Winter vegetable and bean soup

Winter is not my season. Dark, cold, sleepy. But hot soup and oven-fresh bread were made for January and February. It's inexpensive, makes the house smell wonderful, and makes lots of food (freeze the leftovers!). The best part is how easy it is to make -- throw a bunch of raw ingredients in a slow cooker in the morning, and hours later, dinner! I often plan what type of soup I will make by what frozen veggies I have in my freezer that need to be used. Here's a filling soup that I'll be enjoying for many meals to come...

Winter vegetable and bean soup

2 cups dry lentils
2 1/2 cups presoaked chickpeas
2 cups presoaked barley
2 cups chopped onion (about one bag frozen)
one small package frozen kale
2 cups frozen green beans
1 cup frozen green peas
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
2 T lemon juice
6 tsp chicken bouillon (sodium free)
1/2 tsp each dried oregano, parsley, marjoram and turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
sea salt and black pepper to taste (I used about 2 tsp each)
10 cups water*

Prepare dry chickpeas and barley by soaking in cold water overnight. Combine all ingredients in a large slow cooker and set on high for about four hours. Then, cook on low for another three hours. I had to keep adding water because the soup was getting so thick, but eventually I couldn't fit more water in my slow cooker. If you have a larger one, add more than 10 cups of water. Otherwise, just add some hot water before serving to thin it out a bit. Enjoy, and stay warm!

(Recipe by H. Farrell)

Spicy vegetable curry

What better meal for a frigid, blustery day than a steaming, hearty bowl of veggies, potatoes and spices? Standing over the stove and adding a little more pepper, I forgot about how cold I'd been walking home. I've posted a curry recipe before, but this one has a bit more to it. Try serving over rice or quinoa, with a slightly sweet white wine.

Spicy vegetable curry

olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
water (about 2 cups)
2 medium to large sweet potatoes, chopped
2 yellow/sweet onions, chopped
1 medium eggplant, chopped
3/4 bag frozen petite peas
5-6 cloves garlic, diced
1 bag frozen cut leaf spinach
3 large roasted red peppers (I used 1 large jar), chopped
1 can great northern white beans (or garbanzo beans)
lemon juice (about 1 T)
6 oz (one container) plain lowfat yogurt
1 small can tomato sauce
bay leaves
salt
black pepper
cumin
paprika
Indian curry
cayenne pepper
turmeric
coriander

Heat half the oil and water in a very large pot and add the potatoes. Let them soften a few minutes, then add onions and eggplant. Continue adding ingredients (garlic, spices, peas, peppers, beans, spinach, lemon juice), letting them simmer and stirring occasionally. Add more oil and water as needed. Taste to see how much spice you want -- I was generous with the curry and black pepper. I didn't add bay leaves originally, but I thought they'd be good for the next time I make this. When the vegetables are mostly cooked, stir in tomato sauce and yogurt and let simmer until heated through. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

(Recipe by H. Farrell)

The cookies (coconut, chocolate and more)

This year, I made four different kinds of cookies for December's various holiday gatherings -- the raspberry-almond white chocolate-chip bars (that's a mouthful) as well as two favorite chocolate cookie recipes from last year. I made a few changes to both. Instead of chocolate raspberry cookies, I made chocolate strawberry cookies (I had strawberry jam instead of raspberry). For the chocolate snow tracks cookies, I did away with the try-to-get-all-the-chips-in-the-center nonsense and just mixed all the chips into the dough (about 1/2 bag of chocolate and 1/2 bag of white chocolate). They were also sweet enough that they didn't need the icing. Finally, I tried coconut macaroons, and they turned out to be very quick to make. Enjoy all your cookie making and eating the rest of this year, and have a merry Christmas!

Coconut pecan macaroons

2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

about 5 oz sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 T molasses

1/2 cup pecan pieces

dried apricot pieces

Mix coconut with milk, vanilla and molasses. Fold in pecans. Use a spoon to shape into small balls, and top with a piece of dried apricot. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

(Recipe by H. Farrell)

Stuffed butternut squash

This warm, filling dish is excellent on a chilly, rainy day. And it doesn't take long to prepare. Take that, winter.

Stuffed butternut squash

1 butternut squash
1 egg
spinach (I used about 1 cup of frozen chopped)*
whole wheat bread crumbs (about 1/2 cup)*
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
toasted walnuts (about 2 T)*
golden raisins (about 2 T)*
To taste:
parsley
salt
pepper
thyme

*Measurements are estimates and depend on how much of each ingredient you want to include.

Cut off the ends of the squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds (save them! You can toss them with spices and olive oil and roast them for the last 10 minutes in the oven with the squash.) Brush the squash halves with olive oil and place face up in shallow water in a glass dish. Roast at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. While that is in the oven, mix together other ingredients. Remove squash from the oven and spoon stuffing into the center of the squash halves. Roast for another 45 minutes or until the squash is soft (test with a fork). Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

(Recipe by H. Farrell)

Banana apple cranberry bread

In October, I posted a recipe for cranberry apple bread. Now, I add banana for a more moist, not quite as cake-like bread. I baked this at 325 degrees and it took nearly an hour and a half for it to finish -- next time I'll bake it at 350 and hope that 50 mins to an hour is enough. The recipe below makes two large loaves of this great breakfast bread.

Banana apple cranberry bread

1 egg, 2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 T ground flaxseed
2 T canola oil
8 oz (about 1 cup) unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup water
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups wheat flour 
1 cup white flour
1 cup barley flour (can sub. wheat flour)
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
6 very ripe, medium-sized bananas
2 cups chopped apples
1 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)

Beat eggs and add sugars, honey, flax, oil, applesauce and water (I would recommend using 1/2 cup water at first and more if needed after adding the flour). Mix in baking powder and soda, flours and spices. Fold in banana, apple and cranberries. Pour into two large loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees (see note above) until toothpick comes out clean (check after about 50 mins).

Let the cookie posts begin

By all means, start your mixers: it's time to make Christmas cookies. The past few years I've spread out my cookie-making, starting well before Christmas and freezing cookies as I make them. This takes off a lot of stress come mid-December, when you've agreed to bring something to numerous holiday gatherings and have no time to make anything. You can also make plates with a variety of cookies, instead of just one or two kinds. To start, here's a recipe for a bar cookie that I made up in order to use leftover Solo filling. It's probably one of the least healthy things I've ever made. But hey, it's a cookie. A very easy, very sweet cookie:

Raspberry-almond white chocolate-chip bars

1 sugar cookie mix
1 package (about 1 cup) graham crackers, crushed
1 egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/3 cup Solo raspberry pastry filling
1/3 cup Solo almond pastry filling
about 1/2 bag white chocolate chips
crushed pretzel sticks

Combine cookie mix with butter, egg and crushed graham crackers. Spread into bottom of 9X13 glass dish and bake for about 12 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from oven and spread both pastry filling flavors (or double of one flavor) over the cookie. Bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven again and cover with chocolate chips and crushed pretzels (use a fork to press down the pretzels a bit to make them stick to the cookie). Bake for a final 15 minutes. Let cool before cutting into bars.


(Recipe by H. Farrell)