Carrot Soup & Avocado Toasts = A Perfect Light Lunch

This carrot soup is quick to make if you have vegetable broth already made. I used a vegetable broth in a bag this time to make this soup. The result was delicious. Sometimes you need to take a short cut.

Carrot Soup

Ingredients (makes 4 cups):
3/4 lb carrots
1 small potato
1 small yellow onion
4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp sea salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper to taste

1. Chop carrots, onion, and potato into big chunks.
2. Put everything in a big enough pot. Bring it to boil.
3. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes or until everything becomes soft.
4. Take the bay leaf out. Let it cool little bit. Blend it until it becomes smooth.

 

Avocado Toast

These lovely green toasts will make up the other half of your lunch.

Ingredients (makes 2 toasts):
1/2 ripe avocado
2 slices of your choice of bread
10 grape tomatoes
2-3 tsp lemon juice or lime juice
1 tsp cumin
sea salt and black pepper to taste
a dash of cayenne

1. Mash avocado. Mix with all the spices and lemon juice.
2. Halve grape tomatoes.
3. Toast the bread.
4. Spread avocado on the toasts. Sprinkle halved grape tomatoes on top.

Mulligatawny

Mulligatawny

With perfect amount of spices and sweetness of root vegetables, Mulligatawny is one of my winter-time favorites. Grains, beans, carrots, potatoes, kales, and lemon, all in one.

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato
2 large potatoes
1 cup lentils
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 carrots
1 large yellow onion
3 stalks celery
2 cups slices kale leaves
1 bunch scallions for garnish
1/2 cup wild rice
1/2 head garlic
1″ fresh ginger
1 cup yogurt
2 Tbs peanut oil or olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 Tbsp mustard seeds or 1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup dried coconut
1 28 oz tomato can  or 4-5 fresh tomatoes
8 cups vegetable stock or mineral water
(optional: 1/2 head cauliflower if you have it. This will add a very nice flavor.)

1. Chop onion, celery, peppers. Cut carrots, potatoes in bite size. Slice cauliflower if you are using. Crash or mince garlic cloves. Grate ginger.
2. In a large soup pot, heat oil up, Sauteé onion, celery and ginger until tender about 5 minutes. Add all spices, salt and sugar in. Keep sauteéing until fragrance is coming out, but careful not to burn the spices.
3. Add potatoes, carrots, rice, lentils, peppers, tomatoes, dried coconuts and stock. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 40 minutes or until rice and lentils are done.
4. Stir in kales, crashed garlic, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and yogurt. Heat 2 minutes.
5. Ladle the soup in a bowl, garnish with chopped scallions.

*This soup gets better next day.

January 21st Menu

Everything Shake

Breakfast: Coffee, Everything Shake (Soy Milk, Carrots, Cucumber, Spinach, Apple, Pineapple, Strawberries)—it was okay, not a hit.

Lunch: Feast! (Roasted Butternut Squash and Kale, Wild Mushrooms, Beans, and Kale Soup, Avocado/Tomato/Green Pepper Salad, Spelt Toasts)

Snack Dinner: Mmmaple Pecan Bar, Fuji Apple, Cranberry Walnut Toast, Red Grapes

Feast!

Snack Dinner

 

 

Sunday’s Menu 12/9

Breakfast: Coffee, Purple Shake

Lunch: Butternut Squash Pancakes, Kale Cous Cous—I burnt them a little. but still good.

Dinner: Minestrone with Lentil, Toast

Dessert: Vanilla and Pumpkin Ice Cream (from Lula)

Butternut Squash Pancake

Kale Cous Cous

Minestrone with Lentil

Vanilla & Pumpkin Ice Cream

 

Monday’s Menu 5/7

Green Goddess Shake

Breakfast: Coffee, Green Goddess Shake

Lunch: None!

Dinner: Beets/Lentil/Blackbens/Barley/Kale Soup, Homemade Corn Bread, Russian Dark Ale from Good Beer

I had to move today, and of course everything could go wrong went wrong, so there was no time for lunch. At dinner. we were too tired to eat anything more.

Beets/Grains/Kale Soup, Corn Bread, Dark Ale

Today’s Menu 3/11, Sunday

Breakfast: Coffee, Butternut Squash Pancakes with Banana and Blueberries, Apple Cider with Green Vibrance

Lunch: Portobello Mushroom Salad with Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil (sauteed portobello mushrooms, lettuce, roasted red pepper, pine nuts), Peppermint Tea

Sorry, but no pictures for this lunch. I had it in a cafe and didn’t have a camera on me.

Dinner: Wild Rice Soup with Avocado, Japanese Pear, Simmered Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin)

Sunday Breakfast: Butternut Pancakes, Coffee, Apple Cider with Green Vibrance

 

Today’s Menu 3/9

Breakfast: Black Tea, Green Goddess Shake

Lunch: Muti-grain Panini Bread, Orange, Apple

It was a quick bite on the run, so the orange didn’t make in the picture before it disappeared into my mouth.

Dinner: Roasted Beets with Baby Mixed Greens and Tomato, Wild Rice Soup (wild rice, carrots, onions, celery, tomatoes, red pepper, green pepper, curry spices)

And I had to give myself a treat. Sweet bean soup with Mochi (sticky rice cake). Oh, so sweet!

Lunch on the Run: Multi-grain Bread and Apple

Dinner: Roasted Beets with Baby Mixed Greens, Wild Rice Soup

Azuki Sweet Bean Soup with Mochi