Soup's On

I'm not a big believer in New Year's resolutions because I think that if there is something about your life that you really want to change, you should just go ahead and do it at any time. At the same time, I always find myself making "decisions" around this time of year about how I am going to live my life differently. One of those "decisions" was to spend a bit more time cooking real food, not just warming something up in the toaster oven. So with the help of some Christmas money from a generous friend, I bought an attractive and fairly reasonably priced soup pot from the Mario Batali line of cookware. My feeling is that soup is easy to make and can be easily divided into single servings and then stored in the freezer where I don't have to worry about it going bad if I get tired of eating it every night of the week and want to switch things up a little bit.

I just finished my first batch of soup and I cannot wait to get back from my yoga class this evening and chow down. I tasted it to see if I needed any more seasoning and it is delicious. I thought I would share the recipe, which is from a great cookbook called The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet by Nava Atlas.

Curried Red Lentil and Spinach Soup (makes 6 servings)

• ingredients: 1 T light olive oil; 1 large onion; finely chopped; 1.5 cups red lentils, rinsed (I used brown lentils); 1-2 t good quality curry powder; 1 10-oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed.
• Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until golden.
• Add the lentils and 6 c. water (I used 4 cups vegetable broth and 2 cups water) and bring to a simmer. Stir in 1 t. curry powder, cover, and simmer very gently for 35 to 40 minutes.
• When the lentils are mushy, stir in the spinach and check the consistency. If the soup is too thick, add about 1/2 cup water. Season with salt and additional curry powder, if desired.
• Simmer for another 5 minutes. If time allows, let the soup stand off the heat for an hour or so to develop flavor. Heat through as needed before serving.
• Nutritional info: 100 calories; 2g total fat; 5g protein; 14g carbohydrate; 0mg cholesterol; 43mg sodium. This information does not include the added vegetable broth.

Bon appétit!