Showing posts with label another lovely dinner party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label another lovely dinner party. Show all posts

Thursday, December 08, 2016

Many days long + new wonderful (vegan!) soup























Whew! Another week is closing in.
Monday I managed to get the Christmas tree up + other decorations.
Tuesday I went to liturgy for St. Nicholas day (new calendar),
went grocery shopping, came home, had food,
got more groceries delivered, and finished setting up the house for Christmas,
set the table for our special 4 person dinner party,
made a pasta dish 
(EVO with mushrooms, baby bok choy, broccoli, lots of garlic, tomato)
and this soup.
****
The recipe is as follows:
.... Vegans - you can easily make this vegan by using coconut or olive oil in place of the butter called for.

1 cup / 7 oz / 200g yellow split peas
1 cup 7 oz / 200g red split lentils (masoor dal)
7 cups / 1.6 liters water
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons butter or ghee
8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced
1/3 cup / 1.5 oz / 45g golden raisins
1/3 / 80 ml cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
one small handful cilantro, chopped

cooked brown rice or farro, for serving (optional)

Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse - until they no longer put off murky water. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful though, you don't want to burn the curry powder, just toast it. Set aside. Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like. Or simmer longer for a thicker consistency. The thicker this soup got, the more I liked it.

I've been enjoying big ladles of this soup over ~1/2 cup of warm farro (leftover from this Farro & Bean Stew) - brown rice was good as well. Sprinkle each bowl generously with cilantro and the remaining green onions.

Serves 6.

Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 35 min" 

***
This soup is great! 
This soup takes at least an hour, as it says 30 minutes simmer and then later 20 minutes.
I crossed out what I did not do in the recipe above.
I did mix the curry powder (I did not measure but should of put in a lot more) with coconut oil,
then sauted the rest of the ingredients, adding the tomato paste at the end.  I put this all into the soup,
adding the coconut oil at the same time. 
***
It was a lovely meal with great and meaningful conversations,
many books discussed and looked at, 
it was all so very lovely.
We all have very busy and intense lives and to take time out of it
for a meal like this was a real treasure!
***
I hope this week has had some beautiful moments for you as well.


Friday, August 19, 2016

Time with our dear friends and our goddaughter












We had such an enjoyable time.
The meal was as follows: 

Fast Friendly Delicacies :)

Salad
Fruit salad
Nuts
hummus, pita
avocado 
guacamole and chips 
yellow / red / green peppers
tomatoes
watermelon
strawberries, oranges, pineapple and banana salad
blessed grapes
shrimp roll with cocktail sauce
Dates
Indian Junk Food :)
Nuts
lemon water
Still water
***
I had great fun playing with my goddaughter who
loved the IKEA 'bang the coloured pegs down' toy!
I read to her, we gave her a beautiful icon of her Guardian Angel from
Holy Dormition Monastery, which I forgot to photograph...
Another special memory was carrying her downstairs (we live on the second floor)
and singing to her...
***
It was so delightful to see our old dear friends...
***
I am in a really busy time of year already now,
I wanted to mention,
so if I don't blog as much,
it's not that I am unwell,
just busy and figuring out when to do what.
***
I am glad I got a moment to capture this evening, that was
a week ago tomorrow!

Friday, November 28, 2014

{Hospitality at Home} ~ Thanksgiving Dinner

We had dear friends of ours over for dinner!


Since it was a small dinner party,
we roasted a Chicken instead of a turkey! 


Yummy salad from our guest,
homemade cranberry sauce, organic apple sauce, 
hot apple cider.


Raw and cooked broccoli, feta cheese, green salad.


Water, Sweet Potatoes...


Raw carrots, stuffing, goat cheese, cran-raisins, 


Sweet potato with cranberries.


The Chicken! 


Mashed potatoes...


A lovely meal...


OJ and honey glazed carrots...
*
We have a lot to be thankful for! 
It was a beautiful Thanksgiving Day!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

A small dinner party


Mr. Husband and I were delighted
to have a dear friend visit for dinner!


She brought wonderful red wine!


Meal:
Roast Drunken Chicken
Mr. Husband's parents canned green beans
salad
orange heirloom tomatoes
cranberries and goat cheese for salad
Gravy of pure strained chicken juices
Water, oil for dressing, basmati rice.



Dessert...


 Mint Tea & 
Juniors Cheesecake.



 It was a really lovely time!

Monday, July 28, 2014

A lovely meal and dinner party

Last Thursday we have a lovely
dinner party with our good friends and
Mr. Husband's parents.
*
Tricks to serving included having warm food covered
until the last minute.
*
I love using the blue and white dishes
and mis-matching them!



Meal:

My friend's delicious leek soup.
I must get the recipe!!!
Also...
Drunken chicken recipe for the roast chicken ~ 
this was done in my large crock pot for 7 hours on low
and then in the oven at 425F for 30 minutes.
Carrots cooked in slow cooker under the chicken.
Gravy made with butter, flour and juice from crock pot.
Also raw carrots, basmati rice &
a green salad with goat cheese and cranraisens.








It was a lovely meal!


I just love the soup tureen for serving!




Apricot Torte for dessert with
french vanilla ice cream and vanilla bean gelato.
*
It was a lovely time of eating a great meal,