Lentil soup a hit!

I love Susan's blog and when I read her entry on the "Ridiculously Easy Lentil Soup" from Fatfree Vegan, I wanted to try it since it sounded really easy and healthy.

I made it last night (I bought the mirepoix mix from Trader Joe's, which made everything really easy since all I had to chop was the potatoes!) and my bf and I both had 2 bowls of it. It was a success! I think this one's going to be filed under my staple recipes. It was very filling and we had enough for lunch and dinner for the next day.

Thanks Susun!

Lentil soup from Fatfree vegan

2 cups green lentils, rinsed
7 cups water
14 ounces mirepoix blend vegetables
8 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
2 servings vegetable bouillon cubes 1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary
3 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, chopped

14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes
salt, to taste
additional seasonings, to taste
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

I cooked this in a big pot (I don't have a pressure cooker).

Bring first batch of ingredients to a boil, stir well, cover pot, and cook over low heat until lentils are tender, about an hour. (Add additional water if it begins to dry out.) Add tomatoes, pepper, and salt, and taste to check seasonings. If necessary, add more to taste (I added more oregano and garlic). Cook uncovered for at least 15 minutes, adding more water if it seems to thick, and stirring from the bottom often. Stir in vinegar just before serving.

White Peaches

Went to Costco last Thursday and came home with a tray of white peaches. I left them out for a couple days and they reached their ripeness fast! I'm going out of town tomorrow, so I had to figure out a quick game plan on what to do with them. After much research, going through peach muffins recipes, peach crumble, peach crisp...I settled on peach tartlets, after reading the NPR's Kitchen Window article about pluots and apriums. They included a recipe for pluot tartlets. It sounded simple, rustic and delicious! So I adapted the recipe for white peaches:

White Peach Tartlets

Adapted from Patricia Tanumihardja's recipe from NPR


Makes 4 servings

3-4 white peaches (about 3/4 pound), pitted, peeled and cut in 1/4-inch slices (I used 3, my peaches were quite large)

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon allspice

8 ounces frozen puff pastry*, thawed

8 teaspoons jam (I used rose jam)

Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl, toss the fruit with sugar and allspice.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry until 1/8-inch thick and cut out eight 4-inch circles, gathering remnants and re-rolling the pastry if necessary.

Arrange the pastry discs on a lightly greased baking sheet and brush them with 1 teaspoon jam each. Curl the edges in to form a 1/2-inch border and arrange four to five pluot slices in each cup, overlapping them slightly.

Bake the tartlets for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Cool on a rack and serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Served with bellinis, how perfect is that!

*Pepperidge farms makes a vegan puff pastry