Today I’m showcasing two recipes, but they’re both lentil soups. The first recipe uses a slow cooker, and it’s from my friend Reche. Reche and I met in high school, back in Saskatoon. We share a love of many things including teen movies, girl guiding, cookbooks, and shows with big, flashy, dancy production numbers.

She sent me this recipe for Spiced Lentil soup from the Rodale Recipe Finder.

Spiced Lentil soup
Serves 4

1 cup lentils rinsed (do not use green lentils) Use red or brown
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp black 1 tsp ground cumin
4 cups low-fat, low sodium chicken or vegetable broth

1 can (28 oz) stewed tomatoes
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 rib celery, chopped
3 bay leaves
3 tbsp curry power
1tsp ground coriander

Throw it in a slow cooker. Stir it to combine.
Cover. The directions said to cook on low 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours, but I ended up cooking mine on high for 7 hours. Discard bay leaves before serving.

I have discovered that I like my lentils a little more tender than most. I used green lentils, and I think they were a little too hard for this recipe. Reche says that brown or red are softer.

This soup is spicy and filling and makes a large quantity. I found that it was one of those soups that is better the next day. It had a great, spicy flavour.

Sadly, I forgot to take picture of it.

Last week was a busy week. I was at the Banff Centre for the Arts. While there, I completely restructured my novel, did some yoga, walked around the town and spent a lot of time talking with fellow writers. I also drove into Calgary to see Zadie Smith, my in-laws and my niece. The food at the Banff Centre was incredible and I did eat pulses while I was there, including wonderful black bean sloppy joes that I would like to make myself.

I got to see my friend Mike, who I have not seen for about 10 years. I also chatted with a ballet dancer and the technical director from Les Ballet Jazz in the hot tub at the Banff Centre. I agree with everyone who told me that heaven probably resembles the Banff Centre.

When I got home from the Banff Centre, I had to stock up on groceries, and make some soup. In case you haven’t guessed, I make soup A LOT.

This recipe is from my friend Kelly Robson, who I met in Vancouver. http://www.kellyrobson.com

Back around 2005, Kelly posted on Livejournal that she wanted to fill the Pacific theatre with folks for her 38th birthday. So she put an open call out to people who wanted to come watch the Buffy episodes “Once more with feeling” and “Hush”. You could pay a small donation to help cover the cost of the theatre rental. I took my friends Laura and Hanson along with me. We were in awe when the gay choir started warming up by singing, “Buffy” in scales. Kelly was so excited by all the people who came out that she hugged me and I’ve stayed in touch with her and her wife, Alyx Dellamonica, through social media ever since. Kelly and Alyx are both writers and they live in Toronto now.

(It occurs to me that the story of how I met Kelly and Alyx is pretty damn awesome. The meeting story I can think of that tops it is the meeting story of how I met my friend Tamara- we met while watching a goat get artificially inseminated).

Kelly sent me her brilliant creamy broccoli lentil soup recipe. It’s from Julie Daniluk’s website- http://www.juliedaniluk.com
I just poked around on the website and it looks like it has lots of good paleo recipes. Kelly tells me that this soup is very low calorie, so if you want to beef it up, you can add more parmesan cheese.

You’ll need a wand blender (immersion blender) for this one.

Creamy broccoli lentil soup

Makes 8 cups
1 tbsp olive oil
garlic
1 chopped onion
2 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalk, chopped
1 tbsp dried basil
3 cups chopped broccoli
¾ cup dried green lentils
5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
about 1 tsp dried chipotle (I got mine at the spice store near my house. Not sure how easy it is to find this. Maybe Bulk Barn??)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup over medium heat.
2. Add onions and garlic and saute for 3 minutes.
3. Add the carrots, celery, basil and chipotle and cook for a few minutes until the spices coat them nicely.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour covered.
6. Using a wand blender, puree until smooth. Garnish with green onions if desired. (I suppose you could puree this in a regular blender, but then you would be pouring really hot liquid and I don’t really advise this. Wand blenders are totally worth your money and they don’t take up a lot of space)