Basic Vegetarian Lentil Spinach Soup

Ingredients:
1 Box Swanson Vegetable Broth
2 cups dried French Style Lentils
1 box frozen spinach
3/4 cup pre-cooked peas (or dried peas- just remember to soak overnight with the lentils)
1/4 onion chopped
1.5 tsp minced garlic
Dash of Oregano
Dash of basil
2 Dashes of black pepper
Dash of garlic powder if you love garlic as much as I do.


Pour Box of Swanson Vegetable Broth and 2 cups of dried lentils in a pot. Toss in dried peas if you are using dried peas in this recipe. Give it a good stir and let it soak overnight. Return to pot next day and set on a medium temperature (we want a crock-pot style cooking temp). Put block of spinach in the pot (doesn't matter if its thawed). Add all other ingredients in the pot and keep it on low temp-low boil. Mix frequently to prevent the bottom from burning. After an hour or so, lentils should be fully cooked (should be moist, not mealy inside-- You should be able to easily pinch the lentil and have it smush between your finger tips). Serve in a bowl with a side of toasted pita or over rice (cooked the Persian way, not Uncle Ben).

Almond Scones (optional: with Strawberries)

This recipe was a sugar cookie recipe gone awry but turned out to be way better than any cookie imagined.

Slivered Almond Scones

Ingredients:
2.5 cups flour
1 stick butter
3/4 cups yogurt
1 large egg
1/3 cups egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup silk vanilla light
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1.5 cups white sugar

2 cups frozen strawberries (optional)

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients together.

With an electric hand mixer, mix in egg and egg whites. Afterso, mix in yogurt and butter. Dough should be a slightly crumbly consistency. Add the rest of the wet ingredients. Dough should be sticky and moist. On a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, place 1.5 inch dough balls and sprinkle slivered almonds on top. Put in the oven for 7-10 minutes or until scones are a light brown at the edges.

Take out scones to cool. Enjoy with your favorite cup of tea or coffee.


Optional: Cut scones in half hamburger wise. Put frozen strawberries in microwave in a shallow bowl for two minutes. Microwave frozen strawberries until they are in a thawed state. Put thawed strawberries on scone "bun" to enjoy as a rendition of a breakfast strawberry shortcake.

Blackberry Pumpkin Milkshake

I was inspired with this recipe while in the midst of carving my holiday pumpkin and said to myself-- man... this is such a waste of a perfectly good vegetable. Fortunately, I had some frozen blackberries in the freezer and whipped this vegan-friendly snack in less than 5 minutes.

Description: snack, non-dairy, vegan, cold, beverage, delicious


Ingredients: 1 cup frozen blackberries
8 ice cubes
1 cup Silk soy milk light vanilla
1.5 cup cooked or raw pumpkin
4 tbsp agave or stevia
3 tbsp+ cinnamon (ground)
dash of ginger powder
some nutmeg to top



Instructions: Put ice and liquids in blender first. Blend. Add frozen berries. Blend. Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend again on high. Blend until consistency isn't lumpy.


Category: Breakfast, Snack


Servings: 2


Images from Various Sources. Recipe is original and accredited to I Can Make That Stuff Blog.

Gobble Gobble

Some Cute Holiday Ideas from Online (Note: I did not take any of these pictures or make these things!):