Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup with Fried Scallions

This soup reheats well, so I make a large batch and store whatever I won’t eat within a weeks’ time in 2 cup containers in the freezer. This makes it easy to take for lunch or reheat for a quick weeknight meal. It is delicious served over brown rice or with whole grain bread, crackers or pita.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil*

1 large, or 2 medium onions, ¼ to ½-inch dice

2 stalks celery, ¼ to ½-inch dice

4 medium carrots, ¼ to ½-inch dice

1 cup diced sweet potato, potato, or winter squash

1 cup ¼ to ½-inch diced summer squash or zucchini

6 tablespoons finely minced cilantro stems and roots

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

28-ounces tomato sauce (low-sodium, if possible)

2 cups red lentils

2 small limes, juiced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

8 scallions, sliced thinly on a bias

Directions:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a 6 to 8 quart stock pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, stirring occasionally. If onions begin to cook to quickly and stick or become deep brown in spots, turn heat down to medium.
2. While onion is cooking, chop and add celery, carrots, sweet potato, summer squash and cilantro stems, 1 teaspoon salt, turmeric and cumin to the pot, continuing to stir occasionally. If the vegetables begin to brown or stick, cover with a lid. Cook for 5 min.
3. Add tomato sauce, 8 cups of water and lentils. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and cover with a lid; soup should be simmering (lightly bubbling). Cook for 30 minutes. Stir frequently for the first 10 minutes or lentils will stick to the bottom of the pot.
4. When the soup is nearly done, heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over high heat. When oil just starts to smoke, add in scallions and stir-fry until the edges crisp and brown slightly. Remove scallions from pan and set aside for garnishing.
5. Season soup to taste with lime juice, salt and pepper.
6. Serve soup sprinkled with scallions. Stir remaining scallions into the soup when you’re putting the soup away after dinner.

*If you prefer crunchy scallions, heat enough oil to truly fry the scallions (about 1 cup) and cook the scallions in 2 batches. You can scoop the scallions out of the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Reserve the leftover oil for other uses; it is great for salad dressings, pastas, and drizzled over baked potatoes or roasted vegetables.

Makes: 18 cups (9 bowls)

Blueberry Apple Oat-Almond Crumble (with gluten-free option)

This time of year, the seasonal pickings are relatively slim. What I wouldn’t give for summer fresh, farmer’s market berries, tomatoes, and peaches! This recipe for blueberry apple crumble is a great way to shrug off winter and take advantage of blueberries frozen at their peak flavor in the summer months. 

Blueberry Apple Oat-Almond Crumble

A Chef in Residency dessert recipe wouldn’t be complete without a recipe rehab. This recipe rehab took a traditional crumble, then amped up the healthy components and decreased the refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats as much as possible without sacrificing taste.

The finished product was a total success! I made the crumble in the evening and took it to brunch the following day—it was devoured in minutes and several people asked for the recipe. No one could believe that it was a healthy dessert! (I don't recommend that you tell people...they'll never know.)

For the skeptics out there, I have listed both the healthy ingredients and the refined flours/sugars options so that you can make as many or as few of the alterations as you feel comfortable with. However, I urge you to try the recipe with all of the healthier ingredients since it is at least as delicious as the original.

This recipe is/has:

Tart

Sweet

Fruity

Fresh

Crunchy

Nutty

Notes of cinnamon

Blueberry Apple Oat-Almond Crumble (can be gluten-free)

Ingredients

Filling:

2 pounds fresh or frozen blueberries

1 large Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped into ¼ to ½-inch cubes

¼ cup all-purpose flour, white whole-wheat flour or oat flour (sub with 1 Tablespoon+1 teaspoon of arrowroot powder for gluten-free)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ cup finely chopped dates (or ¼ cup granulated sugar)

Juice of 1 lemon (or bitter orange)

Zest of 1 lemon, chopped (or bitter orange)

Crumble Topping:

1 cup almonds             

1 cup of old-fashioned oats (or 1 cup all-purpose flour)

½ cup dates, packed (or sub ¼ cup granulated sugar PLUS 1/3 cup packed brown sugar)

¼ tsp salt

3 Tbsp canola oil (originally, 1 stick or 8 Tablespoons of butter)

½ cup old-fashioned oats, left whole

             

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Mix together filling ingredients: stir together blueberries, apples, flour (or arrowroot), sugar (or dates), cinnamon, lemon juice and zest and set aside.

3. Process almonds and 1 cup oats (or all-purpose flour) in the food processor until they look like flour. Add sugars (or dates), salt and oil; process until well combined. Stir in ½ cup oats, leaving unprocessed.

4. Spray a 13x9-inch cake pan with non-stick spray (or grease with butter or oil), then pour in blueberry mixture making sure that it is relatively level. Sprinkle with crumble topping (use all of the topping). 

5. Bake for 50-70 minutes on the middle shelf in the oven until blueberry juice is bubbling up through in places and the crumble is just starting to brown. Note: if baking in 12 individual dishes (as pictured) cut baking time to 45 minutes.

6. Cool for 15 minutes before eating. Cool completely before covering with a lid or plastic.

Serve as is or with vanilla ice cream. This is delicious reheated.

Makes 12 servings

Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones

I was testing out a new recipe this morning in an effort to use up cranberries leftover from Thanksgiving that I'd stashed away in the freezer, along with a can of pumpkin that never quite made it into a pie. This holiday-spicy, pumpkin and cranberry breakfast treat was the perfect thing to make the house smell incredible and take away that winter chill.

Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones--right out of the oven

I have written the instructions to make these scones either as pictured or as “drop scones.” The wedge-shaped scones (pictured) have a more muffin-like texture than I’m used to for scones. The drop scones will be crisper around the edges and have a more traditional scone texture. So, make whichever version you prefer—enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones

Ingredients:

1 heaping cup of fresh or frozen cranberries

¾ cup Silk unsweetened soymilk (dairy milk or other unsweetened non-dairy milk)

4 tsp. ground flaxseed

1-15oz. can pumpkin puree

3 TBSP molasses

Zest of 1 large lemon, chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1-1/3 cups sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground cinnamon*

1 tsp. ground ginger*

½ tsp. ground cardamom*

¼ tsp. ground cloves*

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg*

1 tsp. salt

½ cup (1 stick) vegan margarine or butter, cold and cubed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper or Silpats.

2. In food processor, pulse cranberries until roughly chopped. If frozen, return to freezer until you are ready to use.

3. In medium mixing bowl, whisk together milk, flaxseed, pumpkin, molasses, and lemon zest; set aside.

4. In large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Then, sprinkle the margarine/butter cubes over the flour mixture. Use your hands to break up the margarine/butter into pea sized pieces or smaller and distribute them evenly through the flour mixture.

5. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Add cranberries. Fold together until just mixed taking care not to over mix (which will make the scones tough).

6 (wedge-shaped scones, muffin-like). To make these like the picture, divide dough in half and put each half onto the center of the 2 sheet pans; shape into a circle that is about 1-inch thick. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds if using (I did not do this for the scones pictured). Bake about 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cut into eighths, like a pizza, when finished. Place wedges on a cooling rack. This method makes very muffin-like scones.

Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones--ready for brunch on the deck

 

7. Eat while warm. Cool to room temperature before packing into a ziplock or airtight container and storing in the freezer. These are good reheated in the microwave for ~20 seconds or until warmed through; toast if desired. Serve alone or with butter.

Drop Scones (more scone-like): Instead of step 6 above, use an ice cream scoop to portion out scoops of the dough evenly onto the sheet pans. If using pumpkin seeds, brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with the seeds (I did not do this for the scones pictured). Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place scones on a cooling rack. This method makes more traditional-textured scones.

Wedge-shaped scone method makes 16, and drop scone method makes 20 scones.

*To make this faster, you can substitute 3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice for all of the spices (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg).