Thursday, January 3, 2008

Solstice Party Post Mortem

The food was not as good as I had hoped. The "Yummy" Vegan Spinach Dip (it's actual title) was not yummy. Some kind people said it was good but I would never make it again. And now I have a whole can of Nutritional Yeast Flakes. What do I do with Nutritional Yeast Flakes?

The Solar Candy tasted like rinds of citrus fruits (which is truly what it was.)

The lamb, I thought, was underdone. But I had left David in charge of cooking the lamb. I aslo forgot to put out the mint jelly. David commented we should rethink the "lamb on the solstice" tradition.

The fudge didn't set up and was too mushy.

The only real hit I had was the lentil soup. I got this recipe from the internet years ago so someone deserves credit for this tasty concoction.

Solstice Soup
1 cup of brown lentils
2 litres of water
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 cup each of grated carrot, parsnip, pumpkin or root vegetable of choice (I used carrot, parsnip and potato)
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper
1 tsp powdered chicken stock (Note: I used 2 litres of vege broth and omited the chicken stock)
1 1/2 cup of peeled roasted garlic tomatoes (I used a can of plain diced tomatos)
2 cups of chopped silver beet or spinach or other greens of preference (I used spinach)
More water as required

Soak a cup of brown lentils in 2 litres of water (or stock) while you are gathering and preparing the other ingredients.

Put olive oil (or butter) in a large capacity saucepan, add chopped onion and saute. Then add the crushed garlic, the celery, and the grated vegetables. Cook together for a few minutes. Then add the lentils and the liquid they are soaking in.

Crush coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle and add those, plus the whole cumin seeds, the garam masala, the powdered chicken stock and the sugar.

After about 15 minutes add tomatoes.

Cook for about 30-40 minutes in total, adding more liquid if necessary.

For the last five minutes of cooking, add the greens.

Test for flavour, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot with crusty french bread.

The Wassail and Spiced Mulled Wine was also a hit as well as the hummus (Whole Foods)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Use the nutritional yeast for junk food tofu! Saute cubes or thin strips of extra firm tofu on medium high with a little oil, a little salt, soy sauce, and lots of nutritional yeast. Cook on all sides until firm and lightly browned. We eat it with roasted tomatoes (mmmmmm) to compliment the flavors. (and I am assuming soy is ok for you guys).

Maria H said...

I think it's great you even tried to put it all together! I hope your guests just enjoyed being with you and the kids, it's what it's all about anyways :) Actually, I didn't plan a bday party for E this year and some family had issues with it, but it was our decision and instead we went snow tubing on New Year's "Eve" (daytime of course) and then on the 5th we went to the Baltimore Aquarium and attempted to eat lunch out afterwards...ultimately, we didn't order anything for her, but it was fairly successful. My heart goes out to you about your recent posts on Max and the pizza...my son had mac n cheese at the restaurant and I know the day will come where she will ask the same thing. I don't enjoy restaurants anymore and I can't enjoy watching my son with no allergies eat the foods that she can't have - that's when i think "that's not fair" wow this is a long one - I can't find time to post to my own site, but I like your site purplemommy!