Adas be Sabanekh from Lebanon

A recipe from Lebanon!

Time: about an hour
Servings: about 6

* 1/2 lb lentils
* 1 cup sliced onion
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 3 peeled & chopped cloves of garlic
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh corriander (aka, cilantro)
* 10 ounces chopped, frozen spinach that has been thawed
* 2 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced
* salt
* ground black pepper
* 1/4 cup lemon juice

1. Wash & pick over lentils. Place in a saucepan & cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cook, covered, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, brown the onion in oil in a large pan. Stir in the garlic & corriander. Add the spinach. Saute 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the potatoes, cooked lentils, & enough lentil cooking liquid to cover. Season with salt & pepper.

3. Bring to a boil, lower heat, & simmer for about 20 minutes.

4. Stir in the lemon juice. Can be served hot, lukewarm, or cold.

Pumpkin Stew with Chilies and Cheese from Peru

~This is a Peruvian recipe!~

Servings: about 6
Time: over 2.5 hours

* 1 medium onion, finely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 4 medium Serrano peppers, finely chopped
* 1 tbsp safflower oil
* 2 lbs pumpkin or winter squash, peeled and cubed
* 2 medium white potatoes, peeled and cubed
* 1/4 cup half-and-half
* 1 cup queso blanco or feta
* salt & pepper, to taste


1. Saute onion, garlic & chiles in oil.

2. Add pumpkin & potatoes, plus a little water if necessary. Cover & cook over low heat until the pumpkin & potatoes are tender.

3. Add the half-and-half & cheese. Heat through.

4. Add salt & pepper. Garnish with additional cheese if desired.

Senegalese Stew with Millet

Time: about 1 hour
Servings: 4

* 2 tbsp vegetable oil
* 2 cups chopped cabbage
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
* 1/2 tsp curry powder
* 1/4 tps thyme
* 14.5 oz canned tomatoes
* 1 cup vegetable stock
* 2 tbsp peanut butter
* 2 cups cubed sweet potato
* 1-1/2 cups cubed rutabega
* 1 cup sliced carrots
* 1 cup cooked chickpeas
* 2 cups cooked millet

1. In a 3 quart sauce pan heat the oil over medium-high heat.

2. Add the cabbage, onion & garlic. Cook, stirring until the cabbage is softened.

3. Stir in the red pepper, curry powder, & thyme. Stir in the tomatoes, breaking them up with the spoon.

4. Add the broth & peanut butter. Stir until completely smooth.

5. Add the potato, rutabega, carrot, & chickpeas.

6. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 35 minutes.

7. Serve over millet.

Ailazan from Armenia

This is a traditional Armenian dish. It is a thick vegetable stew.

* 1 lb eggplant
* 1 lb potato (we used small red potatoes)
* 1 onion
* 100 g oil (I think that came to about 1/2 cup of oil when we used our kitchen scale)
* 3 vine ripened tomatoes
* 1 cup green beans
* 1 red bell pepper
* 1 cup of fresh spices (basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley)
* a bit of chopped garlic
* ground black pepper
* ground red pepper
* salt
* 1/2 cup water

1. Slice the eggplant finely, put a little bit of salt over each piece, then leave it to sit for 15 minutes. Squeeze out the extra juice. (We pressed them with paper towels.)
2. Slice the other vegetables finely & mince the spices.
3. Put the vegetables in a deep pot in layers, beginning with the eggplant on the bottom. Sprinkle every layer with spices including some salt.
4. Pour the oil & the water over top of the vegetables. Cover. Cook on low heat until done. (We cooked the stew on "2" for 1 hour & 45 minutes-- it turned out perfectly.)

Note: A lot of water will cook out of the vegetables, so dont worry that it doesn't seem like enough water at first.

Curry Pumpkin Soup

~special thanks to Jen for this recipe!~

*1/2 stick butter
*1.5 large white onions
*2 tbsp lime juice
* plus or minus 1/4 cup masaman or panang curry paste
*kosher salt & pepper
*bay leaves (Jen says: "we didn’t use these")
*1/2 cup brown sugar
*1/2 cup white wine
*1 can coconut milk
*2 cups milk
*2 small cans (or 1 large can) pumpkin puree
*1/2 cup black rum
*3 cups vegetable stock
*optional: parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, etc (to taste)

1. Sauté onions in butter.
2. Add curry paste, lime juice, bay leaf, optional ingredients & brown sugar. Stir 1 minute.
3. Add white wine, coconut milk & milk.
4. Simmer on medium heat about 20 minutes to reduce.
5. Meanwhile, combine pumpkin, stock & rum in a medium saucepan until warm & uniform in texture. Add to other ingredients.
6. Reduce for 20-30 more minutes by simmering.

(Jen says: "Recipe says to add honey or sugar, salt & herbs, garlic if needed to taste- but I have not tried those.")

Veggie Black Bean Soup

Prep time: 30 min
Servings: 4

*1/2 small onion, chopped
*1/2 cup chopped carrots
*1/2 cup chopped celery
*1 clove garlic, minced
*1/8 black pepper (freshly ground if you're fancy, regular black pepper if you're like me)
*2 cups vegetable broth
*2 cups fresh baby spinach
*14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
*1/3 cup chickpeas (out of a can), rinsed and drained
*1/3 cup low-salt black beans (out of a can), rinsed and drained
*oil or cooking spray

1. Heat a little bit of cooking spray or oil in a large pot. Saute the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, & pepper for 5-7 minutes or until the veggies are tender.
2. Add broth, spinach, tomatoes, chickpeas, & black beans. Bring to a boil.
3. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Calories: 95

Note: Of course, you can adjust the ingredients to your own liking. I usually forgo the onion and celery and put in zucchini and green bell pepper instead. I've tried it with corn, too.

Easy Egg Drop Soup

Prep Time: 15 min!
Servings: 4-6

* 2 cans (about 30 oz) broth (chicken broth is traditionally used, but I substituted vegetable broth)
* 3 eggs
* 1/2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (regular soy sauce is too salty for this recipe!)
* 1/2 cup chopped green onion

1. Bring broth to a boil. Meanwhile, whip the eggs.

2. Once the broth is boiling, take the pot off the heat & add the soy sauce.

3. Stir in the eggs. As you stir, the eggs will separate into stringy pieces.

4. Add the green onion & stir.

5. Serve hot.

Cous Cous Soup

~special thanks to Candi for this recipe!~

Prep time: 15 min!
Servings: 8

* 8 cups broth (the orignal recipe calls for chicken broth, I used vegetable broth)
* 1 cup cous cous
* 1 1/2 cups diced fresh tomato
* 1-2 thinly sliced, seeded jalapeno peppers
* 1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Bring broth to a boil.

2. Stir in cous cous & cook for 5 minutes. (Meanwhile, dice the tomato & jalapeno.)

3. Add the tomato & jalapeno. Cook for about 8 more minutes.

4. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice, & serve.

Note: if the soup becomes too thick, add water.

Note: add Tabasco sauce for a Mexican flavor or fresh basil for an Italian flavor!

Sweet Potato Soup

~ suggested by my friend Taryn! ~

Prep Time: about 45 minutes, once the sweet potatoes are baked

Note: Taryn says, "You can use sweet potato or canned pumpkin."

* 2 onions
* 4 baked sweeet potatoes or 1 can of pumpkin
* vegetable stock
* nutmeg
* salt
* pepper
*smoked sweet paprika or fake bacon (note from Mary: MorningStar Farms makes good fake bacon, available in the frozen section of grocery stores)

1. Fry the onions until translucent. Add the sweet potato mush & spices. Then add stock. If you like thinner soup, add a lot of stock or if you like thicker soup add less stock.

2. Cook for about 1/2 hour.

3. Top with smoked sweet paprika or crumbled fake bacon.


Taryn says: I love this with pumpernickel bread.

Garbanzo Bean Stew

~ suggested by my friend Taryn! ~

Prep Time: depends... at least 1 hour

Note: Taryn says, "I use dried beans because I think that they taste better, but canned is fine."

* 1/2 cup dried garbanzo beans (if using a can, just use the whole can)
* 2 onions, chopped
* 1 head garlic, smashed & chopped
* 1/8 cup olive oil
* water
* 1 potato, chopped
* 1 can of whole tomatoes (Taryn says: We used canned roasted tomatoes. You may need more spices with plain ones.)
* salt & pepper

1. Soak the beans for 24 hours.

2. Fry onion & garlic in oil until translucent.

3. Add beans & enough water to cover. (Taryn says: The less water you cook beans in, the quicker they cook.)

4. Turn the heat down & cover. Check the beans after an hour, but expect them to take up to 4 hours to cook.

5. Add the potato & tomatoes, including juice.

6. When the potato is done, add salt & pepper to taste.

Cream of Asparagus

~ suggested by my friend Amber! ~

Servings: 12

* 1 1/4 sticks butter plus 1 1/2 tbsp butter
* 1/2 cup flour
* 12 1/2 cups stock (Amber says: I use chicken, but you can use vegetable stock or any stock that is light colored & clear)
* 1 cup asparagus
* 3/4 cup onion, diced
* 3 cups hot milk
* salt to taste
* white pepper to taste
* heavy cream to garnish (optional)
* asparagus tips to garnish (optional)

1. Heat 1 1/4 sticks of butter on low until thoroughly melted. Stir in flour. You will see a light golden color. Now you have a blonde roux.

2. Allow to cool slightly.

3. Whisk the mixture into warmed stock.

4. Sweat onion & asparagus in 1 1/2 tbsp of butter, then add to stock. Simmer until soft & tender.

5. Puree vegetables & pass through a cheesecloth or foodmill & add back to stock. (Amber says: This is the annoying part of the recipe. You get all of the flavor but lose the stringy quality of the asparagus. If you own a foodmill, that may be easier than using cheesecloth.)

6. Add hot milk until you reach the desired consistency. Temperature of the milk is important because cold milk does not reach very well when suddenly added to a warm mixture, so mix similar-temperature liquids together. Heat soup again, but do not let it boil after adding milk.

7. Season to taste & serve.

Tortilla Soup

~ suggested by my friend Jen! ~

Prep Time: about 45 min
Servings: about 8

* 1 onion, chopped
* 1 cup corn kernels (frozen/canned), rinsed
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 cup white hominy, rinsed
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 4 oz can chopped green chile peppers
* 2 tsp chili powder
* 1 can black beans, rinsed, drained
* 1 tsp dried cumin
* ½ cup chopped cilantro
* 2 cans veggie broth
* 28 oz crushed/diced tomatoes

Optional ingredients (Jen says: I use about 2 tsp lime, a lot of cayenne):
* Lime juice
* Cayenne pepper or tobasco to heat it up
* Sugar- if it gets too sour from all the acid

Garnish options:
* Tortilla chips
* Sliced avocado (Jen says: my favorite)
* Monterey Jack cheese
* Chopped green onions

1. In a medium to large pot, heat olive oil over medium. Saute onion & garlic. Stir in chili powder, cumin, tomatoes, broth. Bring to boil & simmer 10 minutes.

2. Stir in corn, hominy, green chiles, black beans, cilantro. Simmer 10 minutes.

3. Serve with any of the garnishes above.

Barley and Lentil Soup

(picture by Jen)

~ Suggested by my friend Jen! ~

Time: about 1 hour
Servings: 8-10

* 1 cup chopped onion
* 6 cups vegetable broth
* 1 cup chopped celery
* 2 tsp dried rosemary
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 2 tsp dried oregano
* 28oz can diced tomatoes
* 1/2 tsp black pepper
* ¾ cup rinsed lentils (uncooked)
* 2 cups carrots
* 3/4 cup rinsed pearl barley (uncooked)

1. In large soup pot, cook onions, celery & garlic in hot olive oil until tender.

2. Add vegetable broth, tomatoes, lentils, barley, rosemary, oregano, pepper, & carrots.

3. Cook for 40 minutes, or until barley, lentils and carrots tender.

Note: Jen says, "I like to eat this with cheese and crackers on the side."

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Time: 30 mins
Servings: 4-6

* 32 oz vegetable broth
* 1 chopped green bell pepper
* 1 chopped red or yellow bell pepper
* 1 small onion, diced
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 14. 5 oz can diced tomatoes, pureed in a blender
* about 10 oz meatless crumbles (or for you beef-eating carnivores, you could probably use cooked hamburger meat, but I'm not going to vouch for how the soup turns out)
* 3/4 cup brown minute rice
* a bit of oil for sauteing

1. Prepare all of the vegetables.

2. Saute the onion & garlic in the oil until they are soft.

3. Add the peppers & cook until they are tender.

4. Add pureed tomatoes, meatless crumbles, & broth. Bring to a slow boil.

5. Once boiling, add the rice. Cover & cook until rice is tender (about 10 minutes).

Panzanella Soup

Time: 25 min
Servings: 4

* 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
* 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
* 1/3 cup minced fresh basil or 2 tbsp dried
* 2 tbsp minced fresh oregano or 2 tsp dried
* 1 cup fresh tomatoes, peeled & chopped or 1 cup canned tomatoes,
drained, peeled & chopped
* 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
* 4 cups cubed bread, crust removed
* 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a wide saucepan over medium heat, & saute the garlic, onion, basil, & oregano until the onions are soft (about 8 min).

2. Add the tomatoes, broth, & bread. Stir until the mixture is heated throughout & you have a coarse porridge.

3. Spoon into serving bowls & sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over each.

Avgolemono

This is a quick version of a Greek classic. I like to serve it with spanakopita (that I bought from the frozen section of the grocery store) and a salad. I have to be careful when I add the lemon juice to this soup because the taste of the lemon quickly becomes overpowering for some people (i.e. my husband).
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Time: 10 min!
Servings: 6

* 7 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
* 1 cup orzo pasta
* 3 eggs
* juice of 1 lemon
* 1 tbsp cold water
* salt & black pepper

1. Put the stock into a large pan & bring to a boil.
2. Add the orzo and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Beat the eggs until frothy, then add the lemon juice & the tablespoon of cold water. Slowly stir in a ladelful of the hot stock, then add one or two more.
4. Take the pan of stock off the heat. Slowly add the egg mixture to the pan. DO NOT LET THE SOUP BOIL ONCE THE EGGS HAVE BEEN ADDED OR IT WILL CURDLE.
5. Season with salt & pepper.

Tip: Be sure you use good quality stock. The stock will make or break this recipe.

Beans and Greens Soup

I first made this recipe several years ago when one of my coworkers, knowing that I am a vegetarian, suggested it to me. It's a very hearty and flavorful soup that tastes distinctly southern.
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Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4

* 2 cups chopped onion
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 3 cups water or vegetable stock
* 1/2 lb collard greens or kale
* 2 cups undrained (16 oz) canned tomato, chopped
* 2 (16 oz) can black-eyed peas
* 1 tbsp white vinegar
* 1 tbsp brown sugar
* pinch of dried thyme
* 1/4 tsp allspice
* a couple of splashes of Tabasco or hot sauce
* 2 cups cooked rice
* salt to taste

1. In soup pot, combine onions & garlic in 2 cups water/stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Cut collards/kale in small pieces.
3. Add greens, tomatoes & their juice, black-eyed peas, the additional cup of water/stock, vinegar, brown sugar, thyme, allspice, & Tabasco/hot sauce to the pot.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Stir in rice & cook for 5 minutes more.
6. Add salt to taste.

Chilled Strawberry Soup

This soup is quick to make and tastes like really yummy, fruity yogurt. My little sister loves it-- I first made it for her when she was still in middle school. It's a very light soup and makes me think of summertime. I always make it with sandwiches and serve it as part of a light lunch.
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Time: 15 min!
Servings: 8

* 1 peach, peeled & sliced
* 1 nectarine, peeled & sliced
* 2 cups strawberries, sliced
* 2 (8 oz) cartons strawberry yogurt
* 1 tbsp sugar
* 2 tbsp lemon juice
* fresh mint leaves

1. Put peach, nectarine, strawberry slices, yogurt, sugar, and lemon juice in blender. Process until smooth.

2. Cover and refrigerate. Spoon into soup bowls and garnish with mint.

Note: to make this recipe vegan, use soy yogurt!