Green Bell Pepper Soup

This is an easy, but not quick recipe. be very careful with the oven!

Ingredients:

4 large bell peppers
1 Teaspoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 liter boiling water
1 can of baked beans (about 560 gr.), drained
2 chicken bouillon cubes, low fat and low sodium
A pinch of fine herbs

To begin with preheat the oven for broiling, then place the bell peppers on a baking sheet inside the oven near the top. Let the peppers broil until they blister and blacken, then turn them, using tongs, until all sides are black and blistered. be very careful, and remember to slide the oven tray out (wearing oven mitts, of course!) It's safer than sticking your arms into the oven.

When they're done, let them cool for about twenty minutes. Next you'll find the skin comes off with a little effort. Skin them. You don't have to remove the entire skin. no, let em rephrase that: I did not remove the whole skin from each. Once they're skinned, cut them open, and get the seeds and core out. You'll find the seeds may have turned brown. The peppers will be soft and easy to cut. Now chop them in small pieces.

In a soup pot heat the oil, then saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the chopped peppers and saute another 3-5 minutes. Add the water and bouillon cubes. Stir well to dissolve them. Add the beans and a pinch of fine herbs. Stir well and reduce heat to minimum. Bring to a slow boil, then let simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Let it cool and serve.

The recipe I was originally making called for putting the thing in the blender after adding the beans. I decided to let it cook through first. When I tasted it I found it very good, so I omitted the blending step. But that's a good option for another time.

Garlic oven-roasted potatoes

It's not easy to make nice, tasty low-fat potatoes.

Potatoes are low in fat, but the ways to making them tasty are usually not. This one's no exception, but I think it goes towards the lower range of fat content. So:

I'll post the recipe for the chicken in the photo later (that one takes some doing).

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, diced into small cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, mashed with a garlic press (I tried grating them, but the pres worked better)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fine herbs, crushed.
A few fresh parsley leaves, cut small

Place the olive oil and mashed garlic in a large bowl. add the pepper, fine herbs and parsley. Stir well and let it sit for an hour at least at room temperature. This is to infuse the oil with the spices.

Next add the diced potatoes (you may peel them or not, your choice) tot he bowl and toss until they are all covered with oil and spices. Place on a baking dish, preferably a large one so the potatoes are on a single layer. Put it in the oven preheated to 350-400 F (my oven is set to Celsius and I set it to 200 C) and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked. be careful not to burn them, which is easy to do at such high temperatures.

And be very careful with the oven! Ok. I admit I'm a bit phobic about ovens. I tend to be extra careful when using them.

Re: Cabbage Soup

As I was saying, I updated the recipe for cabbage soup. This version tastes more like cabbage with chicken broth than chicken broth with cabbage.

And I took a photo:

I used green cabbage rather than red, because the red tends to dye the other ingredients. Not to mention the broth turns purple. But you can use red cabbage if you like it better. 

1/3 of a head of green cabbage chopped or 1 small red cabbage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1.5 carrots (I cut it into sticks, but go any way you like)
About 1/4 of a medium sized jicama (in sticks, too, or see about the carrot)
3/4 cup soybean sprouts
2.25 liters of water
2 cubes chicken bullion low-fat, low-sodium
1 teaspoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
Ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon fine herbs
Worcestershire sauce

Preparation

Saute the garlic and onions with the olive oil in a soup pot until the onion turns translucent. Then add the bell pepper and mushrooms and cook for two minutes. Add the carrot and jicama and cook for another two minutes. Add the cabbage and soybean sprouts. Cook for about 10 minutes, don't let the veggies get too soft. While this is going on, add pepper to taste.

Lower the heat to medium and add the water. Add Worcestershire sauce, ginger and fine herbs. Stir.

When it warms up, add the chicken bullion cubes and stir until they dissolve (if possible, crumble them first). Reduce the heat to minimum and bring to a slow boil. When the soup begins to bubble let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove from heat.

I do like the stronger cabbage flavor.

Chicken with White Wine Sauce

Given my recent success making onion soup, I looked up other recipes using wine of some sort. Between reading and my own ideas, I came up with this:

Now, I made some mistakes with the preparation. Take note: make sure you have all the equipment you'll need! I could have sworn I had a mallet to flatten meats with, but I couldn't find it. So I wound up with rather thick chicken breasts. I wasn't going to pound them flat, I'm not making milanesas after all, but I did want to thin them so they'd cook better. Oh well.

First you prepare and cook the chicken:


Four thin boneless, skinless chicken breasts, not pounded flat.
1/4 Cup flour (I used whole wheat flour)
2 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. oregano, crushed
1 Tbsp. thyme, crushed

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 thick onion slices, separated into rings

In a large bowl, mix the flour and spices well. Dredge the chicken in the mix so it's evenly covered on both sides, shake off any excess. In a deep sauce pan heat the olive oil on a medium flame and cook the chicken along with the onions. Times vary, but cook each side of the chicken until it's golden brown. You don't want to overcook it, as it will dry out. You also don't want to leave the center raw or half-cooked. Therefore use reasonably thin pieces (as noted I didn't do).

When it's done, set the chicken aside and leave the onions in the pan.

Next:

2 Cups mushroom, sliced
2 Cups half-cooked (boiled) potatoes, thinly sliced but not potato chip thin.
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Teaspoon butter or margarine
1 Cup chicken broth
3/4 Cup white wine (I used a Riesling from Baja California)

In the same pan, still with the onions, add olive oil and margarine (or butter), and cook the mushrooms and potatoes. Again, times vary. You want the mushrooms to release their juices and turn brown around the edges only. When they're done, add the wine.

Keep cooking until the wine is reduced by about half. Add the chicken broth, and keep cooking for a few minutes, letting the sauce thicken. The sauce may not thicken enough by itself, though this can differ according to taste. If you want a thicker sauce, take a tablespoon of the left over flour and spices mix, and dissolve it in 1/4 cup of hot water. Make sure to use hot water, as wheat flour tends not to dissolve in cold water. Add the mix to the sauce and stir.

Add the chicken you'd set aside. If you like, add also another teaspoon of margarine or butter. Let the whole thing cook for another three to five minutes and you're done.

This dish would go very well with mashed potatoes or white rice.

Onion Soup

This had all the makings of  a disaster. Really. I looked at dozens of recipes and couldn't settle on one. I forgot to get beef broth. I had last minute ideas. Well, all things considered it turned out almost right. I'll tell you what I did, and what I should have done:

Mmmmm... soup!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Olive oil
2 Large onions, cut into large pieces
1 Clove of garlic, minced
1 Bay leaf
8 Cups (2 liters) chicken broth (I use low-fat and low-sodium)
1/2 cup white wine
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. Soy sauce (I use low-sodium)
Worcestershire sauce to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic. I cooked the onions until they were soft and somewhat translucent. this turned out well, but I think I should have cooked them until they were softer an almost transparent. In any case, you want to stir them constantly so they won't burn.

When they're close to done, add the wine, soy sauce and vinegar. For the sake of convenience, it would be best to combine them in a cup or bowl beforehand. Reduce the heat to medium and keep cooking and stirring for a few minutes, until the liquid is reduced to about half.

Add the chicken broth and the bay leaf. Reduce the heat to minimum and bring to a slow boil, stirring on occasion. When it boils, add the Worcestershire if you like. Let it simmer for a few minutes and remove from the heat.

I have it plain out of the pot, but there's no reason you can't add a slice of garlic bread and grated cheese on top. If the soup's not hot enough to melt the cheese, you can pop it in an oven for a minute or two, I suppose (I haven't tried it). Or just add some croutons.

Kathy's Citrus Cabbage Salad

I tried something unusual and entirely original. At leas, I came up with the recipe all on my own. So I'm putting my name on it.

Ingredients:

Salad:
1/3-1/2 a Head of red cabbage, chopped
1 Teaspoon olive oil
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 Onion, sliced
2 Carrots, thinly sliced (you may want to use a slicer, like a Presto Salad Shooter)
1 1/2 cups soybean sprouts
Ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4-5 mushrooms, sliced

Dressing:
1 Teaspoon olive oil
1 Teaspoon sesame seed oil
1 Teaspoon honey
1 1/2 - 2 Teaspoons mustard (I used plain yellow mustard, but any mustard is good mustard)
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Ok, in a large, deep saucepan or a wok, heat the olive oil and roast the garlic in it for about a minute. Add the carrots and onions and cook for about two minutes more. Sprinkle some black pepper, stir well. Add the cabbage and soybean sprouts. Continue cooking for 2 minutes. In a cup mix the orange juice and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Add it to the pan and stir well. Cook for about three minutes more, but don't let the vegetables get too soft. Remove from heat.

With a slotted spoon or a large serving fork, transfer the vegetables to a salad bowl, leaving in the pan most of the remaining o.j. vinegar mix. Add the raw, sliced mushrooms.

In a bowl mix the dressing ingredients and whisk well. You want a brownish, thick, homogenous mixture. When you get it, add the liquid left in the pan and whisk some more. Again, you want a homogenous mixture.

Pour the dressing on top of the vegetables and toss well.

I recommend letting it cool before serving. In fact I cooked this rather late yesterday, so I put it in the fridge overnight. I had it for lunch the next day and it was delicious at room temperature. I do like to let salads soak in dressing overnight, too.

Simple spaghetti recipe

I didn't feel like making anything complicated this weekend, so I got some spaghetti and Prego sauce. If that were all, I wouldn't post about it, but I tend to add some things to the store-bought red stuff.

Ingredients:

350 gr. Spaghetti cooked to taste
1 Jar Spaghetti sauce (about 650 gr. if memory serves)
1 Cup snow peas
1 Cup Soybean sprouts
1/3 Red onion, thinly sliced
1 Clove garlic, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/3 teaspoon fine herbs
1 Tablespoon oregano, crushed
Ground black pepper to taste
2 Turkey sausages, diced
A dash of Worcestershire sauce

I've found it best to prepare the pasta and sauce at the same time, because cooked pasta left in a colander tends to get sticky. It also helps to spray the cooked pasta with cold water after draining it.

So, in a deep saucepan, and I mean deep, or a pot, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic until the onion begins to turn flexible. Next add the bell pepper and keep cooking for two minutes. Add the soybean sprouts and snow peas, and sprinkle the black pepper. Cook for a few minutes longer until the vegetables are cooked to your taste.

Next reduce heat to minimum and add the jar of sauce and stir. Add the fine herbs, oregano, Worcestershire and sausages next, stir again. Bring the whole thing to a slow boil, and add the cooked Spaghetti (if it's done then). Stir/toss the pasta to mix it well with the sauce and veggies.

The added vegetables make the sauce really thick, so it's easier to ad the pasta to it rather than the sauce to the pasta. Also, commercial Spaghetti sauce already has oregano, so taste it beforehand and see if you want to add more.

I have been looking for recipes for tomato sauce to make my own, but I haven't had much success there. One time I attempted my own recipe with tomato puree and spices. The result were ok, but no better than store-bought sauce, so why bother?

On the plus side, my inability to find good recipes led me to develop my own recipe for Green Bell Pepper Fettuccine, which led to the recipe for Fettuccine with Poblano Chile Sauce.

Chicken and Lentil stew

I did take a break from the sweet and sour, and the tomato-based dishes. Instead I retook my budding love affair with lentils, which are both tasty and versatile, if not particularly colorful... In other words, this weeks' dish isn't much to look at, but it's tasty.

You may notice some similarities to my Dry Lentil Soup. I've been thinking about using lentils in a stew since then.

Ingredients:

1 Chicken breast without skin and bone, cut in bite-size pieces
1 Cup green lentils
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Large green bell pepper
2/3 Red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Carrots, diced
2 Medium-sized potatoes, diced
1 Cup soybean sprouts
2 Cubes chicken bullion, low-fat, low-sodium
1/3 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1/3 teaspoon fine herbs
1/3 teaspoon dried pesto
1.75 liters of water
3 1/2 Tablespoons corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

First let the lentils soak for a few hours. Next cook the chicken on a skillet with a little oil or cooking spray and set it aside.

In a pot heat the olive oil, saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper until the onions turn translucent, then add the potatoes and carrots, and sprinkle the black pepper. Saute for about 3 minutes. Add the water and reduce heat to medium. When the water warms up, add the lentils, spices and chicken bullion cubes. Stir well and reduce heat to minimum. When you see any bubbles, add the chicken. Stir again.

Let it cook for about an hour and fifteen minutes (your times may vary), or until both the potatoes and lentils are tender. Add the corn starch dissolve din water for a thicker consistency, stir well. You will then see larger bubbles forming. Remove from the flame, let it cool and serve.

I'm not entirely satisfied with the end result, but right now i can't think of any improvements.

See you next week!

Green Bell Pepper Fettuccine

As promised, here it is:

You'll note is very similar to my Fettucine with poblano chile sauce. It's not a coincidence, as both are based on the same use of cottage cheese as a creamy, thick base. The green pepper one I made sooner, after several iterations.

Ingredients:

250 gr. Fettuccine cooked to taste
2 Green bell peppers cut in bite-sized pieces, divided
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 Cloves of garlic, minced, divided
2 Scoops, about 220 gr. cottage cheese
1/2 Cup skim milk
1 Teaspoon oregano
1/3 Teaspoon dried pesto
1/3 Teaspoon fine herbs
1 Cup finely shredded green cabbage
1 Cup soybean sprouts
2 Teaspoons olive oil
2 1/2 Teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

Preparation:

First heat up 1 teaspoon olive oil and add one (1) of the green bell peppers, plus a little bit of the chopped onion. Saute until the bell pepper is a little burnt (the onion will brown and go limp sooner). When they're done, let it cool for a few minutes. You can cook the pasta at the same time.

Once they've cooled enough, say till they're only warm to the touch, put them in a blender with 1 clove of garlic, the cottage cheese, milk and a pinch each of oregano, fine herbs and dry pesto. You know what comes next, don't you? That's right: Liquefy throroughly. Set it aside.

In a deep saucepan or wok heat up 1 teaspoon olive oil and add the rest of the onion and 1 clove of garlic. Saute for a few minutes. Add the cabbage, soybean sprouts and the other bell pepper and stir fry until you achieve the desired softness for your veggies.

Set heat to low and add the sauce you blended. Mix well. Add the oregano, fine herbs and pesto and stir some more. Let it come to a slow boil. When you see any bubbles, add the cornstarch dissolved in water. Keep stirring until large bubbles form.

Now you can either add the sauce to the fettuccine, or the fettuccine to the sauce. It works out the same thing. Let it cool a bit and serve.

Oh, there's a  reason to cook the bell pepper before blending it. Raw bell peppers have a very subtle flavor. When you cook them in a bit of oil, the flavor becomes stronger and mixes better with the other ingredients. I first tried 1 raw pepper for the whole recipe, half in the blender, half sauteed with he other vegetables. I found the sauce barely tasted of green bell pepper.

So naturally in the next go round I used a whole pepper in the sauce. I got the same result. So I gave up on the recipe. But a few days later while eating something else I cooked (I forget what exactly), I noticed sauteed peppers tasted more strongly of bell pepper. Then I decided to try again.

It just goes to show you should experiment and pay attention to the things you eat. How they taste, what texture they have, what color, etc. You never know when one thing can work in another recipe.

Oh, as a bonus here's a photo of part of my kitchen. As you can see, it's a working kitchen :)

I love the overhead light on the GE stove

Barley Stew

Sorry I haven't posted. Last week I tried some new recipes and they didn't come out quite right. But I've fixed them, and here's the first:

3/4 Cup barley
4 Turkey sausages, sliced thinly
2 Cups shredded red or regular cabbage
1 Cup soybean sprouts
1 Carrot, sliced thinly
1 Small green bell pepper
1 Clove of garlic, minced
1/3 Chopped onion
5 Cups chicken broth
1 Tablespoon oregano
420 grs. Tomato puree
Ground black pepper to taste
4 Tablespoons barbecue sauce (I used Kraft Original flavor, but any kind will do)
1 Teaspoon olive oil.

In a soup pot heat the olive oil and slightly brown the sausages and bell pepper, for about 4-6 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the barbecue sauce and bring to a boil. If you use chicken bullion cubes rather than chicken broth, wait for the water to boil before adding the cubes; they don't dissolve well in cold or warm water. Stir well and reduce the heat. Let simmer covered for about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so. You want to let the fluid almost be consumed.

When there is little liquid left, add the barbecue sauce and stir well. Check to see if the remaining liquid feels thick. if it does, remove from the stove, allow to cool and then serve. If not, let it simmer a little longer, keeping an eye on it at all times. When only a little liquid is left, it goes fast.

If things go well tomorrow, I'll post my recipe for cottage cheese enchiladas.

Fettucine with Poblano Chile Sauce

This is a new recipe I tried out today. I was going to make Enchiladas, but I forgot to get tortillas. Some other time.

I based this on an older recipe I've yet to post. It's a very versatile base, which serves well for creamy, yet low-fat pasta sauces. It's a bit odd, in that it uses cottage cheese.

Ingredients:

250 gr. fettuccine cooked to taste
5 Green tomatoes without husks
200 gr. of Pobalno chile rajas ("rajas" are thin strips of chile, usually Poblano, sauteed with a little oil; I buy mine frozen at any local supermarket), these are to be divided in half.
2 Cloves of garlic
1 Chicken bullion cube, low-fat and low-sodium
4 Cilantro branches, stems and all (you can remove the leaves from the stems; I find the stems as good as the leaves)
2 Scoops or about 220 gr. cottage cheese, either regular or low-fat.
1/3 Teaspoon powdered cumin
2 Tablespoons oregano.

1/2 Onion cut into thin slices and separated into rings
1 Teaspoon olive oil
2 Teaspoons corn starch, dissolved in 1/3 cup of water.

Place the green tomatoes whole in boiling water until they begin to change color. Get them out and place them in a bowl with ice water for a few minutes. When getting tomatoes, or anything else, in and out of a pot of boiling water, remember to be cautious. I use a slotted spoon.

Quarter the tomatoes and remove the core (not the seeds), then toss them in the blender with a trickle of water. Liquefy the tomatoes. With the blender off, add 1 clove of garlic, half the Chile Poblano in rajas, all the cottage cheese, cilantro and chicken bullion cube. Liquefy everything thoroughly.

In a deep saucepan, heat the olive oil. Once it's heated, add the onion and 1 minced clove of garlic. Saute until the onions begin to turn flexible. Add the rest of the Chile Poblano and cook for one more minute; you just want to soften them a little. Remove from the heat and let the pan cool for a few minutes.

When the saucepan cools, put it on the stove on low heat and add the sauce from the blender. Bring to a boil while stirring on occasion. When you begin to see bubbles forming, add the cumin and oregano and stir well (BTW I like to crush the dry oregano leaves before adding them to the mix). When the sauce begins to boil, or when larger bubbles form, add the corn starch dissolved in water. This last is a thickening agent only. If you think the sauce is thick enough, you may not want to add it. Keep on the flame for one or two more minutes, then pour the sauce over the pasta.

Please note that Poblano chiles are considered to be very mild, but some varieties can be quite hot. If you prepare the rajas yourself, think about removing the veins and seeds first. And try them before cooking, too, whether you make them or get them frozen, so you can decide how hot the dish will be.

As I said near the beginning, I like mixing cottage cheese and corn starch with liquefied vegetables in order to make creamy, low-fat sauces. In the future I'll post similar recipes, like Green Bell Pepper Pasta Sauce, and Elbow Macaroni with Chipotle Sauce.

As always, comments are welcome.

Textured Soy in Chipotle Sauce

Time for something a little off-beat (do you suppose "off-beat" might be a shortened version of "Off the beaten path"? Not that it matters).

Soy is a good source of protein and has about zero fat content. This gets it touted as a meat substitute. As far as nutrition goes, this may be so. But as far as texture and taste goes, it mostly doesn't work. Here and there you find pre-made dishes using soy which claim to taste just like beef or chicken, but all too often they're loaded with beef or chicken fat (a great deal of beef's flavor comes from fat, after all).

Just the same, I thought it was a reasonable ingredient to try in my diet. It took some doing, but I found ways to make it rather tasty. The problem lies in the fact that textured soy is almost devoid of flavor. The remedy lies in the fact that it absorbs flavors of things it's mixed with.

Please let me know if you try this recipe and like it, as I have a few other all-textured soy recipes, as well as some consisting of textured soy mixed with ground beef.

To begin with, textured soy (or textured soy protein, as it's often called) requires some preparation. First you need to hydrate it by soaking it in water for a few minutes. Then you drain it, and finally you squeeze the excess water out of it. You're left with a spongy stuff that looks and feel a little like cooked ground beef (but it doesn't taste like ground beef).

How to squeeze it best is a matter of some contention. I drain it into a large colander and squeeze it by hand. Some people put it in a clean rag and squeeze that. I suggest you look up the means online and choose whichever works for you.

However, in all my textured soy recipes, I assume the soy has been hydrated, drained and squeezed beforehand. if you sue it dry, the results will be disastrous.

Well, then.

Ingredients:

300 gr. of prepared textured soy (its about 125-150 gr. dry, give or take)
2 red tomatoes, peeled (you can remove the seeds, too, though I opt to leave them in)
2 cloves of garlic, quartered
1/5 onion, quartered
A handful of cilantro leaves, stems and all, chopped
1 cube chicken bullion cube, low fat and low sodium
1 or 2 whole chipotle chiles in adobo and some of the thick juice from the can (these are common in Mexico, naturally, and I think they are not too hard to come by in the US).
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 bell pepper (whichever color you like), chopped
1 or 2 stalks of celery, sliced.


Peel the tomatoes by whatever means you prefer (I blanch them, which makes the skin just peel off easily), remove the core, quarter them and put the in a blender. Add the onion, garlic, cilantro, chicken bullion cube and chipotles with their juice, along with a  trickle of water. Liquefy in the blender. The mix will be a little chunky, especially if you do not seed the tomatoes. Set it aside.

In a deep saucepan or a pot, heat the olive oil and then saute the bell pepper and celery. If you like, you can add some chopped onion and/or garlic as well.When done to your taste, add the textured soy and cook for about five minutes, stirring constantly so it won't burn.

Reduce the heat and add the sauce you prepared in the blender.Mix very well, and let it come to a slow boil. Then simmer for a few minutes, all uncovered.

Ideally, it should look like this:

Now, I must warn you I use even more chipotles and don't find it very hot. But I was raised on hot, spicy food and snacks. If you can't take hot, spicy food, use a single chipotle, or even half of one. However, be advised chipotles have a subtle, smoky flavor, so the less you use, the less savory the end result will be.

Finally let me leave you with some trivia:

Chipotles don't exist in a "natural" state. They a re actually dried, smoked Jalapeño peppers. The canned variety are coked at a processing plant with some tomato paste and spices to produce the adobo juice you'll see in the can.

Just a little tidbit  picked up working in the food distribution business...

PS this dish goes rather well with Mexican rice. I'll post the recipe for that shortly.

"Dry" Lentil and Barley Soup

In Mexico it's customary to serve a "dry" soup, either instead of soup or in addition to it. This recipe works for both the "dry" and regular kinds of soups.

Dry Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1 Cup of green lentils
3 Tablespoons barley
3 Strips turkey bacon
1 teaspoon olive oil (or any other vegetable oil you like)
1/4 Onion, chopped
1 Clove of garlic, minced
1/3 Teaspoon powdered cumin
1/4 Teaspoon fine herbs
Ground black pepper to taste

For "dry" soup use 1.5 liters of water (that's six cups) and 3 Chicken bullion cubes, low-fat, low-sodium
For regular soup use 2.5 liters of water (that's ten cups) and 4 Chicken bullion cubes, low-fat, low-sodium

Preparation:

Soak the lentils in plain water for a couple of hours. Drain and set them aside

Put a soup pot on high heat on the stove. When it heats a little, add the strips of turkey bacon and fry them only until they begin to release some fat. Add the olive oil, carefully, and saute the onion and garlic along with the bacon.

When the onions begin to turn translucent, reduce the flame to low heat and add the water carefully. The hot pot will tend to boil the first of the water fast, so be very careful. Add the lentils and barley and bring the pot, uncovered, to a slow boil. When the water begins to boil, add the bullion cubes, cumin, fine herbs and black pepper. Stir well until the bullion cubes dissolve completely.

Simmer covered for 1.5 to 2 hours, or until the lentils are tender.

Let it cool a bit end serve.

Cabbage soup

This is the first recipe I tried making on my own. I find it tasty and hearty, yet low in fat. It keeps for about a week in the fridge.

I used jícama in this recipe, but it isn't essential. If you can't find any, just skip it and add more carrot or other crunchy vegetable you like. Celery ought to work well.

Ingredients:

1/4 white cabbage shredded, or 1/2 re cabbage shredded

1 clove of garlic finely chopped or minced

5 small mushrooms chopped

1/2 onion chopped

1 carrot (I cut it into sticks, but go any way you like)

About 1/4 of a medium sized jícama (in sticks, too, or see about the carrot)

Chicken stock or broth (enough to cover the vegetables)

1 teaspoon olive oil (or more or less to taste; and you can use any kind of oil)

Ground black pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

A dash of Tabasco sauce or to taste

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a pot for a little while, then add the onion and garlic.Saute until the onions begin to turn translucent. Next add the rest of the vegetables and cook uncovered until they reach the level of softness you want, or until the mushrooms turn brown. Stir occasionally

Reduce heat to low and add the chicken broth or stock. Bring the soup to a slow boil, stirring occasionally. When it starts to boil, add the pepper, oregano, Worcestershire and Tabasco. Once it boils, let it simmer uncovered for about five minutes. Remove from heat, allow it to cool a bit and serve.