Hearty Winter Vegetable Soup

The temperatures have started to drop again.  Yesterday was cold and rainy.  Today's supposed to be colder and snowy.  It's the perfect weather to curl up on the couch with some hot tea, a good book and some hearty soup.  

I've got my hot tea (green tea with a splash of almond milk and some cinnamon).

I'm SO CLOSE to being done with The Girl Who Played with Fire, the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  So far, I like this book better.  I thought I had figured things out and last night I discovered I was wrong.  I love it when I don't see the twist coming! :)

And as for the soup...

Yes, that is a hearty winter soup!

But let's start at the beginning, shall we?

For breakfast we finished off our leftovers...

Un-Stuffed Mushrooms, Protein rich dip, and a side of orange & pomegranate.

But lunch was the star of the show.  That's when I decided to make a really filling soup.

Hearty Winter Vegetable Soup

1 chopped Onion

1/2 C chopped Cabbage

1 Zucchini peeled & chopped (or chop a winter squash)

1/2 C chopped Carrots

1 C chopped Kale

Vegetable Broth

1/4 C Lentils

*Optional:  Feta Cheese, Avocado, Nutritional Yeast

In a pan saute the onion & cabbage until the onion is transparent.

Add the squash, carrots & kale.

Add enough broth to bring the liquid level over the veggies (the lentils will absorb the liquid so you want to make sure you have plenty)

Bring liquid to a low boil & add the lentils.

Cover and let simmer for 30+ minutes until the lentils are soft.

Enjoy with your favorite toppings!

Saute the onions & cabbage

Add the rest of the veggies

Add the broth

and the lentils then let simmer.

This lunch was SO good!

In fact, it was so good I had the left overs for dinner!

The Hubs had left over chili that had been in the freezer so all I had to do for him was cook up some macaroni and then heat up the chili.

Kai had been wanting Mac & Cheese since lunch time when she accidentally told me she wanted cottage cheese.   Since I was making up macaroni for the Hubs meal I just saved some of it and mixed it with some Almond Milk, Cheddar, Mozzarella, Nutritional Yeast and some Ground Flax Seed - instant mac & cheese in a very natural (i.e. non-neon) color.  Plus she had a side of CA Mix Veggies and half a bread stick.

And yes, she did dress for dinner - Rapunzel dress, bracelet, ring, necklace, heals and a tiara. :)

Also checked off my Things-to-do list yesterday - Scanning & photographing (with my mom's fancy-camera-knowledge help) all of Kai's first semester artwork she's brought home.  My plan is to then create a photo-book at the end of the school year of all her artwork.  This way we'll have a copy of everything she's done throughout the year without having to keep a box of her colorings/crafts that would probably end up in the attic. :D

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my LivingSocial purchase!  Guess what we're going to be doing....
Honey Farm Tour

I'm excited!  I'm just about out of raw honey (I still have my whipped).  So sometime soon my parents, Kai and I will take a day and drive down to Martinsville to check out a Honey Farm. :D  AND I happen to have family who live in Martinsville so it's entirely possible I'll be calling to see if we can meet up.  Of course the day I bought it the weather turned but hey, it's gotta warm back up some time.  This is Indiana after all, if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes - it'll change.   :)