The Yum Yum Factor

I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here, or anything, but a friend made Middle Eastern Lentil Soup and so I decided to get some going as well. This is a soup I cook all the time and it's one of my favourite comfort foods but today, it's humid and dark and rainy and I need something with a bit more kick to it. I made my regular recipe, more or less but swapped out the spices for my favourite Turkish chili flakes, added a drizzle of my Crispy Garlic Chili Oil because that always makes everything better and a mound of my crispy fried shallots or onions that I always have in the pantry. They are tasty and easy and cheap and you can get them in any type of Asian grocery store. Wow, that's a lot of crispy things going on. Urfa Biber Maras Both are available online if you aren't lucky enough to have a Turkish grocery shop nearbye. I put them in everything and go through an alarming amount of them. Thankfully, I buy big jars of them at the Turkish store so I never run out. T...

I think I might start a series called "Instant Pot Diaries" where I can share my experiments and fails and not just the successes because otherwise I think it makes it seem like everything I make works like clockwork the first try. This couldn't be farther from the truth, to be honest. Some things come out perfectly the 1st, 2nd and 3rd times and other things require a bit more tinkering. From now on, when I am offering tips, lessons learned, failures and other times where I fall flat on my face, I will tag it "instant pot diaries" so you can have all of my shame in one convenient place.

It's that time of year again folks! It's time for this year's  Lentil Recipe Revelations Challenge  and I am ready to try my hand at reinventing the lentil again with three interesting new recipes, but first up: Dessert. Last year, my  "Cauliflower Wings Three Ways" took the grand prize. This year I have put even more pressure on myself to top that feat with something new and fresh, but, most importantly, something delicious that doesn't try to hide the lentil flavour. So, all that said, my first recipe is this ice cream. It started with the lentil praline, which is delicious on it's own and a great nut free praline option for people who have allergies. I had to eventually hide the canister of praline or it was going to disappear before I even had a chance to do anything with it because it's just that addictive. It's nutty and sweet but the taste of the roasted lentil still shines through. Originally, I was going to just do a ...

The Kid is sick and like a dog, this kid is stoic. He always says he is feeling okay, never wants to stay home from school and actually refuses my offers of a day in bed because there is something wrong with him. What kind of weirdo doesn't jump at a sick day from school? Clearly he did not get the memo on how to deal with the mansick. To be perfectly honest,  if I didn't watch this kid spring from my loins with my own eyes I would make myself take a maternity test. A sick young man requires a nourishing soup that will be smooth enough that it won't hurt his delicate, froggy throat on the way day but bright and tasty enough to tempt his failing taste buds. He lives for miso soup so I make him cups of miso like I make him cups of tea but there needed to be a soup with a bit more substance. This lemony, thin soup is perfect for these cold weather, feeling too crappy to even want to eat the delicious lunch my mother packed me days. The mix of preserved lemon with fresh...

I am beginning to think I am having a soup identity crisis lately. I am usually ALL about the soup and have no trouble finding soups that speak to me but lately, nothing looks that good. Maybe it's because we haven't really had much in the way of winter weather. It's been mild, we haven't really had any snow that has stuck around for more than a day and if you didn't know what month it was, you would have sworn that we have spent the last 4 months enjoying the very first moments of spring. I find it difficult to get all fired up about making comforting, cold weather foods without the cold weather part and find my mind wandering to Toronto summery thoughts of wood fires, bbqs, wine on the front porch and garbage strikes. The only things that have been interesting me seem to be Thai coconutty soups or Indian flavoured soups  so I thought it was time to bust out the yellow split peas for some daal. It's not a ground breaking soup by any means but it is simp...

I really love soup. I love almost any soup and I can't recall the last time I ate a soup that I disliked enough to think "well, I will die happy if I never have to eat THAT soup again". Now that winter is closing in on us, I will most likely make at least one soup a week until spring when I will become obsessed with grilling and forget all about soup. This is my first soup of the week and I will endeavour to share a new soup every week and I will call it "It's Friday So It Must Be Soup!" I love red lentils and so I am always on the look out for new and exiting things to do with them. While I was perusing Taste Spotting, I found this great looking recipe for Morrocan Red Lentil Soup at  Alice In Paris Loves Art and Tea  and it will definately be something I make again this winter. 2 Tbsp Olive Oil or Canola (25 ml)   2 Onions, chopped   5 cloves of Garlic, minced   2 Celery stalks , chopped (1 Carrot ,chopped.....my addition)   1 tsp Pepper (...