recipe variation

It was a beautiful fall day today, a day with a touch of crispness in the air. It felt like a good day for soup.

My big pots of soup usually start with a recipe but they often finish as a variation on a theme. Today I started with the ingredients for Soup #1, red lentil base shown in this blog post, adding a bit, changing a bit. I added quinoa, removed the chopped onion, and changed the spices a little.

This tasty recipe gave me dinner for tonight, plus soup for lunches this week and some for the freezer. I always freeze my soup creations in serving-sizeed containers so I can pull it out whenever the desire hits.

Red lentil and vegetable soup:

10 cups vegetable broth 1 pound red lentils several garlic cloves 1-2 tablespoons ground cumin red pepper flakes basil leaves 1 15-ounce can chick peas 1 pound carrots, sliced 6 stalks celery, sliced 4 sweet potatoes, quartered and sliced 2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced 1 pound corn (frozen) 1 cup quinoa 1 15-ounce block of extra firm tofu, cubed

I started by bringing the broth to a boil, adding the spices and red lentils, then changing the heat to medium while the lentils cook. At the same time I combined the cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water, brought it to a boil, then lowered the heat. The quinoa finished cooking in about 15 minutes.

When the lentils started to soften (after about 15 minutes) I added the remaining vegetables and tofu, waiting about 10 minutes to allow the the carrots and potatoes to cook before adding the quinoa as well.

It's always good to have a favorite recipe as a starting point - but variety is good too.