Lentil and Mushroom Soup in Miso Broth

Definitely a Thankful Thursday Here

What a fantastic day we have had today!  This is just one of those days where you want to shout from the rooftops.  Don’t you love those days?  J  First we had an excellent appointment with the oncologist and then I scored front row seats for A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC this weekend.  What a wonderful day!  *happy dance*  LOL

The picture above was taken this morning at the Weinberg Center at Hopkins. Didn’t they do a nice job decorating for the holidays?  Being a sucker for Christmas decorations you know I had to take a picture to share.

Speaking of sharing if any of you are on Foursquare you can follow me there.  I can be found by searching for "Vegan Epicurean".  If you do follow me you will get a pictorial sneak peek of my upcoming posts.  I tend to publish many photos there.  ;-)  Also if you are local you may find some new veg friendly places that I forget to mention on the blog.

Getting back to the post the only problem I can find with today was that I have been crazy busy.  Since I promised a post I thought I would share a recent recipe.  I made this soup over the weekend and Dan said it was one of my better lentil soup recipes.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Recipe Time

During the cooler weather months we eat a lot more soup to help keep us warm. Today our high is supposed to be in the low 40s so hot soup is definitely appealing.  To me there is something very comforting about a hot bowl of soup in the winter.  I try to make soups that are calorie dense (without oil) since I need to keep weight on my husband.  If you like lentils I hope you will give this soup a try. 

You can serve this over a whole grain (brown rice, millet, quinoa, barley, etc) or serve it as it is written.  Obviously this will go future if you use a whole grain to “extend” it.  Without the whole grain this makes 4 servings (as a part of meal not the entire meal).

Also while it isn’t critical by serving this over a whole grain you are getting all the essential amino acids in one meal.  However I don’t want you to think that is necessary because it isn’t.  As long as you eat a variety of whole foods you will be fine in terms of protein.  I just wanted to mention the essential amino acids for those of you who are new to vegan food and worry about the “where will I get my protein” factor.  ;-)

Lentil and Mushroom Soup in Miso Broth

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup green or brown lentils (I used a mixture)

4 1/2 cups water

3 stalks celery finely diced

2 large carrots finely diced

1 large red onion finely diced

8 cloves garlic finely minced

1 pound mushrooms, thinly sliced or diced your call (I went with thinly sliced)

no-salt seasoning to taste

1 heaping tablespoon yellow miso

fresh parsley – optional

fresh lemon wedges - optional

Directions: 

Stove top:  Cook the lentils, water, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, mushrooms and no-salt seasoning until the lentils and veg are tender.  Use a little of the soup broth to thin the miso and then add that to the soup.  Serve with fresh parsley and a lemon wedge if desired.

Pressure cooker:  Combine the lentils, water, celery, carrot, onion, garlic and mushrooms in the cooker.  Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Allow the pressure to reduce naturally and add the no-salt and miso. Be sure to thin the miso so no one gets a big hit of miso what we call “miso surprise” here. It is very pungent and salty when that happens.  ;-)

The soup that is pictured above was over brown rice.

Happy thoughts:

Today was just one of those days that everything seems to be going right.   *happy dance*  I wish every day could be this good.

1. We had a wonderful meeting with the oncologist today.  *woo hoo*  Anytime the oncologist is happy so am I.  J  However I do need to do a little research on improving liver function.  Not that we got bad results, the results we received were stellar. But we need to make certain that they stay that way to stay eligible for a trial.  Once I have finished my research there will be a post on living to optimize liver health.  ;-)
2. I don’t think you know this about me but I love Shakespeare.  My mother had an influence on me since she has a degree with a  Shakespeare focus.  Additionally I am on the mailing list for the Shakespeare Theatre in DC and today I scored front row seats to a Midsummer Night’s Dream this weekend.  *woo hoo*.  Dan’s first comment was, “Great, dinner at Jaleo”.  Oh yeah, that sounds like a plan.  :-P  I love having something fun to look forward to.  J
3. We have plans to meet Jackie and Walid next week for dinner and I am really looking forward to that. I have seen them since the spring before Jackie’s sister succumbed to cancer.  We have tons of catching up to do. I know we will have a blast.  *woo hoo*
4. Not this weekend but next weekend we have another jazz concert coming up. *happy dance*  More live music in my future.  Can you tell I love music?  LOL
5. I am also grateful for all the comments I have been getting since I returned to blogging. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and time. I can’t put into words how much it means to me.  Just know that I appreciate you at least as much as you appreciate me.  J

I am including this photo because my fur children make me smile. This was our little guy on vacation this past September. We call it "Binky looking for land".  Wasn't he being brave?  LOL

Signing out:

Today has been busy which means I have been writing this post off and on throughout the day.  I hope that this lack of continuity didn’t make this disjointed. If it did I am sorry.  :-/

I am looking forward to chatting with you again tomorrow.  Hope you are having a fabulous day.