Stew

During this time of year, there isn't much better than a nice pot of stew. I've made a couple new ones in the last week, and I thought I'd share. The first one is from a recipe I saw in the December '08 issue of Cooking Light. It's an Ethiopian lentil and edamame stew. It's really easy to make, and definitely has a flavor that would strike most people as totally different than anything they've ever tasted. It has a decent amount of lemon juice in it, which gives it a nice tang. Plus, the combination of cumin, cinnamon, cloves and fresh mint give it a really great flavor. To go with it, I made the Injera bread (using teff flour) from the same issue. It was also very different. Very much like a savory pancake. Probably more similar to a buckwheat cake which have that tad of sourness. (I subbed the Better Than Sour Cream for the yogurt.) It is definitley a meal I'll make again.

I also made a soup from a recipe on the blog of our local natural foods co-op. It's a vegetable soup with lentils, chickpeas and an interesting grain called kamut. The kamut is sort of like a cross between brown rice and wheatberries. It's really chewy and hearty. This soup was perfect for the bone chilling cold we were experiencing late last week. It would also be a good, healthy soup to make if you're suffering a cold or the flu. It's broth-y enough to be very soothing to your throat, and hearty enough to provide some healthy nutrition.

Not really a stew, but it's awfully close. A long, long time ago I made this recipe from Carrie's blog. It's a Thai curry with udon dish. I made it less broth-y this time so it would be easier to eat. These noodles are quite spicy, and if you need your sinuses cleared, this will take care of it!

I also made some really, really good scones this week. I didn't take a photo, though. They're the Ginger-Scented Date and Cashew Scones from Vegan Planet. We got the Vegan Planet cookbook as a Christmas gift. So far, so good! It's a huge cookbook too, and I look forward to making some new recipes from it.