Meatless Monday Campaign

After a busy weekend of preparing food and entertaining guests, I wanted something on this cold and frosty day that was warm, nourishing and easy to fix for dinner tonight. One of the benefits of be a member of Linkedin.com is that you can join groups, and groups email digests, and group members share a plethora of information. The downside, of belonging to any online community or surfing anywhere on the Internet is that you can be inundated and overwhelmed with solicited content. I recently had to change a bunch of email preferences to curb the quantity of emails I am receiving daily and weekly. That said, from time to time I find a tidbit of info that has meaning or benefit to me. This is how I found out about the Meatless Monday Campaign and this delicious morsel shared by Tracy Ritson of the Green Publishing Group on Linkedin.

The following recipe "Meatless Monday Winter Warm-Up - Hearty Lentil Soup" comes from Angela on Sustainable Scribe by PLANET FORWARD.

"Monday! As you may or may not know, Planet Forward supports the Meatless Monday campaign – a non-profit initiative in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It’s part of an eco-friendly worldwide movement to reduce consumption of animal products in favour of more plant-based meals to fight global warming and improve our personal health. This week we bring another vegetarian recipe for you to try.

Beans are a staple for vegetarians as they are a healthy (and fat-free) source of protein and carbohydrates. Plus they are more familiar to flexitarians and other non-full-time vegetarians than tofu, tempeh and seitan. Our hearty lentil soup recipe can be made ahead of time and you can even freeze it (in an air-tight container) if you make too much. I am a huge soup fan especially during the long-cold Canadian winter and this is one of my favourites.

Hearty Lentil Soup - serves 4 people as a main course with a salad and bread (gluten-free ideally but whole-wheat/grain is good too)

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 carrot sliced
• 2 stalks of celery diced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup dry lentils
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt/pepper to taste (if needed)
• Tabasco Hot sauce (optional and to taste)

Note: To the above, I added green onions, corn, peas and fresh tomatoes quartered, and a half tablespoon of Mountain Rose Herbs All Purpose Seasoning.

Preparation:
In a large pot, saute onions, celery and carrot in the vegetable oil for 3-5 minutes until onions are transparent. Add the vegetable broth, lentils, bay leaves and salt/pepper (if needed).

Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until lentils are soft, about 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves and stir in hot sauce (if desired) and that’s it. Easy-peasy. Serve with a side salad and fresh bread to round off a great and satisfying meal.

Don’t forget - to join the movement, sign up online by going to your local Meatless Monday site or you can go here http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ to learn more. If this Monday passed you by, next week is another chance to go meatless – it’s only one day for an eco-friendly cause. Join us.

Bon (vegetarian) Appetit!" - Angela