Good morning everyone!

The NCAA tournament will be whittled down to the final four by the end of day today. Wasn’t it just last weekend when we had like 32 fucking games and next weekend we only get 2?

That’s a substantial reduction in the number of sportsball contests, NCAA. Fuck else are we supposed to watch? Spring training baseball?!?

I’ve actually already done that.

Nice to see everyone back here again today.

How many of you good folks tuned in just to find out if I was bullshitting about the “turning vegetarian” thing?

ALL OF YOU?

Shit, man. Motherfucker makes one lifestyle change and everyone thinks he’s full of shit.

Sorry folks. It’s true. I really did turn –  temporarily – 100% vegetarian.

One of my favorite coworkers in my building is also a huge fan of my food.

She has eaten my lasagna before, my baked ziti, my mac and cheese and lots of other kitchen favorites.

She even gets the corner piece of the lasagna!

Got to work today and I’m talking to another worker who I’ve shared recipes with and she overhears me talking about food. She walks up and takes a look at the food photo I was sharing.

About 95% of the photos on my phone are food photos.

This is where you act surprised.

She overhears me telling dude that I’ve been vegetarian for almost a month.

She gave me a look that could cut glass.

“It’s only temporary I swear to God!”

As difficult as it was the first week or 2 I’ve finally hit a groove and it’s not difficult to be a vegetarian at all anymore. Between last weeks beef and barley soup, this weeks recipe and the 3rd soup(ish) recipe I’ll be sharing next week I’ve not only been happily staying to the diet, now I’m even a little bit scared to stop.

The fuck will it do to my digestive system to go back to red meat? Will it hurt? Will my colon explode.

AGAIN!!!

Can I ethically consume formerly frollicking little barnyard critters without it stabbing my conscience right in the balls?

So many stupid questions!

 

But I digress.

What’s really fun though? Todays menu is not just vegetarian it’s straight-up fucking VEGAN! Ain’t no dairy ain’t nothing but pure, clean vegetation and grains.

It also turned into one of my favorite things I’ve ever made.

I mentioned last week about the uncanny ability of soup to improve exponentially each day. Think marinara sauce or chili or foods that are more known for that type of thing. This motherfucker got noticeably better each damn day. By the following Friday? This bastard became one of the greatest bites I’ve ever created.

This dish is warm, comforting, filling and most of all incredibly fucking delicious.

This will also be in my regular work-week meal rotation going forward.

Added bonus though? It’s incredibly less expensive than my previous work-week menu of organic boneless skinless chicken breast. That shit had gotten crazy expensive lately.

First thing though, I’ve got a quick bonus recipe for you today!

For the last several years I had already made my breakfasts vegan. On Tuesday and Thursday I have a navel orange and a piece of 21 grains and seeds toast. On the other 5 days of the week I make this.

Banana Berry Smoothie!

1 cup of orange juice

1/3 cup of frozen blueberries

2-3 fresh strawberries

1 banana

Gather your ingredients

I buy frozen blueberries by the gigantic bagful. Pour your juice and add the blueberries and get your strawberries.

Add the strawberries and banana to your mixing cup.

You’ve seen that cup before many times. It’s a 3 cup measuring cup and I use the fuck out of it.

Next break out the boom-stick.

You’ll be seeing that bad boy a little later on too.

Give a blend.

Put this in the freezer for about 13 minutes and serve with a piece of 21 grains and seeds toast.

Yep. Five days a week and it is consistently delicious. Every time. I’ve been doing this for years.

Whenever you’ve seen an episode of Sunday Gravy with a cholesterol filled breakfast menu…

Like this,

it has always been served at dinner time.

ALWAYS.

See this is fun!

Oh piss off! Just humo(U)r me will you?

To the soup!

Vegan Lentil Soup!

recipe greatly inspired by NoraCooks.com

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

14 ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes – I used San Marzano

2 cups dry lentils

1 32 oz carton of vegetable broth – plus additional to reach desired consistency.

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 to 1 tablespoon of Berbere spice blend – see below for a reminder

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Some grinds of fresh black pepper

3 cups baby spinach, sliced into ribbons, or kale – for our Hippo brethren

1 lemon, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)

Let’s begin the proceedings.

Get to chopping.

Same as last week, leave the mire poix chunky. We don’t want the vegetables turning to mush when the soup is cooked.

And get them in the pot. Same as before. Let these sauté for about 10 minutes.

Let’s give your memories a test.

Anyone remember this stuff?

That’s right! It’s berbere an Ethiopian spice blend. Remember a few years back…

That is Misir Wot from our Ethiopian venture from a few years back. This was exactly the type of flavor profile I was after but I wanted to streamline the effort so I could get this in the regular weekly soup rotation.

That misir wot was one of my favorite surprise menu items I’ve cooked and I distinctly remember thinking at the time “This shit could make me a vegetarian!” Which explains whatever-the-fuck it is I’m doing with this thing. It was extremely time consuming to do properly however; hence our adjustments today.

In goes the veggie stock, tomatoes, garlic and seasonings and we’re going to let this cook for about 30 minutes. If you remember from last week we do this to get the texture of the finished veggies correct.

After 30 minutes you should be looking at something like this.

Next we add the lentils.

The lentils will cook for at least 30 minutes. This is where the texture is entirely up to the cook. Similar to the barley we cooked last week if you like a little firmer texture to your lentils 30 minutes should be just about right. I went closer to 40-45 minutes. Any further and you run the risk of turning the soup into fucking paste and that would not be delicious would it?

Nay. It would not.

Here is todays surprise ingredient.

Yes it’s a lot of spinach but don’t worry. It will incorporate in the pot of soup with no trouble.

Give it a chop.

Another surprise ingredient for finishing the soup.

I’m always a bit hesitant to use lemon to finish a dish. I’m not even crazy about a squeeze of lemon on seafood. Lots of cooks call the addition of lemon at the end “Brightening” the dish. I find it a little overpowering for the most part. But I followed along with the original recipe.

The soup is getting pretty close to ready.

You certainly could serve this exactly as it is but we’re going to add our finishing touches.

First break out the boom-stick again.

And give it a few pulses.

Don’t mash the whole pot for Chrissake just a few pulses to make the soup a little more creamy.

Much better.

Turn the heat off on the soup and add in the spinach and the lemon juice.

Give a few stirs and let the spinach incorporate. You’ll be amazed how quickly it shrinks down.

Get yourself a bowl.

This bowl of soup was an interesting one. I ate it immediately after the spinach incorporated and I had added in the lemon.

It was… pretty good? No, it was real good. The lentils were cooked perfect but it still tasted a bit green. Kind of spinach-y and the lemon tang punched you right in the mouth. I placed the soup in some Tupperware and refrigerated it for my work week dinners.

It was the next day when I tried it again.

Holy fuck! It was perfect! Rick, creamy, delicious, Earthy, spicy. Super satisfying and I swear to you that while I was eating this my body was screaming “THANK YOU!” The berbere is strictly my idea because I did love the misir wot so much. You can use whatever spice blend you want. While doing the recipe research I saw several recipes that called for curry powder or garam masala and those both would indeed work. Customize it! Use chili powder, cumin and cayenne for a Southwest kick. Use some Hungarian paprika for an Eastern European flavor. Do your thang!

I was reading something this week where folks are being encouraged to occasionally use lentils instead of meat now that gas is 6 bucks a gallon out here and everything at the store costs a goddamn fortune, especially meat and I could totally understand that. I’ve always loved lentils. They’re my favorite legume!

I will say that even with the cost of foods going up as they have, my grocery bill is roughly half during this little vegetarian venture.

That’s pretty goddamn convincing in it’s own right.

One more thing.

Let me give you a visual on the differences between vegan and non-vegan.

Ever store chili, a soup with meat or spaghetti sauce in a clear Tupperware container for a few days? Ever get that container clean again?

The soup was stored for 5 days in this.

Look how clean that Tupperware is!

If your brain plays stupid tricks on you it may even think about that greasy Tupperware thing and apply that to your digestive tract.

Yikes!

I’ve convinced my own ass if nothing else and I do mean that literally.

Got a couple of more forays into the vegetarian world lined up in the coming weeks but I’ve also got a few ideas for when I resurface in the carnivorous world again.

Told you that I ain’t lost permanently.

Have a great week out there and do consider an occasional delicious bowl of vegetable soup won’t you?

Stay safe and healthy everyone.

See you next week.

PEACE!