hi there! how was your labor day? hopefully awesome and filled with the kind of wonder that only the holiday at the end of summer can bring. i've never really been sure of what labor day celebrates, unless it's some unspoken homage to the god of grills or something. if you lived in my mom's house, though, it was meant for labor. she'd make us get up at six in the morning and build something, or clean something, or move stuff around. (my mom is a furniture hoarder, and is constantly having to rearrange her house to make room for another couple of couches or a dresser. she has dressers in the living room. i am sadly not kidding.) i, as the oldest and the only person who had any ability to cook, would have to make lunch and dinner for my millions of brothers who would be hungry, hot, and cranky from the forced, well... labor. this was the story of every labor day of my childhood. in fact, i was often the only cook in my house, and had to perfect the "quick food for a crapton of people" recipes that save my butt in the kitchen to this day. my mom wouldn't let me leave the house until i had something for dinner going, which was my chore for four nights a week. the other nights were pizza night, lasagna sunday, and leftovers. (these nights, by the way? never change. and the lasagna is the frozen kind that comes from sam's. i never can make it to sunday without the nostalgic smell of the many times my mom forgot to take the carboard off the lasagna before cooking it coming flooding back to my nostrils...)
anyway, i learned very quickly that one of the best and cheapest (why cheap? oh, cause i had to make the food budget lists for the family too. i don't think this qualifies as child abuse, but i'm not completely sure on that.) ways to feed the fam was to make soup. one pot meals are always the way to go, as you can cram a whole heck of a lot of stuff into one pot, set it cooking, and then flee the scene while you still have permission to use your dad's car. i've gotten pretty expert at soups of all kinds, and make them whenever an occasion calls for it. my chef husband even steals my recipes for the restaurant sometimes, and that's pretty much the biggest "i love you- and your food" i ever get from that guy. labor day, for me as an adult, means the beginning of soup season and my favorite time of year to actually get up and cook something.
my new favorite soup, since the discovery that wheat makes me seven different kinds of sick, is lentil. there's a bunch of folks who just made that "yukky" face that's sometimes seen on poison bottles when i said that, but trust me. it's good. it's also vegetarian- in fact, it's vegan and is completely non-processed in terms of ingredients and you can get almost all the stuff for it at your local farmer's market, if you're so inclined. i pretty much get all the ingredients at walmart, but i am a poor librarian. do whatever your conscience tells you is right, luke. so here's the recipe of the day: gluten free, vegan lentil soup. the ingredients might seems a little weird, but it's the best stuff ever with some cheese (not vegan then, i guess) on top and some rice crackers or a sandwich. yum. i love september.
Lentil Soup
sautee up one diced onion and four cups sliced carrots in olive oil til they are nice and tender
add in two cans of rotel tomatoes and chilis, undrained (or some diced up tomatoes and green chilis from the market, if you wanna)
put in six-eight cups of water and veggie boullion, or veggie broth, or even chicken broth if you don't care about that
rough chop a big bunch of spinach and put that in the pot too
add in 1 and 1/2 cup of green lentils
season with salt and pepper
add the juice and zest of two lemons
simmer for 45 minutes or until the lentils are tender.
serve with cheddar cheese on top, if you're eating cow products, and put in some lovely almond crackers or a sandwich of some kind. perfect for those days in september that have a little nip to them.
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