Vegetarian Tortilla Soup with Potato, Corn and Lentils

I don't often set out to make specific recipes, usually preferring to gather inspiration from a variety of recipes and make use of what I have. However, I was intrigued enough by this soup I came across on the Wednesday Chef to go out and buy the special ingredients needed. It's a simple potato soup that becomes a flavorful vegetarian tortilla soup by adding chipotle chiles in adobo, avocado, lime juice and crushed tortilla chips. It definitely lived up to the hype.

I'd never used chipotle chiles in adobo sauce before. Chipotle chiles are actually smoked jalapeños, and they are often marinated in adobo sauce, a blend of vinegar, garlic, tomato, paprika and other spices. They come in a little can, and since the recipe only calls for one or two chiles (we used one and a half), what to do with the rest? I chopped them up and divided them in an ice cube tray to freeze. Now I have several frozen cubes of chiles stored away that can easily be thrown into soups, stew, beans, etc. I'm already thinking of pulled beef with the smoky heat of adobo and chipotle served alongside parsnip mash or cornbread. Not to mention more of this soup. We are visiting Evan's parents right now in Florida, taking a break from the winter that never seems to end, so we will probably still be all about soups when we return.

A few changes I did make to the original recipe: I subbed in rutabaga for a third of the potatoes, since I ran out of potatoes and had extra rutabaga in my fridge. To keep it vegetarian, I used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. I also added a cup of cooked lentils at the end, at the same time as the corn, to add protein to this otherwise carb-heavy dish. We found this soup to be so rich and tasty on its own, that we left off the shredded cheese, but you might decide otherwise. You can find the original recipe for Amelia Morris' corn, chile and potato soup over on The Wednesday Chef.

A Crockpot Primer and Two Bean Quinoa Vegetarian Chili

It has come to my attention that I have many friends who have not yet tried using their crockpot. Let me tell you - it is a wonderful and useful thing. I use mine all the time because I love being able to cook without being tied to my stove. On many a non-workday, I can be found in and out of the house running errands while cooking something up in the crockpot. And on workdays, it's nice to come home to dinner all ready - I suggest chopping the vegetables the night before, so that all you have to do in the morning before work is throw everything into the pot and turn it on.



What do I make with my slow cooker?
* Dried beans. I prefer this over cooking dried beans on the stovetop because it eliminates the need for overnight soaking and watching the stove for two hours. I make a big batch and then freeze it in portions.
* Grains like barley and farro. They doesn't take as long as beans - only a few hours. Again, I make a lot to freeze and have some on hand.
* Tomato sauce - recipe coming soon
* Pulled pork or any large cut of meat that benefits from braising, like pot roast or lamb shoulder
* Granola
* Oatmeal - I've been on an overnight steel cut oats kick lately, but I hear you can make them in a slow cooker too.

And most of all, soup. I've been making slow cooked soup a lot lately, since my stove wasn't working for couple weeks in September while they repaired a gas leak in my apartment (typical of old Park Slope brownstones that formerly had gas lighting). The great thing about soups and stews is that you can really use any combination of beans, meat, vegetables and grains that you have on hand, and it will probably taste decent.

Here are some slow cooker soups I've made in the past:
* Farro, kale and bean soup - terrific with poached egg on top
* Lamb and vegetable stew
* Vegetarian baked beans
* Beef, sweet potato and barley stew - this was a favorite last winter and I'll have to recreate the recipe

More recently, this two-bean quinoa chili is my favorite soup invention - I've already made it twice this month. You want to cook it until the tomatoes seem to melt into the broth and the beans are tender and salty. The quinoa thickens it, while the kale provides some texture and color, and the jalapeno and spices generate an overall spicy heat. It's great for warming your insides on these chilly fall nights when your landlord hasn't turned on the heat yet.



Crockpot Two Bean Quinoa Vegetarian Chili
1/2 cup dried black beans or 1 can cooked beans
1/2 cup dried white beans or chickpeas or 1 can cooked beans
1/2 cup quinoa
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 jalapeno peppers
4-5 tomatoes
a few stalks of kale (not a full bunch)
4 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 bay leaves

Place the beans and quinoa into the crockpot. Dice the onion, garlic and peppers, followed by the tomatoes and kale (discard kale stems for best results). Place the vegetables over the dry ingredients. Add the stock and spices and stir it together (see below). If using dried beans, cook on high for 8 hours. (Yes, on high. I find that the chickpeas need longer to cook than the black beans and that it gels together nicely the more it's cooked). If using canned beans, cook on high for about 4 hours. Makes 4-6 servings

Crockpot Pro-tips:
* I like to stir it only roughly, leaving the dry ingredients primarily on the bottom with the vegetables primarily on the top. This ensures that the beans and grains are all submerged in liquid and will cook fully and evenly. Toward the end (after about 5 or 6 hours) I stir it all together.

* I like to start my crockpot on high for the first hour or so, which gets it warm quickly, and then turn it to low after that, since it will hold in the heat.

Patridge Two Ways

As I've mentioned before, I occasionally get to enjoy rare cuts of meat and fowl courtesy of my boyfriend's father's hunts. A couple weeks ago they gave us a whole lot of bone-in partridge breasts. I was in the mood for a comfort food and decided we should make partridge "tenders."

Partridges are so small that when Evan cut the breasts off the bone, they were already perfectly sized for making tenders. I double-dipped each little piece in a beaten egg and a combination of bread crumbs, flour, cornmeal and spices. Then they were fried in a shallow, hot layer of canola oil in a cast iron pan for about five minutes on each side until browned. I let them rest on paper towels afterward to absorb extra oil. They were accompanied by ketchup with a dash of sriracha and a puree of potato and celery root. Not a very colorful meal, but definitely flavorful.



They tasted to me exactly like chicken tenders, which allowed me to reflect on the fact that while chicken is a staple of the average American's diet, I almost never cook it. In fact, I can't remember the last time I ate chicken, except at my parent's house, since it's what my mom always seems to make when I go there. To most people, chicken is a readily available, affordable and conveniently boneless meat. I don't think of it that way at all because I'm not interested in buying chicken from a grocery store. Cage free and free range in a grocery store usually mean nothing more than the fact that there were no cages and that there was a door to the outside that the chickens may or may not have used. Meanwhile, for whatever reason, the farmers who sell chickens at the NYC Greenmarkets sell them whole. If I want to make chicken, I have to accept the responsibility of cooking and making use of a whole bird.

Back to partridge - Later that night, we threw the bones into a pot of water for two hours to boil into stock, with a good amount of meat still clinging on. A few nights later I felt lucky to come home from work to dinner made by my boyfriend: partridge soup with carrots, onions, kale, potatoes, and barley (I try to always have some kind of pre-cooked grain like barley or quinoa stashed away in our freezer).

We have plenty more partridge and pheasant in our freezer, so I'm sure we will come up with a few more unique ways to enjoy it.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Bacon Croutons

I have been fortunate that the lives of most of my friends and family were not upset by Hurricane Sandy. Even my parents' beach house on a New Jersey barrier island somehow pulled through okay, sitting an extra 20 inches off the ground past the top of the flood water. I do have some friends who went without power for more than a week, like the couple who run a food truck business out of their building in Red Hook. Luckily their commercial kitchen space and apartment above were fine, well as their food truck parked in Gowanus. But their basement flooded to the ceiling, and Evan spent an afternoon helping them clean while they decided what of their belongings could be salvaged and what had to be tossed.

Knowing we had a lamb roast in our freezer, we invited them over for a home cooked meal. There have been so many post-Sandy volunteer opportunities that I haven't taken part in. It's been heartening to see how New Yorkers have stepped up to take care of each other, but honestly, I am not personally a manual labor or talk to strangers kind of person. Cooking a meal for friends, however, I could do.

But this is not about the lamb - this is about the pumpkin soup we served. It feels homey and warming, perfect for this time of year when we are easing into winter, with some hardships along the way. It's a riff off a similar soup from Simply Recipes, scaled back in serving size. I originally left out the sugar, but realized it was a little too bland at the first taste. After adding maple syrup and more salt, it went straight to amazing, especially with a sprinkling of bacon bits and croutons. The hint of sweetness in the soup balances the heat of all the spices. Don't worry about sticking to the spices listed in the ingredients - throw in whatever spices you have in your cabinet that you think might be fun.

My croutons were made from stale multigrain flatbread that resulted from a failed attempt on my part to make a decent loaf of bread. My guests enjoyed their hearty and grainy crunch, but you could use any day old or stale bread. While we were eating, I imagined that fried sage would really put it over the top, and included that as a suggestion below. 

The entirety of the steps below may look daunting, but it actually feels like a piece of cake if you make the bacon and roast pumpkin the day before like I did. Then all you have to do is pull things out of the fridge to combine them in a pot, and prepare the croutons while the soup is simmering.

This time of year, Evolutionary Organics Farm has a wealth of beautifully funny looking squashes and pumpkins at their stand at the Grand Army Greenmarket. This variety is Musquee de Provence, also known as Fairytale, an heirloom pumpkin from France that  packs a lot of flesh and is well flavored for soups and pies. I got six cups of roasted puree out of this beauty, as I work on roasting and hoarding a stash of pureed pumpkin in my freezer to last me through a winter of baking. Really, though, any pumpkin or squash will work in this recipe.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Bacon Croutons

1 tbsp bacon fat or olive oil

1 small onion

4 cups vegetable stock 

4 cups pureed roasted pumpkin or squash

1/2 tsp curry

1/2 tsp tumeric 

1/2 tsp cumin 

1/2 tsp coriander 

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper 

1/8 tsp cayenne 

1 tsp salt 

1 cup milk 

1/4 cup maple syrup 

6 strips of bacon (1 strip per serving)

few slices of slightly stale bread

handful of fresh sage (optional)

To roast the pumpkin: 

Preheat the oven to 450. Leaving the skin on the pumpkin, slice it in half. Scoop out the seeds and set them aside (you can roast them into a snack while the pumpkin is cooking). Place each half of pumpkin flesh side down in a large baking dish. Fill the dish with about a half inch of water. Stick it in the oven for about 40-60 minutes, depending on the size. It's done when the skin has softened and the flesh can be easily mashed all the way through with a fork. Remove it from the oven. Once it has cooled off, use a fork to scoop out the roasted pumpkin flesh. If you like, use an immersion blender to puree the somewhat stringy flesh into creamy puree. Freeze extra puree in half or full cup portions for baking.

To prepare the soup:

Warm a medium size pot and coat the bottom with bacon fat (or olive oil). Dice one small onion and sautee until softened. Add the stock, pumpkin, and spices and stir to thoroughly combine. Turn the heat to high and cover until it comes to a boil. Uncover, reduce heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth (or wait for it too cool and transfer to a food processor or blender). Stir in milk and maple syrup. Add more salt to taste.

To prepare bacon croutons :

Using fresh bacon: Slice slightly stale bread into half inch cubes. Rinse sage leaves and slice roughly in half or thirds. Fry one strip of bacon per serving. Add bread cubes to the pan, and toward the end, add the sage as well, making sure both bread and sage are coated in bacon fat and cooked until slightly crispy. Let it all drain and cool on paper towels before dicing the bacon into bits. 

Using leftover bacon: Chop cold bacon into small bits. On a small tray, toss the bread cubes with a little olive oil and salt and then scatter bacon bits and fresh sage around the cubes. Toast in the toaster oven for about ten minutes.

Ladle soup into a bowl and top with a sprinkling of the bacon-sage crouton mix. Makes about 6 servings.

On- and Off-line Friends, and Crockpot Soup

I think we all agree that blogging gives us a warm sense of friendship and community, to a greater degree than expected when we began putting our words on the internet for the world to see. I value the connections I've made through blogging, hearing your feedback, reading your wise thoughts, gaining inspiration from your projects, and having the chance to share experiences with people all over the world. I would love to get together for drinks with all of the friends I've made online, but thus far, I've only had a few chances to meet fellow bloggers in real life.

Most recently, I met up last month with Jay of Mystic Domestica, who happens to live in the same lovely neighborhood as me, and with Amber of the (sadly defunct!) All That You Have is Your Soul back during her fabulous trip to New York in November. Both times, as we filled each other in on our lives and discovered commonalities, it felt like catching up with an old friend, or making a fast new friend. These experiences happily confirmed that on the whole, my online relationships are grounded in reality, and are not just superficial exchanges that exist in the ether. What about you, readers, have you had the chance to meet any of your blogger friends?



Jay very generously brought a gift with her, a jar of her mother's homegrown "magic" beans, a beautiful assortment of colored limas and black-eyed peas. I was excited to cook them, but couldn't decide on the right preparation. I found my inspiration about a week later during dinner at The Farm on Adderley in Ditmas Park. My appetizer was a luscious kale-lentil soup topped off with a poached egg.



So I subbed beans for lentils, added in the rest of my farro stash, didn't bother with chicken or vegetable stock in order to keep things simple, and used a stale hunk of parmesan rind that was sitting in the fridge as a flavor enhancer instead. Making soup in the crockpot is so easy, especially since I try to prep as much as possible the night before. And there is nothing better on a January day than coming home to a warm soup waiting for you. My egg poaching skills could still use some work. But the rich yolks, salty parmesan flavor, and creamy beans made a delicious meal out of a soup that sounds too crunchy-granola-healthy to be true. Thanks Jay!



Crockpot Farro, Kale, and Bean Soup with Poached Egg
1 cup farro
1 cup beans
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch kale
1 rind of parmesan or other hard cheese
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper or other spices (optional)
water
fresh eggs

The night before:
Place farro and beans in separate containers each amply covered in water to soak overnight.
Dice onion and garlic, and chop kale into chiffonade. Place chopped vegetables and cheese rind into crockpot stoneware and store in fridge overnight.
The next morning:
Remove crockpot from fridge. Drain and rinse beans in a colander. Drain farro. Add beans and farro to crockpot, along with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper and other spices such as oregano or rosemary, to taste. Stir to thoroughly combine. Add water, filling to about one inch above ingredients. Cook on low for 7-10 hours while you are out at work or living life.
Just before dinner:
Ladle soup into bowls to let cool.
Meanwhile, poach one egg per person and add egg to top of each bowl to serve.
Makes four or five servings.

Save Your Parmesan Rinds!

The good news is that I got the internet working on my computer again. The bad news is that I'm sick. I stayed home from work today, lounging on my bed with my napping dog to keep me company. Somehow, earlier in the week before I came down with this cold, I had the foresight to make a big batch of soup, which is interesting because I'm usually not much of a soup person. Must be the chilly fall weather.


Well I'm glad I had this tasy lentil vegetable soup to warm my aching bones for lunch this week. Paired with hearty whole wheat toast, it was just what I needed. That, plus hot toddies and lots of sleep and bundling up in warm clothes and episodes of Mad Men and a leisurely walk in the autumn air, have me feeling a lot better this evening.

I had a couple rinds of old parmesan in the freezer, because I'd heard that throwing a parmesan rind in soup is a great way to add flavor. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was true - the rind melted and added much needed salt and richness to what would otherwise be a somewhat bland soup. I will definitely continue to freeze parmesan rinds once they're too stale to grate, and use them in future soups and stocks. It's the thrify way to go!

Lentil soup doesn't require an exact recipe. Here are some guidelines:
Soak a cup of lentils in water for an hour. Meanwhile, dice and sautee vegetables in a big pot until softened - I used 3 carrots, 3 leeks, and a bag full of banana peppers, becase that's what I had in the fridge from the farmers market. Add lentils and parmesan rind to the pot, along with enough chicken or vegetable stock to cover it all by an inch or two, add desired spices such as salt, pepper, oregano, sage, crushed red pepper, and then simmer for about an hour until lentils have softened. Remove parmesan rind, and ta da!


As for the bread I paired this with, it was a whole wheat loaf from the farmers market, because the bread I made myself last weekend was inedible. A sad waste of flour. I had no idea what went wrong, since the two loaves of dough felt perfect in my hands until they headed into the oven. As you can see, the crust puffed up , while the bottom layer of dough remained gummy, with a huge pocket of air in between. I had never seen anything like it, and I thought I did something wrong, but it turns out that our oven is broken! This also explains the undercooked eggplant in the eggplant parmesan I made last week, and our inability to bake potatoes into fries in the oven this week. We're getting a new oven this weekend, and I cannot wait to bake some cookies or pumpkin bread or some other tasty fall treat. It's fall, it's cold, and our landlord doesn't like to turn on the heat, so I'm dying to do some baking to warm/cozy up the apartment!

Dark Days Challenge Week 4: Lamb and Vegetable Stew

Now that I go to the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturdays, I have a much wider selection than I'm used to. I even saw venison this week - I didn't think it was legal to sell that! (Jesse loves venison, but I didn't buy it...to give him incentive to join me on next week's trip to the Greenmarket so that he can get it and I can have company). What I did end up getting was lamb from 3-Corner Field Farm in Shushan, NY (200 miles away, near Saratoga Springs but nestled in a valley on the border of New York and Vermont). I'm kind of obsessed with this farm now. Just look at how cute those sheep look in the photo on their website. I've already decided that next weekend I'm going to buy lamb shanks so I can make their recipe for lamb shanks with red wine, garlic, and rosemary. Maybe with mashed potatoes and turnips. Can you tell I plan my meals too far in advance?


This week, I've just started reading In Defense of Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planc, which champions "real food," such as meat, milk and vegetables, that humans have eaten for thousands of years, over the modern glut of industrialized foods. She makes the interesting point that it is nutritionally beneficial to eat meat, butter, and cheese, which in this age are all feared for the threat of cholesterol, as long as they come from pasture-raised animals. I know I've heard this before, but can't quite remember where (Omnivore's Dilemna or maybe Animal, Vegetable, Miracle?) and Planc provides scientific evidence to back up her theories, but as a psych major, I remain skeptical because I haven't done the research myself. Yet, it was great to see 3-Corner Field Farm's website reaffirm the claim that naturally raised, grass fed lamb contains more omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), vitamin E, which are all linked to lower risks of heart disease and cancer, than factory-farmed meat.


I know environmentalists are advocating vegetarianism to save the planet and humanity, but I think the better route is to eat humanely and naturally-raised meat from local farms and to eat it sparingly. Humans are omnivores and should continue to eat meat as they have since forever, but they should do it with a conscience. This argument is hot topic right now, which I recently read on Jen's inpiring food blog Last Night's Dinner and in the New York Times, thanks to Mark Bittman. And this is something that even I struggle with. I know I shouldn't always eat meat when I'm out at restaurants, when I know nothing about the path of that slaughtered animal to my table. I know I shouldn't cook so much meat at home. But I don't think that soy protein every day is healthy and I am surprised by so many vegetarians I know (including myself during college) who blindly eat processed foods up the wazoo in the form of veggie burgers and fake bacon without knowing what they're actually eating or its impact on their environment. I have a boyfriend who feels he must eat meat almost daily to feel healthy and satisfied. My personal choice then for our household is to only cook meats that are pasture-raised and procured from local farms, and to supplant meat-based meals with lots of vegetables and/or beans so that they can be stretched into multiple servings and leftovers. I'm also going to try to remember to eat fish at least once a week and to cook vegetarian meals (look forward to lots of beans) at least once a week. This choice makes me feel happy (to eat great food and support local farms) and healthy (to eat food that is better at providing nutrients than supermarket food).


Back to what I made today - I bought boneless pieces of lamb shoulder that are perfet for stewing, and combined them in my crock pot (which doesn't get nearly enough action to justify its existence) with one of every vegetable from my fridge. It was done in less than six hours while I was busy (or actually, lazy) doing other things this afternoon - easy and so delicious. It reminded me of the simple beef and vegetable stews that my mother frequently made in her crockpot when I was growing up. The long time in the crockpot really mellowed out the flavors of the lamb and vegetables, while intensifying the water into a sweet broth. Jesse paired his with quinoa, a grain that originated in the Andes and provides a balanced set of amino acids (pictured above), while I enjoyed mine with lightly toasted homemade wheat bread because I'm not overly fond of quinoa. This stew was the perfect ending to a cold afternoon walk with my boy and my dog in Prospect Park.


And I just couldn't resist posting this photo of my dog Spencer, who is too cute in his plaid winter jacket that is (suprise) made from recycled plastic fabric.


Lamb and Vegetable Stew

1 1/2 lb lamb meat (I used boneless shoulder meat)
1 onion
1 large clove garlic
1 parsnip
1 turnip
1 potatoee
1/2 bunch kale
3 cups water
2 tsp dried rosemary and thyme
salt and pepper

Chop lamb and vegetables into 1-inch cubes. Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook, covered, on low heat about 5-7 hours.

This post is part of the Dark Days Challenge, in which I prepare at least one meal each week comprised of mostly local ingredients. All ingredients for this meal were found at Greenmakets from farms within approximately 250 miles away, except except for the spices and Jesse's quinoa bought in bulk at Fairway.

Dark Days Challenge Week 2: Fresh Clam Chowder, Sort Of

I saw Ina Garten prepare clam chowder on Barefoot Contessa a few weeks ago, and it suddenly ocurred to me that clam chowder is something I could easily make out of all local ingredients, even in the "dark days" of January. Growing up, I had always been scared of clam chowder, probably because of my parent's fear of bottom feeders, as well as its murky appearance. But now that I love to eat meaty dayboat clams from the Greenmarket, I figured I should give it a try.

My chowder actually ended up tasting more like a sage-spiced potato soup with a few clams in there to taste, because I only used a pound of clams. I also left out flour, which would have thickened up the broth and made it more like traditional New England Clam Chowder.

Interestingly, it was difficult to find a clam chowder recipe prepared from scratch using whole clams. Google mostly led me to recipes calling for canned clams and botled clam juice. I guess if you live in the midwest, then you have no choice but to use canned clams. But shouldn't those of us on the coast always indulge in the fresh taste of clams straight from the sea?


The chowder ended up being part of an impromptu dinner party that also involved making bread; homemade fries that gave Jesse a huge blister burn while baking them; flounder and kale steamed in a balsamic dijon sauce for someone who couldn't eat shellfish; and a chocolate and coconut dessert that will appear in a later post.


I made bread that was meant to be eaten with the chowder, but my dinner guests actually ate most of it before the food was done. Instead of spending all day slaving over bread, I made whole wheat beer bread, which was done in little more than an hour. It seemed to good to be true - the promise of a good loaf of bread without any kneading or rising time - but it came out as a funky-looking but good-tasting moist bread. To me, it wasn't as good quality as real kneaded bread, but Jesse surprisingly claimed he likes beer bread better than kneaded bread. (Maybe he just likes eating his beer as well as drinking it.)

This post is part of the Dark Days Challenge, in which I prepare at least one meal each week comprised of mostly local ingredients. Below is a summary of food mileage for this meal:

Flounder and Clams - Long Island dayboat stand at the Greenmarket, under 115 mi
Onion, garlic, kale, and potatoes - unknown NY farm at Greenmarket, under 300 mi
Sage - dried from unknown farm at the Greenmarket, Goshen, NY, 73 miles
Milk and butter - Ronnybrook Farm, Ancramdale, NY, 115 miles
salt and pepper - not local
For the bread:
Whole wheat flour - King Arthur, Norwich, VT, 266 mi (though the flour is probably coming from much farther away...)
Saratoga lager - Olde Saratoga Brewing Company, Saratoga Springs, NY, 194 mi
Honey - Twin Spruce Apiaries, Climax, NY, 141 mi
baking powder - not local

Lentil, Sausage, Kale, and Rice Stew

Usually I'm not bothered by dishes that take their time to cook (see risotto, chili, dishes involving dried beans, etc), but today I kept looking at this pot, tasting the crunchy lentils, and thinking Why isn't this done yet? Finally, Jesse distracted me by taking our dog fora walk, whilethe stew lightly bubbled away. When we returned, it was done, finally, kind of like how a watched pot never boils. I was afraid it would be bland, but it's not at all. Instead it's surpsingly yummy - a sweet and tangy way to scarf down the healthfulness of lentils, kale, and brown rice (that sausage is just in there for fun).

I would make this again, but do one of two things to ease the long cooking time:
1. Soak the lentils for an hour beforehand so that they cook faster than the rice, instead of more slowly than the rice. It's been so long since I've made lentils that I forgot that's what the box recommends.

2. Throw all the ingredients in my crock pot in the morning and let the crock pot do its magic at low heat all day while I'm at work. Had I done that today, we could have eaten this when we were hungry, instead of filling ourselves beforehand on a bag of chips as a snack.

Lentil, Sausage, Kale, and Rice Stew
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch kale
2/3 lb sausage
1 cup lentils
3/4 cup brown rice
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups chicken stock
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper

Dice onion and mince garlic. In a large pot, sautee onion and garlic in olive oil over medium low heat until they begin to soften.

Add sausage (broken into small pieces) and sautee over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sausage begins to brown. If you want, you could drain the pot at this point to remove sausage fat that has accumulated in the pot.

Meanwhile rinse kale and chop into small pieces. Add kale and 2 tbsp water, scrape bits off bottom of pot. Cover and let steam for a few minutes until kale begins to wilt.

Add lentils, rice, mustard, and balsamic vinegar, and stir to combine.

Then add water, chicken stock, and spices. Bring to a boil and let simmer about an hour until rice and lentils are tender, stirring occasionally. Add additional water if you like a soupier consistency. Serve with hunks of crusty bread or toasted pita.

Chunky Gazpacho with Shrimp

3 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 small cucumber, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
handful of basil, torn into small pieces
three-inch-thick slice of day-old baguette, cut into pieces
salt
pepper
ice cube
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp hot sauce

In a bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic, basil, bread, salt, and pepper. Pour half of the mixture along with an ice cube into a blender and purée until smooth. Pour puree back into the bowl, and add olive oil and hot sauce. Stir it all together. Chill in refrigerator until very cold, at least 30 minutes.

When ready to serve, pour gazpacho into three bowls. Place seven jumbo shrimp (or as many as desired) into each bowl for dipping, and garnish with additional torn basil. Serves 3 large bowls. Another great way to make use of August's tomato bounty.

Potato and Leek Soup

white and pale green part of two large leeks, split lengthwise, washed well, and chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
2 large potatoes, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced

In large saucepan, cook the leeks in olive oil with salt and pepper to taste, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are softened but not browned. Add the water, the broth, and the potatoes, and simmer the mixture, covered, for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. In a blender, puree half the soup, stir the pure into the remaining soup with the parsley, and season the soup with salt and pepper. Serves 2 generously.