Green lentil soup...

This is a really simple soup that is tasty and also good for you. It is packed with protein that makes it go well with sandwiches and pizza. I usually make this soup when we have pizza for dinner. It freezes well. If I have the ingredients, I make a big batch and freeze the rest.

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups of dry green lentils
2 teaspoons of salt
2 hand fulls of small pasta (orzo or similar)
1/2 lemon juice
Water

You need to start with putting the green lentils into a pan and filling it with water. I would fill the pan 1 inch more than where the lentils are. Then, add 2 teaspoons of salt. Boil the lentils and let it simmer for 30 minutes in low heat. If the water is not enough, add more hot water to it. Then strain the lentils and let it sit until you cook the onions.

Cook the chopped onion with the olive oil until the onions are soft. Then add the lentils and 6 cups of water.

Let it simmer for 20 minutes, more if the lentils are still not tender. Then, add two hand fulls of pasta to the soup and salt it to taste. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and let it sit for a while before you serve it...

If the soup is too thick for your taste, you can always add more water and let is simmer a little more...
Enjoy...

Chili...

I have had this chili recipe for a long time and it turns out good every time.
I know a lot of people do not like putting a lot of beans and veggies in chili but I like to do that so that it would be a meal that has all of the nutrition. This is how I eat it (on top of roasted potatoes and broccoli) and I will explain how everybody in our family eats it in a different way...

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil (I use sunflower oil)
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 bunch of celery, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 pounds of beef (I use a mix of beef and turkey)
1 large can (16oz) peeled and cut up tomatoes (with it's juice)
1.5 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 cans of black beans
1 can of corn
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder (not spicy)
1 teaspoon cocoa
salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Chop the onions and cook them in oil until they are glossy...

Then add the chopped red peppers and let them cook for a while...

Don't you love the colors? So pretty...
Then add the meat and let it look until there is no juice left in the pan, stirring occasionally.

Slice the celery stalks and chop them up to the same size as the peppers and onions.

Add them to the meat mixture...

Add all the spices, tomato paste, and can tomatoes.

Then you need to let it simmer in low heat for 2 hours. You can do this in the slow cooker. You can go read a good book, watch a show, work out, whatever you would like. After two hours, add the drained black beans and corn and let it simmer for another hour.

This recipe makes a lot of chili...
Chopping veggies is a little bit of work but it makes two meals for us. We eat half in one meal and I put the other half to the freezer. It freezes very well.

I like to serve chili with roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli. Everyone in our family has a different style. I heap the roasted potatoes and broccoli mix on my plate and top it with chili and cheese. Then I eat it with chips. (Now it sounds horrible, but it is very good)

Korman eats them all separately; chili in a bowl and potatoes and broccoli on the side.
Sude eats it with chips... She piles broccoli and chili on a chip and eats it that way.
Do not ask me why...
I will not argue with them as long as they eat it all.

Wedding soup

This is a traditional Turkish soup that is made in every home one way or another. I loved this soup when I was a kid and now my kids love it, especially my son. Sometimes I make this soup and my kids have it as a snack after school.

Ingredients:
3 cups of chicken broth
3 cups of water
1/4 cup rice
1 egg
4 tablespoons of plain yogurt
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon sunflower oil (or vegetable, corn, etc)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon dry mint

Put water and chicken broth in a pan, add the rice and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
On a separate bowl, mix egg, flour and plain yogurt. This will be a thick mixture. Add 1/4 cup of water to it to make it a little more runny.
You cannot just add this mixture to hot water mixture, it will lump. That's why you need to make the yogurt mixture warmer by adding few scoops (I use the spoon that I use to mix the soup) of the boiling water/broth mixture. Then you take one scoop from the yogurt mixture and add it to the soup and take another from the soup and add it to the yogurt mixture. This way, slowly you mix the yogurt mixture to the soup. (There is a cooking term for this but i cannot remember it. I looked in the Web but no luck...)
After you mix the yogurt mixture to the water totally, let the soup simmer for another minute or two. Take it off the heat.
On a separate small pan, melt butter, add the sunflower oil. Then add dried mint. Let it bubble from the sides. Make sure it does nor burn. Mix the butter/mint mixture to the soup and let it is for 30 minutes or so. You can serve it right away but it is usually better if it waits a little bit...