Fresh Lima Bean Soup with Lemon and Mint

This soup is a combination of a fresh pea soup we learned in cooking class a few weeks ago and a cooked fava bean soup that was posted here on the blog SmarterFitter.

My husband isn’t crazy about mint so I try to keep my mint use to a minimum when he is eating. I on the other hand love mint, and we have a boatload of it our garden. However, even with my love of mint you want to keep the mint level down in this soup. I started with one mint leaf in the soup expecting to add more, one at a time. More mint would not add to the flavor or this soup. I wanted a subtle kiss of mint, and that is what you get from one leaf.

Oh well, looks like I will need to make more mojitos instead. Just kidding, really I am. ;)

Fresh Lima Bean Soup with Lemon and Mint
Serves 1

Ingredient:

1 cup of very fresh shelled lima beans (frozen would be fine here)
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
¾ cup of water
½ teaspoon of basil salt
¼ teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
1 fresh mint leaf
¼ teaspoon of lemon zest, for garnish – optional
1 small mint top, for garnish – optional

Directions:

Place the lima beans, lemon juice, water, basil salt and mint leaf in your blender. Puree until the soup is completely smooth. Chill until ready to serve.

To serve, grate a little fresh lemon zest and black pepper on top. Garnish with a mint sprig if desired.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 325.75
Calories From Fat (3%) - 9.05

Total Fat - 1.08g
Saturated Fat - 0.25g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1160.35mg
Potassium - 973.82mg
Total Carbohydrates - 61.83g
Fiber - 18.3g
Sugar - 4.56g
Protein - 19g

Comments:

This soup is cool and refreshing with a light taste of mint and lemon. I would only make this with fresh picked lima beans or frozen lima beans. Old beans would make this soup starchy, which wouldn’t be nearly as fresh tasting.

This soup would also make a nice appetizer in espresso mugs or shot glasses. It would be great with a little dollop of tofu sour cream.

Middle Eastern Spiced Beets, Orange, Red Onion, Mint and Pistachio Salad

Beets are a food that people are passionate about. You are either a beet lover or a beet hater. My husband is a beet lover and I have learned to love them to, but it did take a while. If you aren’t a beet lover because you had some bad childhood beet experience give beets another chance. They are so good for you, and the flavor is wonderful if they are treated properly.

I decided to go Middle Eastern today with the beets. I knew I wanted to use them roasted and in a salad, but didn’t decide on the middle eastern twist until I went in the kitchen and saw the ras el hanout looking at me from the spice drawer. There is a recipe for the spice blend on my blog with a link in the recipe.

This salad is a combination of things that make me think of Middle Eastern food. I have included spiced beets, oranges, red onion, fresh mint and chopped pistachios. The beets are high in anthocyanins. The oranges provide vitamin C. The red onion is packed with antioxidants and is reported to be good for your heart and well as preventing cancer. The pistachios provide healthy fat. Most herbs are full of flavonoids, so I assume that mint is no exception.

Middle Eastern Spiced Beets, Orange, Red Onion, Mint and Pistachio Salad
serves 4

Spiced Beet Ingredients:

2 ½ pounds of beets, cleaned and cut into bite size pieces
2 teaspoons of ras el hanout
½ tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons of champagne vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Remaining salad ingredients:

1 orange, segmented and cut into bite sized pieces
½ red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of vinegar to soak the onion
½ cup of fresh mint, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons of pistachios, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put all the ingredients into a glass baking dish (if using metal increase the temperature to 350 degrees) and toss to combine the spices.

Roast the beets in an uncovered pan for 60 minutes and check the beets for tenderness with the tip of your paring knife. The exactly cooking time will depend on the size you cut the beets. Cook the beets until they are easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife.

Cool the beets and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. These beets can be served cold or hot. It serving hot you can reheat them in the microwave if you don’t want to make the salad.

Add the segmented orange to the cold beets. Soak the slivered onions in a little white vinegar to take the edge off the bite. After 15 minutes drain the vinegar from the onions and add them to the cold beet and orange.

Add the roughly chopped mint just before serving. Sprinkle the pistachios on the top of the salad and serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 196.73
Calories From Fat (18%) - 35.66

Total Fat - 4.21g
Saturated Fat - 0.59g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 330.95mg
Potassium - 1062.22mg
Total Carbohydrates - 37.59g
Fiber - 10.8g
Sugar - 19.47g
Protein - 6.34g

Comments:

These beets have a lot of flavor and a terrific aroma from the ras el hanout. The beets could be served hot on their own, or as part of this salad.

The next time I make this salad I will add another orange. If you weren’t watching your fat as closely as we are the salad would be fine with a few more pistachios, and the inclusion of a few sliced black oil cured olives would take the salad over the top.

Laotian Style Vegetables

For some unknown reason I wanted Laotian food tonight. I like to mix up the origin of our food, as you may have noticed. Laotian food is reasonably new to me. I was introduced to it at our favorite local restaurant where a couple of the guys in the kitchen are from Laos. The cuisine is quite nice and seems to use a lot of hot Thai chilies, lime and fresh mint. If you like that combination you will like Laotian cuisine.

This dish has a lot of flavor from the chili garlic sauce, lime and mint. It is hot and refreshing at the same time. I didn’t serve this over rice, but it would be great that way or in a lettuce wrap.

Laotian Style Vegetables
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups of zucchini, halved or quartered and thinly sliced
2 Japanese eggplants, thinly sliced
1 cup of fire roasted diced tomatoes
½ - 1 tablespoon of chili garlic sauce (depending on how much you like heat)
1 scoop of stevia (or agave)
1 lime, juiced
¼ cup of fresh mint, chopped

Directions:

Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot add the red onion, zucchini and eggplant, fire roasted tomatoes, chili garlic sauce, stevia and lime. Cook until the vegetables are as tender as you like them.

Stir the fresh mint into the vegetables just before serving. You want the mint to stay fresh and vibrant. This would be good over brown rice or any other whole grain.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 93.83
Calories From Fat (7%) - 6.64

Total Fat - 0.82g
Saturated Fat - 0.14g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 254.17mg
Potassium - 902.81mg
Total Carbohydrates - 22.9g
Fiber - 7.78g
Sugar - 4.64g
Protein - 4.73g

Comments:

This dish packs a punch of flavor. It you like spicy Asian food you should give this a try. I served it tonight with a whole-wheat tortilla with a little nutritional yeast sauce and fire roasted tomato bits. However, this would be great over brown rice.

Mint Green Tea

I think we have all read that green tea is good for us. However, green tea has a very light flavor that not everyone likes straight, me included. I like to flavor my green tea so that it has a bigger more robust flavor that I prefer. If consuming four cups of green tea per day is associated with a reduction in all forms of cancer, I am going to drink my green tea. Since I don’t love it straight, I continue to develop new flavors of green tea so I that I can enjoy this healthy beverage.

This recipe for green tea is flavored with mint and a little agave to mellow the tannins from the tea.

Mint Green Tea
Makes one large, or two regular mugs of tea

Ingredients:

18 ounces of boiling water
3 green tea bags
¼ cup of fresh mint, crushed
1 teaspoon of agave

Directions:

Cover tea bags and mint with hot water and allow the tea to steep for at least 10 minutes to get all the benefits out of the tea. Add the agave when you remove the tea bags and mint.

Be certain to drink the tea within two hours of brewing so that you don’t miss out on any of the health benefits of the tea.

Comments:

The mint flavor in this tea is very dominant. The color of the tea is darker than normal green tea because of the mint, and the extra tea bag. I find that I like green tea better when it has a stronger flavor. This tea is not sweet; the agave is included to take the tannic edge off the beverage.

Middle Eastern Style Cold Millet and Fruit Salad

We love Middle Eastern food in our house. Today’s salad is not traditional, but is inspired by the flavors that we enjoy. I wanted something Middle Eastern and dreamed this up after tasting the dressing. The pomegranate molasses and ras el hanout seem to be perfect with fruit today to me.

I used millet because it is a healthy whole grain that is packed with niacin and magnesium. Most of the other ingredients are traditional Middle Eastern flavors, except the apple, which I added for crunch. Those of you who know me know how I strive for textural variation in my dishes.

It is difficult to describe the taste of this salad. It is sweet and tangy from the pomegranate molasses, which is very prominent in this dish. It is also sweet from the dried fruit. The lemon juice keeps the salad from being overly sweet. The apple and pistachio give the salad crunch. The mint provides a fresh quality to the salad. The ras el hanout gives the salad a big punch of flavor attitude.

Middle Eastern Style Cold Millet and Fruit Salad
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup of millet
2 ½ cups of water

dressing:
zest and juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses
2 teaspoons of ras el hanout

salad add-ins:
1 firm apple, finely diced
12 dried apricots, sliced
8 dried figs, sliced
¼ cup of pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 cup of fresh mint, finely chopped

Directions:

Put millet and water in a pot with a lid. When the millet comes to a boil cover the pan and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes then allow to stand for 10 minutes so that the water can finish absorbing.

Put millet into dressing while it is still hot to encourage it to absorb more flavor. Cool the salad before adding the fruit.

Incorporate the fruit, nut and mint evenly into the salad and serve cold.

Comments:

This salad improves with time as the flavors marry. I like to include this for lunch with a green salad.