Lentil Soup with Arugula

As Charlie and I embark on a new way of eating, whole-foods and plants-based, we are discovering all sorts of new recipes and becoming rather creative with legumes, grains, and veggies (the main staples in this new eating regime). During one of our snow days (yippee, no school or work) I looked over many on-line lentil soup recipes. This final recipe is a mash-up of a few different recipes and it turned out really good.

What you need:
Olive oil, onion, carrots, 4 garlic cloves (diced), 2 bay leafs, 1 tbsn. oregano, 1 tbsn. basil, (you may also want to add mushrooms), lentils, broth, water, canned tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and arugula.

Saute 1 medium sized yellow onion (diced). Once golden, add carrots, mushrooms (the more veggies, the better), garlic, and spices. Then add 1 cup lentils, 4 cups water and/or vegetable broth (vegetable broth is better...but you can also mix water with broth). Add 1 can diced tomatoes. Bring to boil and then simmer for 1 hour. Add 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and top soup bowl with fresh arugula. Delicious!

You can double this recipe to ensure left-overs...the soup freezes well and tastes delicious after marinating in the freezer.

Risotto with ruccola and dried tomatoes

By: Ali, the (Italian by blood) Brazilian classmate of Leasa's!
Hello!
I have a recipe to share with you. (Actually, I have many but they don't have a proper "recipe" so it is hard to write it down.) This is an Italian dish that I learned from a classmate in Brazil. It is so simple and quick! I will try to put the measures as clear as possible ok?

 So, for 2 hungry people you will need:
- 1 medium onion, chopped/diced
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 big spoon of butter
- 100gr of sundried tomatoes, it can be in oil, chopped as well (I usually put a lot of those because I love them)
- 1 and half cup of rice (300gr)
- 2 hand fulls of ruccola (arugula), badly chopped
- a little bit of a hard cheese, it can be gorgonzola or blue - very well chopped - I guess 2 big spoons of the cheese is ok, depends on your taste.
- 2 tea spoons of salt
- 2 tea spoons of basilicum, (and other spices, but not too much pepper as Italian food is not supposed to be spicy. Oregano is a nice option.)

Ok, now, how to do it:
1. In a saucepan, fry the onions in the butter until they are golden and smell good.
2. Add the tomatos (the fruit and the sundried ones), salt and basilicum and let them fry together until the (fruit) tomatos cook.
3. Add the rice (please do not wash it!) and steer well with a wooden spoon so it won't burn at the bottom. Leave it frying for a minute, then add 3 cups of hot water (to cover the rice and a bit over), let it boil a little bit. After, put the gas down until the rice cooks. Steer it sometimes, so it won't stick at the bottom.
4. Try if it the rice is cooked - if not, put more water, as you have to make sure there will be some sauce. Keep steering from time to time.
5. When the rice cooks, turn off the gas, put the ruccolla and the cheese on it.
6. Steer very well until everything is mixed. It should look colourful, with the red from the tomatoes and the green from the ruccola :), and sticky. When it comes to risotto, sticky is good!
6. Cover the pan for a minute to let it "rest" - that's what my grandmother says! - and it is ready to go!

Enjoy!!