German Cabbage Soup (Krautsuppe)

Alright, the pigging out has got to stop! I've been a naughty naughty thing and have eaten so much indulgent foods this holiday weekend. Pumpkin pies, apple tarts with cashew cream, biscotti, bread stuffing with mashed potatoes, gravy, potato chips and chocolate chocolate chocolate! I tell you there's nothing more satisfying than laying in bed watching a dvd with a bar of chocolate by your side. Trader Joe's dark chocolate truffle, Ritter Sport marzipan and Anassa orange marzipan with dark chocolate have been my friends.

So to start off healthier this week, I opened up my favorite cookbook 'Olive Trees and Honey' and made the German cabbage soup recipe. It's very simple: cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, onions, potatoes and veggie broth flavored with caraway seeds, salt and pepper. And it tastes so warm, comforting and very delicious. To make it heartier, I added about a 1/3 cup cooked rice to my bowl at lunch. I wouldn't mind having this every week.

Lentil & Vegetable Soup, Salad.

Lentil and vegetable soup. Recipe is based on the 'Lentil and Escarole Soup' recipe from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen cookbook but I made a few changes. I added a splash of red wine, a tsp. of red miso paste and used kale instead of escarole. It was very warm and hearty. This is my soup o' the week. I made a lot. To change things up, I mix in about 1/2 cup cooked rice to the bowl. It's even more filling that way.


Yummy salad with green leaf, spinach, carrots, cucumber, sliced apples, walnuts and a tahini based dressing.

Healthy Stuff.

Fresh fruit bowl for breakfast followed by a bowl of oatmeal (not pictured).


A big tupperware of red lentil soup. I know you're probably sick of seeing this soup. I make it all the time. I'm like a one trick pony when it comes to soup! I did make it a little different this time by adding chopped zucchini. I will be eating this every night this week. It's so good. Recipe is from Olive Trees & Honey.

Egyptian Lentil Soup

I'm so used to making lentil soup with split red lentils that I wanted a break from it to cook with brown lentils. I found the perfect recipe for egyptian lentil soup from a new cookbook I just acquired called 'Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa'. As most of you know, I love middle eastern flavors so this soup was right up my alley. It's dead simple but richly flavored with cumin, garlic, onions and lemon juice. The recipe requires an extra step at the end of adding fried onions as a garnish on top of the soup but I wanted to save my fat and calorie count. This is my soup o' the week and I'll be having it for dinner every day after work. Yum!

Spiced Mixed Bean Broth

I like to revamp food. Yesterday's bean salad leftovers was revamped into this delicious spicy and tangy bean soup flavored with cumin, turmeric, jalapeno, lemon juice and cilantro. The recipe is from a bargain cookbook I got at Borders called "500 Soup Recipes" and originally calls for black eyed peas. This is my soup o' the week.

Soup for the week and plans for the weekend.

You see this? This is approximately 8 cups of soup that I will be eating all week. It's the sephardic red lentil soup recipe from Olive Trees and Honey that I just absolutely love love love. I don't know if 8 cups of this is enough for the rest of the week to be honest!

Yesterday I had a day off and my two younger cousins visited me. We made a day of tea sandwiches, tea, cookies, chips and a Doctor Who marathon! Sorry, no pictures!

This saturday is my dad's 65th birthday party and I'm planning to make the following for my family: spanakopita (recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance), potato salad (Veganomicon's Prospect Park recipe), hummus and a three bean salad (kidney, white and fava). I'm also making Isa's cookies again because everyone loved them last time. All these treats shall keep my mind occupied until the weekend. I love to cook!

Raw Red Pepper Soup

Since I've been doing soups for the week, I figured it was about time to make a raw soup. I got this idea from a friend at work. We got some beautiful organic red bell peppers that we weren't using so we brought them home. I wanted to use them up before they spoiled so I whipped up this raw soup in my blender this morning. It's very flavorful and sweet from the peppers with a spicy kick from the jalapeno!

Raw Red Pepper Soup

2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 ribs celery, sliced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup raw unsalted cashews
2 tsp. red miso paste
2 TB chopped jalapeno (or more if you are so inclined)
2 TB olive oil
2 cups water
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed for a few minutes until completely smooth. You may top this soup with a raw salsa, avocado or fresh corn kernels for texture.

Sephardic Red Lentil Soup (with Kale)

Oh my this soup is good! It is so rich in flavor; it's earthy, tangy and just tasty! It's the Sephardic red lentil soup recipe from the coobook "Olive Trees and Honey" which happens to be one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks. Seriously, go buy it right now. I made a big pot of this soup which is flavored with garlic, onions, cumin, olive oil and lemon juice. Soooo good. I served some to my dad who ate it over rice (he eats everything over rice, even pasta!) and he loved it. I'll be happy to eat this soup all week. I added chopped kale at the end which gave the soup some texture as well as giving a little color.

White Bean and Kale Soup

I just had my last serving of Super Green Kale Soup that I made a few days ago. It was delicious and I went through it a lot quicker than I planned. So today I made another big pot of soup, this time a white bean, yam and kale soup. The recipe can be found online here. This soup is really flavorful with smoked paprika and curry powder and hearty from the beans and sweet yams. This should last me until the weekend, I hope!

Back on Track...

The month of March was really stressful for me with business slowing down and job hunting that I didn't stick with the healthy eating that I wanted to continue from my diet in February. I know for a fact I ate way too many potato chips, packaged cookies, lots of bread and not enough fresh vegetables and salads. I felt it in my body too. I felt sluggish, heavy and just not good at all. I'd like to get back on track to feeling good again. So back to fresh green smoothies in the morning, maybe some oatmeal and fruit, soup and salads for lunch and healthy dinners. I made a big batch of "Super Green Kale Soup" from Gillian McKeith's You Are What You Eat cookbook. I absolutely loved the soup when I was on her diet that I was more than happy to make it again.


I floated a dehydrated cheesy kale chip on top for decoration. The kale chips were from a batch that I brought home from work because they were less than perfect for packaging. (I work part time as a kitchen assistant at Rawk n Roll Cuisine) And sorry, I can not give out any recipes for the products we make there!


This was my dinner. A giant salad of green leaf, romaine, cabbage, tomato, mandarins and unsalted walnuts drizzled with sesame miso dressing (You Are What You Eat cookbook). It was filling and delicious. I'm feeling better already!