Meatless Monday

So to change things up, I decided to start reviewing recipes from Pinterest. Regardless of how the recipe was written originally, ALL recipes will end up being gluten free :)

I hope this helps some of you to a) be able to convert some of those popular Pinterest recipes, and b) know what recipes are worth trying!

For "Meatless Monday" I decided to go with Lentil Soup. Warm, comforting, and extremely healthy, it's a great choice for a vegetarian meal. Here is the original recipe (first seen on Pinterest).

Lentil Soup

• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, with their juice
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed well
• 1 tablespoon wine vinegar (I omitted this)

Directions 

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, and bay leaf, and cook until vegetables begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes longer.
2. Add tomatoes with their liquid, breaking them up with a large spoon. Add water and lentils, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Just before serving, stir in vinegar.

I decided I should probably rate the recipes too. Why not, right? The ratings will be from 1-5 (5 being excellent) and it will be based on taste, sight, ease of recipe, and how kid-friendly it is. 

So how do I rate my first recipe? 5 for sure. The taste was wonderful; earthy and warm. It looked beautiful with all the colors of the vegetables mixed in with the lentils. It's a very easy recipe to recreate, and my kids gobbled it up! In fact, they both had seconds. 

Served with brown rice and a fresh salad, this makes a hearty and complete meal. Delish :)

Ramen

Such a comfort food for me. I pretty much survived on it through college (which probably explains why I felt SO SICK throughout my college days) and miss it so much sometimes. Not the msg, sodium, or wheat, though. Nope. Needed to come up with my own copycat recipe.

This was my first attempt and it was a good one. Not perfect, but good. Levi loved it :)

"Ramen"

8 oz. Rice noodles (I used pad thai style)
8 cups chicken broth (you could use vegetable)
1 Tbs. GF tamari sauce (or to taste)
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 Tbs. scallions, sliced
1/4 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
Sea salt to taste

Combine all ingredients except rice noodles in a pot. Bring to a boil. Add noodles and simmer for a few minutes until noodles are soft, about 3 minutes. Enjoy!

Potato Rolls

Yes, they were so good they deserve to title my post. I used this recipe and they turned out AMAZING! Soft, chewy, and absolutely beautiful! Here they are fresh from the oven:

We ate them with homemade chicken noodle soup. Levi is coming down with whatever bug I just got over, so I thought it would be appropriate :)

Levi helping me make the soup

Focused

Chicken Noodle Soup
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
8 cups water
1 bay leaf
2 chicken breasts
6 oz. noodles (approx.)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stockpot, heat a bit of olive oil and brown onion, celery, and carrots. When veggies are tender, add water, bay leaf and two chicken breasts (I used frozen this time). Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until chicken is fully cooked; about 30 minutes. Remove chicken breasts and shred with two forks. Return chicken to pot and bring broth to a slow boil. Add noodles, cover and simmer about 20 minutes until noodles are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Basic, easy recipe :)