SmarterFitter Daily

This was bomb!! A combination of leftovers that were truly more than the sum of their parts:

The base was this Red Lentil Soup which is awesome on it's own. I added frozen spinach and leftover roast carrot and parsnip. THIS is how I will enjoy parsnip from now on - parsnip is a veg I often find too sweet at the best of times. But the spinach and lentils really mellowed them out. That and a good squeeze of lemon and solid dose of cayenne.

And yes, this was breakfast. Not sure if I'll ever go back to porridge or Bircher muesli after this. So much more satisfying and less cloyingly sweet or filling. Love.

I am feeling poorly today. I blame it on food poisoning. Regardless, I spent all of last night in the bathroom. I will not say any more than that.

So today I am left feeling absolute rubbish. Lethargic, tired, nausious, achy, with no desire to eat anything but vegetable broth and buttered toast. Having neither in the house, I set off to make my own - somehow, even in my sickest state, I can still manage to muster up the energy to cook.

The soup started with a batch of vegetable stock, adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, which basically entailed boiling the following for 30 minutes before straining: 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, a couple dried porchini mushrooms, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 6 cups water.

To make the soup, I looked at a few recipes for chicken noodle soup and then basically made that, but with veg stock and no chicken. So, not chicken noodle soup at all, but something simple and non-offensive to my iffy tummy.

Simple Noodle Soup

• Olive oil
• 2 sliced carrots
• 1 diced onion
• 2 sliced celery stalks
• 1 bay leaf
• 50 grams pasta
• A handful of chopped curly kale
• Enough vegetable stock to cover and then some

Method

1. Cook the pasta so that it's slightly undercooked
2. Saute the carrots, onions and celery in a bit of olive oil until soft
3. Add the vegetable stock, bay leaf and simmer for about ten minutes
4. Add the kale and pasta and boil a few more minutes
5. Serve!

Savoury breakfast. But where are the idliis?

Just about done with the leftovers from Saturday's Indian Feast.

Leftovers from Saturday's Indian Feast.

Recipe courtesy of mom. The only change I made was to add a bit of finely chopped curly kale.

SIMPLE, FLAVORFUL LENTIL SOUP

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, sliced thin
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• organic vegetable broth and water to cover ingredients at least 2"
• 1 lg can organic diced tomatoes
• 1 large bay leaf (I use the Indian variety)
• 1 bag green lentils
• 2 Tbsp (or to taste) cider vinegar
• salt
• pepper
• chopped parsley (optional)

Put everything into a large pot, except for vinegar.  Bring to boil and cook an hour or so covered.

When lentils are tender, add vinegar to taste.

You can also use balsamic vinegar or lemon juice to adjust the flavor slightly.

• Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter, banana and pear
• Lunch: Broccoli and split pea soup (a variation on 101 Cookbooks' Vegetarian Split Pea Soup where I simply added broccoli and blitzed the soup in the blender - really yummy)
• Dinner: Yes, it really is an omelet - with broccoli, tomato, red onion, garlic, parmesan, truffle oil and balsamic; served with salad, toast and avocado

• Breakfast: Bircher muesli with yogurt, blackberries and walnuts
• Lunch: Loaded omelet with red onion, broccoli, tomato, parmesan and balsamic; served with salad, toast and avocado
• Snack: Banana protein smoothie (consumed in the car en route to apple pressing)
• Dinner: Mexican Supperclub at the Vegetarian Cookery School in Bath. Amazing spread: homemade corn chips, salsa, sweetcorn soup, tamales, mole sauce, stuffed poblano peppers, ancho cream, homemade corn tortillas, refried black beans, tequila guacamole, sorbet, chocolate torte. 

• Breakfast: Toast with almond butter, bananas and apples (400 Calories)
• Snack: Plum, hot black tea with milk (55 Calories)
• Lunch: Pub lunch food bomb - fried whitebait and a two in one pie; small glass of Muscadet (460 Calories - very rough estimate)
• Dinner: Tomato soup with lots of raw veggies, kidney bean hummus, and sourdough bread; small glass of red wine (460 Calories)

My sister is here for a week and I took her out for lunch today on one of my restaurant review gigs at a pub that shall remain nameless.  While this may have been a perfect introduction to country pub life and British food, the meal was a bit of the disaster. Very few options for vegetarians. And everything seemed to come cried or laden in cream - even the "green salad" had a pile of mega creamy cole slaw on top. What the heck? 

We were not feeling our best selves after the meal, and so I very light dinner of the freshest food we could think of was in order: tomato soup (a Bittman recipe), lots of raw veggies and hummus, a bit of bread, it was the perfect thing. And a glass of red to celebrate her arrival.

Not a lot of time for exercise today, due to early airport pickup. But I think I could do with a rest anyway. Not going to panic!