Made my own lentil soup....yummy!!

[dragracer]

I had never had lentils until a couple of weeks ago. I got a can of lentil soup to take to work and man was it good. So I decided to try my hand at making my own just for kicks. I'm no cook, but I did it, and I think mine was better than the canned stuff(Progresso). Anyhow, my question is.....what do YOU put in lentils? Mine was good, but I think I can do even better next time. I cooked half a pound and added several leaves of chopped fresh spinach, a couple of big spoonfuls of tomato past, half a carrot(chopped), one green onion(chopped), one stalk of celery(chopped), just a touch of several different seasonings. That's about the extent of my imagination. So what else could I try? :D

[DannoXYZ]

Try adding some or all of the following:

- garbanzo beans (chick peas)
- mushrooms of various kinds
- red/yellow bell-peppers (the green ones are too strong IMO)
- can of stewed tomatoes, add 1st & reduce to 1/2 volume


and the following for extra flavoring:

- garlic
- ginger
- italian basil or thai basil
- cilantro
- mint
- chili peppers
- teaspoon sea salt
- tablespoon of honey

[nick burns]

Garlic, garlic, and more garlic.

Did I mention garlic?

Cumin & turmeric go well with lentils, too. Fresh ginger's nice also.

If you're into heat, toss in a habanero. You might want to saute it a bit first, though.

[dragracer]

That's what I'm talkin' about! :beer:

[Powerful Pete]

Also, here in the land of the Best Food on the Earth, we often add a wee bit of smoked bacon along with hot chili. Then it is really yummy.

BTW, is this a bit OT, or is it me?

['nother]

BTW, is this a bit OT, or is it me?
This is the Training & Nutrition forum is it not? I don't know about you, but I get most of my nutrition from food, so a discussion about recipes seems completely on topic. In fact, I think there should be more threads about recipes. I have toyed around with the idea of trying to get the mods to do a sticky thread where people could post their recipes, and eventually make some kind of BikeForums Cookbook or something like that.

[fsor]

Believe it or not, one of the best lentil soups that I ever tasted had lots of chopped fresh mint in it...along with cumin. Only downside is ever effort that I produce kinda looks like a mud puddle.

[foehn]

Believe it or not, one of the best lentil soups that I ever tasted had lots of chopped fresh mint in it...along with cumin. Only downside is ever effort that I produce kinda looks like a mud puddle.

Yeah, lentils can look like mud.

Add garlic, lotsa garlic, onions, try some curry powder/hot sauce. Make it thick and spread it on bread. Add a potato or two to it. Add what ever you want to them!

If you eat meat, throw a hambone into it, or burger or chicken. ..

[spindog]

My Mother used to make lentil stew when I was a kid. It was yummy.

She added lots of potato, cut some fresh corn from the cob, chick peas, fresh garlic, stewed tomatoes, basil, and sweet italien sausage and/or spicy sausage.

[Heidi]

Okay, now I am hungry! I think I will go and cook up some lentil soup!

[lws]

trying to get the mods to do a sticky thread where people could post their recipesIt doesn't need to be sticky, just create it! If it's popular, it will stay on the first page. If it's not, then I guess it doesn't really deserve to be sticky, does it?

[TwoTyred]

this sounds absolutely delicious.
if i'm not careful,
i'll prolly end up with a 'lentil gut'... :)

[barleyrocket]

I make lentil soup/stew in the big crock pot and freeze it so that I can take it to work for lunches. I put it over ...... Barley ...... of course.
barley.

[FXjohn]

Garlic, garlic, and more garlic.

Did I mention garlic?

Cumin & turmeric go well with lentils, too. Fresh ginger's nice also.

If you're into heat, toss in a habanero. You might want to saute it a bit first, though.


I never made soup without meat from scratch...don't you need some kind of broth?
Like the cans of vegetable broth they sell at the store?

[KirkeIsWaiting]

I never made soup without meat from scratch...don't you need some kind of broth?
Like the cans of vegetable broth they sell at the store?


Most soups should start with a stock.

If I haven't made stock, I'll often use Knorr's bullion.
Great variety too, I like the vegetable bullions.
Quick fix and then most anything can be soup.

[nick burns]

I never made soup without meat from scratch...don't you need some kind of broth?
Like the cans of vegetable broth they sell at the store?

Yeah, you can use that, or veggie bullion cubes, but beware some have a very high salt content.

You could always just saute vegetables & spices in olive oil first. Add water & lentils. No stock needed. If you want a thicker consistency, add a little flour to the sauted veggies to make kind of a rue (sp.?) and cook a couple more minutes before adding water & lentils.

[dragracer]

I'm trying to stay away from meat if possible. My first attempt with veggies only was plenty tasty enough.... so no meat for me thankyouverymuch.

I really didn't know where else to post this so I'm glad at least one person(thank you 'nother) agrees that this is the correct place for it. Lentils are supposed to be very nutritious afterall. :)

['nother]

It doesn't need to be sticky, just create it! If it's popular, it will stay on the first page. If it's not, then I guess it doesn't really deserve to be sticky, does it?
While I agree generally on the popularity thing, the idea behind making it sticky is to try to herd everything into one place, rather than 4000 separate threads on the same topic. Kind of like shaving in the Road Cycling forum. It would be difficult to put together a cookbook with things scattered all over.

I want to think on it a little bit, and put together some guidelines for submitting, to make it easier to organize & convert into cookbook format (which would probably be a PDF that people could print at their leisure or whatever).

[wabbit]

soup season is here... i'm going to make my famous lima bean and barley soup.

Lentils are great- one of the oldest foods in the world, and very good for you. High in fiber!

[DannoXYZ]

I'm vegetarian and it was a major shift from the previous diet that I had where I would order the daily Carnivore Special Combo pizza! You can certainly make any kind of dish using no meat. There are many soups you can make that employs zero meat and tastes wonderful! The problem comes in when you try to emulate meat flavors using veggies, why bother? McDonalds tried a soy-based patty to make a wannabe beef-burger, it failed miserably. But you can make scrumptuous garden-burger using soy, mushrooms, onions and various other tasty vegetables and mix them to yield great-tasting combinations.

For soups, I like to start out with vegetable stock. Also Liquid Aminos makes for a good flavoring without too much sodium.

[barleyrocket]

Wabbit. if your putting barley in it. I'm coming over.

[Bikepacker67]

i'm going to make my famous lima bean and barley soup

Care to share?

[wabbit]

It's a great recipe I got from the newspaper... the only thing is i don't add squash (which i hate) and parsnips (they give me gas).

I love a good veggie burger and a good vegetarian pizza... you can get great ones at kosher restaurants. I've discovered veggie burgers can be great- i never eat hamburgers anymore since I got sick from one last year. Ever since I can't even look at hamburger meat in the grocery store, and I used to LOVE hamburgers.

[akarius]

I like the red Turkish lentil soup, I dont care how you make it but for me it is not lentil soup until you squeeze the lemon into it, right before eating.

[FlowerBlossom]

I like lentil soup in all the ways above, with kale or chard. Make your favorite recipe, add the greens (cleaned and deveined and chopped) when everthing is almost done, cook until the greens tender. Mmm. Even nicer with a glass of red wine...pinot noir goes with anything and everything.