Green Lentil Soup

Hey! It's been a few days, but I have been out and about, and last night I was so lucky to catch the first game of the ice hockey season, and our team won! I had only been to it once before, but it's great fun! Totally different from watching any other sports as far as I know. Before that, I had a lovely lunch with one of my friends, at this lovely quaint place called The Left Bank here in Glasgow, mmmm!
Before that though, I decided to make a batch of hearty soup, and ended up with this lovely vegan dish:

Green Lentil Soup
(Serves 4 about 260 calories each)

1 tbsp extra virging olive oil
250g green lentils, soaked in hot water for about an hour
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled, and left whole (the original recipe used an entire garlic, but I had friends to see...)
1/2 pointed red pepper, or a tomato - chopped, I used the red pepper and it worked out a treat!
1 1/2 litre vegetable stock
Salt, pepper
Rosemary, thyme and 1/2 tsp mustard seeds if you have some

- Start by boiling up water for the soup, in the meantime - heat the oil in a large pot and soften the garlic and onion for about five minutes.

- Add the pepper and lentils, and stir for a few minutes along with seasoning and let all the flavours merge together. I would add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of the other herbs. Then, pour over the stock, cover and cook for about 40 minutes, until the lentils are nice and tender.

Serve up - and enjoy!

Winter isn't coming just yet, but it's amazing how good a bowl of homemade soup can be in the evening anyway *smiles*

Speaking of food, I have recently discovered something pretty neat - wheat germ! It's the kernel of the wheat which holds a lot of key nutrients that your body needs.

It has a slight nutty flavour, and I love to top natural yogurt with some "Sukrin Gold" (which I think is almost like a caramely xylitol that is a natural sweetner) and a bit tablespoon of wheat germ, almost like a little instant yogurt crumble! You can also sneak the wheat germ into soups, stews, and top your cereal with it! The important thing is to store it cold, either in the fridge or freezer, as it can go bad if you don't use it within a few months, but I doubt that'll be any problem to be honest! Have you ever used wheat germ in your cooking, or snacking before? What do you think?

Also, for weeks I was searching for a new shoulder bag, without any success - clothes shops, bag shops, charity shops - zilch! But then, I spent my lunch break in the office and went on ebay....oh, how was I to know they would have all sorts of lovely bags?! It took two days to arrive, whatcha think?

I hope you all have had a great weekend!


Original Source:
Friske Vegetariske Oppskrifter Basert på Salgssuksessen "Frisk av Mat", p. 223

- Jules