Fresh Cranberry Cake

Very refreshing
Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)
Ingredients:
- 4/3 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup margerine
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1/2 orange (optional)
- 4/3 cups all purpose flour
- 225 g fresg cranberries

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Line a 11x7 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
3. In a stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar for 7 minutes on medium speed until double in volume.
4. Add margerine, vanilla extract, and orange zest and beat for 2 more minutes.
5. Add the flour until just combined, and lastly add the cranberries, mix, and pour into the baking pan. The batter is a little thick, spread it with a spatula and flatten the top.
6. Bake for 45 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Comment:
This recipe does not contain baking powder, the volume is achieved by beating the eggs.

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Savory Cheese Loaf

Easy Cheesy Bread
Source: Adapted from The Bossy Kitchen

Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda (mixed with 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice)
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup egg whites (or 1 egg)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Optional:
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp parsley flakes
- 1 tsp red pepper jelly

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Grease or line with parchment paper a loaf pan.
3. Mix all ingredients with a spoon and pour into the loaf pan.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cool before eating. Great with soup or salad or coffee or just as a snack. Bon Appetit! Nothing more to say.

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Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Got too much mayonnaise?

Taste: 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Source: adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

For the cake:

- 1 1/4 cups milk

- 1 cup mayonnaise

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 cup sugar

- 3 Tbsp baking cocoa

- 2 tsp baking soda

- 2 Tbsp apple cider or white vinegar 

For the frosting

- 4 Tbsp sugar

- 4 Tbsp cocoa

- 4 Tbsp sour cream

- 4 Tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well until blended. Before adding the baking soda, mix it with the vinegar until bubbly. 

2. Pour into a greased 9-in. square or 11x7-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

3. For frosting, in a small saucepan, cook all ingredients on low heat mixing freaquently until fully combined. 

4. Spread warm or cooled the frosting on top of a chilled cake. 

Afterthoughts:

- Very nice texture, moist and not too sweet. 

- Does not contain eggs.

- Freezes well.

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Salted Cabbage (Sauerkraut)

Cabbage, salt and water - super healthy and tasty
Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 2 (out of 5)
Source: Trial and error

Ingredients:
- 1 small-medium green cabbage (3-4 lbs)
- 2 tbsp salt
- 2 litres of boiled water cooled to room temperature

Directions:
1. Wash the cabbage, the hands, a 4l (1 gallon) glass jar and a large bowl.
2. Finely shred the cabbage (in a food processor or by hand)
3. In a large bawl, add salt to shredded cabbage and mix with your hands, gently squeezing the cabbage. It should soften, but not get too runny.
4. Transfer the cabbage into the glass jar, and add chilled boiled water, just enough to cover the cabbage. You will probably need much less than 2 litres.
5. Loosely cover the jar with the lid, but don't tighten it, you need air flow in the jar.
6. Leave the jar outside at room temperature.
7. Every day, open the jar, use a wooden spatula with a long handle to poke wholes in the cabbage to let the gasses from the bottom escape. Press the cabbage so that it stays submerged under the water and loosely cover with the lid again.
8. Taste your sauerkraut every day, until it reaches the level of doneness that you like. In my case it took 2 days, but it would depend on the temperature in your house.
9. Once the sauerkraut is ready, tighten the lid and keep it in the fridge.

Afterthoughts:
Many recipes use vinegar, oil, sugar or other spices. I think with salt alone it turns out the best, not only calorie and health-wise, but primarily taste-wise.

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Simple Fruit Cake

Only 5 minutes to make, and 45 to bake
Taste: 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)
Source: My mom

Ingredients:
- 100 g sugar
- 125 g margarine (+ a pinch of salt if using unsalted margarine or unsalted butter)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (160 g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 granny smith apple, peeled and sliced
Serves 8

Directions:
1. Beat margarine with sugar with a whisk or in a mixer.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
3. Grease a 9 inch pie pan, and spread the dough.
4. Add the fruit on top and gently press them in, just a little. In my case I added Granny Smith apples, but you can use plums, peaches apricots or other fruit.
5. Sprinkle the top with 1 tbsp of sugar. You can also add cinnamon or use vanilla sugar.
6. Bake in an oven preheated to 350F for 40-50 minutes. Check readiness with a toothpick.

Afterthoughts:
The top should be light golden, don't wait for golden brown - the cake might get too dry.

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Mochi Cake

Cake from mochiko - if making real mochi is too intimidating

Taste: 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 13.5 oz can of coconut milk
- 3 cups mochiko flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Topping: ½ cup Toasted unsweetened coconut, tossed with 1 tbsp sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 9x13 inch baking sheet with cooking spray
2. Whisk together sugar, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla and coconut milk until combined. Add mocha flour and baking powder and fold using using a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish.
3. Bake for 35 minutes, until lightly golden at the top and cool in the pan.
4. After the first 20 minutes, remove the cake from the oven and sprinkle the sugared coconut on top of the cake. Keep baking for 15 more minutes until fully cooked.
5. After bars are slight cooled, add a dusting of coconut flakes on top.

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Buttermilk Pie Bars

Custardy, light and super easy to make
Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 2 (out of 5)

Source: adapted from here and there

Ingredients:
For the crust
- 150 g animal crackers
- 1/3 cup (70 g) butter, melted
For the filling
- 4 Tbsp flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange extract (or lemon extract, or omit)

Instructions:
1. Grease a 5'x7' pyrex pan and preheat the oven to 350F
2. Place the crackers in a food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs
3. Pour melted butter into cracker crumbs, mix well, and spread to cover the bottom of the pyrex pan
4. Mix all the filling ingredients and pour over the crumb base
5. Bake for 55 minutes or until the top is light golden and the pie is still soft but no longer liquid.

Afterthoughts:
- This was a really easy recipe and worked very well the first time around. But I used 1 1/2 cups of sugar and the aftertaste in the mouth was a bit too sweet. So I will cut the sugar to 1 cup next time.
- Might be wise to check the pie after 40 minutes or so depending on the oven.

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Salted Cucumber Pickles (NO Vinegar)

If you don't like the taste of vinegar in your pickles 
Taste: 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)
Source: trial and error

Ingredients:
- 1 kg / 2 lbs of cucumbers
- 1 liter / 4 cups of boiling water
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp dill flakes
- 1 tbsp whole mustard seeds or 1/2 tbsp mustard powder
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- a dash of cayenne
- 4-5 bay leaves

Instructions:
1. Leave cucumbers in cold water for 1-2 hours (this is supposed to keep them crispy).
2. Boil 1 liter of water and mix in all spices except bay leaves. While cucumbers are soaked in cold water, let the boiled water with spices cool down.
3. Cut off the tips of the cucumbers. Place cucumbers in a 2 liter / half gallon glass jar and pour the chilled water with spices over them so that all cucumbers are covered. Place bay leaves on top.
4. Loosely cover the jar with the lid and Let ferment for 1 to 3 days at room temperature. Taste the cucumbers at the end of each day. The longer they stay out the saltier they become. For me one day is usually enough.
5. When the cucumbers reach desired degree of saltiness, close the lid and refrigerate. They will keep in the fridge for months.

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Bok Choy Soup

Delicious, healthy, easy and practically calorie free

Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)
Source: trial and error (actually, success the first time around)

Ingredients:
- 2 lbs bok choy
- 2 liters / 8 cups water
- 1 tbsp miso paste
- 1 tbsp Better than Bouillon Beef soup base (or another soup base, or another tbsp of miso)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- yogurt to add to the finished soup as desired (optional)

Directions:
1. Wash the bok choy, add to a big pot with cold water and bring to a boil.
2. Place the softened bok choy with some of the water, the miso, the soup base and the spices into a blender and blend until uniform. (I actually don't add turmeric to the blender to avoid coloring the blender. I add turmeric once I return the pureed bok choy to the pot).
3. Return the bok choy to the pot (add the turmeric, if you haven't yet), bring to boil and keep simmering on medium high heat for another 10-15 minutes.
4. Serve with yogurt (1 tbsp for 2 cups of soup feels perfect to me).
5. Additional serving options: croutons, bacon, crumbled dried seaweed, sesame seeds, or whatever you like adding to your soup.

Afterthoughts:
I am not a big fan of soups or of bok choy. This soup was first made on a cold winter detox day to save calories (because bok choy has only 13 calories per 100 g). But it turned out surprisingly tasty. I made it many times since. It turns out bok choy is some kind of underappreciated super food with lots of nutrients. You can google it to feel even better about using it in your recipes. But this recipe does not really need external motivation - it simply tastes great!

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Hot Milk Cake

Soft moist rich custardy cake, pretty fun to make
Source: slightly modified from Taste of Home
Difficulty: 2 (out of 5)
Taste: 5 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups of sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsp of baking powder
- 1 1/4 cups of milk
- 140 g of butter or margarine, cubed
Total: 16 servings (9x13 inch pan)

Directions:
1. Beat the eggs on high-speed for 5-6 minutes, add the sugar and the vanilla extract and continue beating for another 2-3 minutes on high.
2. Mix the flour and baking powder, and gradually add to the eggs with the mixer on low speed, until just incorporated.
3. Heat the milk and the butter on medium heat until the butter melts. Gradually add to the eggs and flour continuing mixing on medium speed.
4. Grease a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 35 to 50 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
5. Let the cake cool before serving. Nice to serve with whipped or custard cream and fruit.

Afterthoughts:
This is a very soft, moist cake. The original recipe had 2 cups of sugar, and I think that turned out a bit too sweet, so I will try 1.5 cups next time, as listed here.

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Banana Bread Muffins

Really simple recipe, moist and fluffy muffins, great way to use those old black bananas
Source: family recipe
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)
Taste: 5 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 50 g margarine, melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda (pour 1 tsp lemon extract or vinegar over the soda and mix until all bubbles up, to prevent soda taste)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp milk
- 2 bananas, smashed with a fork
Total: 6 muffins

Directions:
1. Mix eggs, sugar, salt, margarine, milk, flour, baking powder, and bananas (in that order). You can do all the mixing with the same fork you used to smash the bananas. No need for a mixer here.
2. Pour into 6 muffin tins (I used silicon, this way there is no need to line them or oil them). Bake for 30 minutes in an over preheated to 350F (or 380 for my oven - it wants to feel special).
3. Let the muffins cool before removing from the muffin tins.

Afterthoughts:
- These are very moist, light and not overly sweet. Great for breakfast or snack or picnic.
- The prep is less than 10 minutes. The longest part is pouring the batter into the muffin tins.
- They also freeze really well.
- If you double the recipe, you can use a 9x13 inches baking pan.

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Cream of Roasted Tomato soup

Creamy tomato soup - great cold or hot 
Source: Adapted from Ina Garten's Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup

Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 6-7 large tomatoes, unpeeled
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 2 chopped onions
- 2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped or minced
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp frozen or 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil leaves
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 cup milk
Total: 6 servings

Directions:
1. Roast tomatoes under broiler on High for 15 minutes. Let cool a little and peel off the skin. It should come off easily.
2. Heat the pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender.
4. Add the milk to the soup and process it in a food processor until smooth and creamy.

Afterthoughts:
Delicious soup. No further comments.

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Cake Louise

Crumbly base, raspberry jam and coconut meringue
Source: Adapted from Chelsea Sugar

Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 2 (out of 5) - very long process

Ingredients:
For the base:
- 125g butter, softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
For the topping:
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup long thread coconut
- 1/2 cup raspberry jam
Total: 12 servings, 2760 calories, 230 cal / serving

Directions:
1. Grease a 9x13 inches baking pan, and preheat oven to 340F.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in one egg yolk at a time.
4. Add the flour and the baking powder.
5. Mix until the batter has a texture of breadcrumbs. Pour into the baking pan, distribute evenly and press slightly. and bake for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from the over and the let the base cool at room temperature for 5 minutes.
7. Increase the over temperature to 350F.
8. While the base cools down, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Gradually add the sugar, add vanilla at the end. The mixture should be glossy.
9. Gently fold in the coconut.
10. Spread the raspberry jam over the base, then spread the egg whites on top.
11. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the meringue starts turning golden.
12. Cool to room temperature before cutting.

Afterthoughts:
- This is a wonderful cake, good for breakfast and dessert. I've made it lots and lots of times. As dessert can be even better if served with ice cream.
- The original recipe was way to sweet for me and had too much coconut which made the meringue too heavy and soggy.
- If you store this cake in the fridge, the base becomes soggy. If you store it outside in an air tight container the base will remain crumbly. For me storage is not the problem, restricting the consumption is.

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Sayur Lemak - Vegetables in coconut cream

Simple Malaysian vegetable stew in a creamy coconut sauce.
Source: Inspired by LinsFood

Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)
Taste: 5 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
For the paste:
- 1 onion
- 30 g ginger
- 20 g lemon grass
- 10 g galangal
- 3 Tbsp shrimp paste
- 1 tsp sambal oelek
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
The rest of the ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp coconut or vegetable oil
- 250 g cabbage
- 250 g Normandy mix
- 250 g okra
- 100 g carrots
- 150 g French beans
- 150 g eggplants
- 400 ml coconut drink or water
- 200 ml coconut cream
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 8 kafir lime leaves
Total: 6 servings, about 1600 g, 1090 cal, 182 cal / serving

Directions:
1. Blend all paste ingredients until uniform (Vitamix comes very handy here.)
2. Chop the vegetables, the finer the faster they will cook, but in this recipe the size does not really matter.
3. Preheat the oil in a large, preferably non-stick, pot on a medium high heat and saute the paste until fragrant, for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the chopped vegetables, stir well, add the rest of the ingredients, stir again and bring to boil on high heat steering from time to time.Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and let simmer for another 15 minutes, stirring from time to time.
5. Serve with rice.

Afterthoughts:
- I tried several sayur kemak recipes and was not quite satisfied with any of them, but this one is clearly the winner. I think it's even tastier than my beloved sayur lemak from Banana Leaf, a great Malaysian restaurant in Vancouver.
- I usually eat very mild food, so if you want something spicy, you might want to add more sambal oelek. For me this turned out just right.
- You can use a variety of vegetables, and can also add tofu and shrimps to this recipe. It will be all good as long as you stick to the main paste ingredients, and add enough coconut cream ;-).
- It's almost vegetarian, except for the shrimp paste. I don't really know what would be the substitute.

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Simple Loaf Cake

Simple base recipe. Makes a perfect loaf cake every time. Add more flavours and ingredients as you like.
Source: a friend

Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)
Taste: 5 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 200 g salted margarine
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tbsp lemon concentrate
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp rum
Total: 2 loaf cakes, 560 g each, 5300 calories, 20 servings, 265 calorie / serving of 55g

Directions:
1. Beat the margarine and the sugar until uniform and light (3-5 minutes in a stand mixer on medium speed).
2. Continue beating and add remaining ingredients in the order listed.
3. Divide the batter equally among 2 loaf pans (greased or lined with parchment paper). In my case each pan with batter weights about 940g.
4. Bake in an oven preheated to 350F for about 40-50 minutes until the loafs are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. The ovens may vary. In my oven I bake at 375F for 45 minutes.
5. Let the cake cool to room temperature before eating. If you want to store the cake, slice it, lay out individual slices on a baking sheet and freeze (if you freeze them together, they will stick to each other and will be hard to separate). Take out the slices as needed and defrost at room temperature for 15-30 minutes or in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or overnight. Freezing only adds moisture to the cake.

Afterthoughts:
- I've been making this cake for years, it's a really fail-proof recipe, and requires very simple ingredients that are pretty much always on hand.
- If you have self rising flour, skip the baking powder and the baking soda.
- You can add cranberries or raisins, walnuts, chocolate chips or apples (about 100g of each.) Of coarse, not all at once, or the cake will not rise. If you are adding these, you might need to increase the baking times.
- You can also add vanilla essence or mango / lychee, orange, etc., about 1/2 tbsp.

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Cassava Cake

Flourless custardy cake with amazing tropical flavors
Source: adapted from AllRecipes
Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 1 package / 1 lb / 2 cups frozen grated cassava, thawed
- 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 eggs
Total: 12 servings

Directions:
1. Reserve 2 tbsp. of condensed milk and 2 tbsp. of coconut milk and mix them together.
2. Mix all ingredients in a large blender (about 30 seconds on power 10 in a Vitamix.)
3. Preheat the oven to 350F (or 375F for my oven - it likes special attention.)
4. Grease a 6x9 inch baking dish with coconut oil (not sure this step is really needed, but just in case.) Or if using a smaller dish, you can pour some of the dough into individual serving ramekins and have more variety.
5. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Your oven might be more agile than mine, so I would check after 1 hour, if the cake looks golden brown and seems to have solidified, you are ready for the next step.
6. Remove the cake from the oven, pour the mixture of condensed and coconut milk over the cake and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.
7. With the cake in the oven, turn the broiler on high for about 2 minutes until the top caramelizes.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. Chill completely in the refrigerator.

Afterthoughts:
- Tres leches cake with cassava and coconut. Perfect with ice cream.
- I thought it would be too liquid, but it turned out moist and just right. The only thing is: it separated into 2 layers with some cream accumulated in the middle. I suspect it's because I poured the extra liquids towards the end. Probably the top was still unbaked but the bottom solidified and the milk could not penetrate it. Maybe I will skip the step of adding milk towards the end next time to see what happens.

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Vitamix Carrot Soup

Good for your eyes, heart and diet
Source: a successful experiment after several trials and errors

Taste: 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
1 lb / 420 g carrots
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp onion flakes
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp better than bullion beef stock (optional)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Total: 3 servings

Directions:
1. Wash the carrots and cut in half lengthwise. Place on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and roast in an oven preheated to 400F for 40 minutes. You can prepare more carrots and freeze them for later use.
2. Place all the ingredients in a Vitamix blender. Start on slow, increase the speed and move to High power setting. Blend the soup for 6-10 minutes, until you see steam coming out.

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Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Green and healthy 
Source: Adapted from a Costco recipe by chef Phil Joy

Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 1 kg / 2.2 lbs of Brussels sprouts
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- juice of 1 lemon (optional)
- 2 medium tomatoes (optional)
Total: 8 servings

Directions:
1. Wash the Brussels sprouts, cut off the root ends and make a small cut through the middle of the root to allow for even heating.
2. Place the Brussels sprouts in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix well.
3. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, pour the Brussels sprouts and bake at 400F for 35-40 minutes.
4. If you wish to add the tomatoes and / or the lemon juice, skin and seed the tomatoes, and chop into 1/4 inch cubes. 10 minutes before the Brussels sprouts are done, take the baking sheet out of the oven, toss the Brussels sprouts, add the tomatoes and drizzle with lemon juice, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.

Afterthoughts:
- Really nice recipe, it takes a little time to cut the roots of all the small Brussels sprouts, but you can treat it as your zen meditation of the day.
- Don't use Hawaiian sea salt, it turns out really salty, maybe because of the large grains. Use finer salt for this recipe.
- One more option is sprinkling with grated cheese and placing under the broiler for another 2 minutes.

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Lentil Soup

Simple and simply delicious
Source: improvised

Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 3 cups red lentils
- 6 cups / 1 1/2 l water
- 3 inches of ginger (or 3 frozen ginger cubes)
- 1 large potato
- 1 large carrot
- 1 tbsp onion flakes
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp black pepper
- 1 cup chopped parsley or cilantro
- juice of 1 lime
Total: 8 servings


Directions:
1. Wash the carrot, the potato, the ginger and the tomato (no need to peel). Peel the garlic cloves. Place the vegetables with the onion flakes into your Vitamix(or another blender), add 1 cup of water and process on High setting for about 15 seconds until the ingredients are finely ground.
2. In a large pot add the vegetable mix to the remaining water and the lentils and bring to boil on high heat. Stir.
3. When the soup boils, add salt, pepper, cumin and turmeric, reduce heat to medium low and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.
4. Right before serving, add chopped cilantro and juice of 1 lime.

Afterthoughts:
Great soup, I make it all the time. If you want, make it thicker and serve as dahl over rice. Can also use fresh onion or tomato paste.

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Freezer Ginger Squares

Ready, peeled, ground and portioned ginger whenever you need it
Source: improvised

Taste: Not applicable
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
Ginger root, as much as you want

Directions:
1. Wash and peel the ginger root, and cut into 1/2 inch slices.
2. Place the ginger into your Vitamix (or another very strong) blender. Start on low setting, increase speed from 0 to 5, use the tamper if large chunks of ginger get stuck. When the mixture is more or less uniform, increase the speed to 10, then set it to High and let process for another 15 seconds.
3. Line a small shallow freezer-safe dish (I use a plastic cover of a Pyrex) with parchment paper, and scoop out the ground ginger onto the dish. Flatten the ginger puree with a spatula, and freeze for about 2 hours.
4. Remove the ginger from the freezer, flip the ginger onto a cutting board, peel off the paper, and cut the ginger into squares. Place the squares into a freezer bag and freezer until required.

Afterthoughts:
I love this method and use it with lots of herbs and spices: lemongrass, roasted garlic, parsley, basil, you name it. It is particularly great for highly perishable herbs. For ginger, it saves you a lot of time: you do all the peeling, the grinding and the washing once every couple of months, and have freshly ground ginger whenever you need it in a second.

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