour here.  Don't aim for perfection, they'll look great regardless! 

Fry for 1 minute on one side, flip and fry for a minute on the other.  Turn over and repeat if they are not yet turning brown.  They should be a medium golden brown. Check the oil temperature often - it tends to cool off with each batch.

Drain the fritters on a rack above a paper towel, until cool to the touch. Then dust in cinnamon or powdered sugar or glaze with your favorite doughnut glaze (I used a cinnamon glaze. Yum!)