Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes ♥

Today's easy veg(etari)an recipe for the slow cooker: Sloppy joes made with lentils instead of ground beef. Beautifully seasoned with pantry ingredients. Just a little bit spicy, easy to make it even spicier. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1.5/3 points. Not just vegetarian but vegan and not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

I l-o-v-e food blogs. If truth be told, I follow hundreds a few posts at a sit-down, really reading, stopping to appreciate the photos, the stories, the curiosity and the expertise, the response of the community and yes, the recipes too. Following my fellow local St. Louis food bloggers is especially cool. I've met many face-to-face so catching the inside bits about special ingredients, shopping finds, neighborhood doings, life changes, it's like the best jigsaw puzzle. Our St. Louis food blogger Facebook page is less puzzle, more dutiful reporting of recent recipes. Most slip by but the idea of sloppy joes made with lentils instead of meat really caught my attention. Our friends Denise and Craig are omnivores but actively hunt out meatless main dishes. When Denise called her experiment with vegetarian sloppy joes "THE" best vegetarian dinner for a carnivore, I knew that sooner than later, I'd be turning hot lentils into buns.

Call me glad I did! Regular readers know that slow cookers, tastewise, often disappoint me. NOT HERE! The lentils and seasonings both stand up to the heat, the flavor is great, the texture is great, the combination is wonderful. And meaty brown lentils really do mimic the traditional texture of sloppy joes, you won't "fool" a carnivore but these are excellent.
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Kale Salad To-Go with Avocado & Apple ♥

Today's kale salad recipe: A salad that's perfect for an on-the-go healthy lifestyle. Make it ahead of time, then carry it along to work or outdoor activities. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 or 2 point. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

My name is Alanna "Procrastinator" Kellogg. At least it should be. Last year, a reader (hi, Kathleen Houlihan!) forwarded a favorite recipe for a raw kale salad, one she knew I'd like. But even though the recipe did appeal, muchly! it took me a year, to the day, to make her salad. (Why? No good reason, did I mention that my name is Alanna "Procrastinator" Kellogg?) Back to the salad.

When Kathleen googled recipes for massaged kale salads, she wrote, all seemed to use a separate dressing. In this one, she explained, "You squeeze lemon juice on the kale and then massage in avocado, that makes the dressing. Then you can add apple, nuts, etc. and let it all sit overnight to soften. Keeps a couple more days."

I really liked this kale, especially since it was as good to go on Day Two and Day Three as Day One. I have the idea that it might become a go-to "real food" Medifast small meal once I move into maintenance. (Getting close, down 27 yesterday! See Why I Switched from Weight Watchers to Medifast.)
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Two-Can Ten-Minute Homemade Tomato Soup ♥ Quick Recipe

Today's easy homemade soup recipe: Tomato soup made from scratch in just ten minutes. No "weird" ingredients like canned tomato soup and lower in calories, too.

So I suspect that purists won't consider this homemade soup. After all, I didn't till the soil to grow the tomatoes and I certainly didn't toil over a hot stove canning summer tomatoes, all to toss together an easy, steaming bowl of tomato soup during the cold and damp of a Midwestern winter.

But here's why for me, Two-Can Ten-Minute Homemade Tomato Soup not only qualifies, it rocks. Let's look at the ingredient lists.

Diced Tomatoes: Tomatoes.*
Tomato Sauce: Tomato Concentrate, Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Dried Bell Pepper.*
* Caveat: It took careful examination of several labels to find diced tomatoes and tomato sauce without sugar.

versus

Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup (Australia**): Tomato Puree, Sugar, Onions, Modified Tapioca Starch, Salt, Garlic, Acidity Regulator, Natural Flavors, Xanthum Gum, Natural Food Color, Herbs, Spices.
Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup (United States**): Tomato Puree, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Wheat Flour, Water, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Flavoring, Citric Acid, Sea Salt, Ascorbic Acid, Monopotassium Phosphate.
** Fascinating, the difference in the ingredient lists between canned tomato soup in Australia and canned tomato soup in the U.S. Are the soups actually different or do the labels reflect differences in labeling laws?

Besides, did I mention it takes just ten minutes to make this soup? That's start-to-finish, with plenty of hands-off time to make grilled cheese sandwiches. Yahoo, lunch!
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Why I Switched from Weight Watchers to Medifast

No recipe today but instead a story, one of Choice and Hope and Compromise.

You'll find the story posted on Kitchen Parade, Why I Switched from Weight Watchers to Medifast. There's a lively discussion there, come join the chatter!

A Veggie Venture is home of 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2013

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How to Roast a Pepper (Capsicum) on a Gas Stove ♥ Techniques, Tricks & Tips

Today's quick & easy way to roast one or two sweet peppers or hot chilies right on the stove, a gas stove, that is.

To roast a pepper – the sweet peppers like green bell peppers, yellow and orange bell peppers and especially red bell peppers – is to change not only its texture but its flavor. A raw pepper is wet and crunchy, a roasted pepper is slippery and smoky.

This same technique works not only with sweet peppers but also with hot chile peppers with a little or a lot of heat. My favorite pepper for roasting is a poblano chile (as picture) but I've also roasted jalapeños and other chiles.

Mostly it's a hands-off operation, just throw the pepper on the fire, then carry on in the kitchen – no wandering off, now, it's not that hands-off! – keeping an eye on the roasting process, turning as needed.

The technique is best for roasting one or two peppers, for a whole trayful, you'll want to follow this technique that works in both gas and electric ovens, How to Roast Peppers in the Oven.

And I should add one more thing, and that's that when I was cooking on a typical kitchen stove, I didn't have much luck roasting peppers this way, it seemed to just take too long. So it's possible that this technique works only with high-BTU commercial stovetops like Viking and Wolf. Or maybe you have more patience than I!
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Best Vegetable Recipes of 2012 ♥ Personal Favorites

The best vegetable recipes of 2012 from A Veggie Venture, just one per month, all in one handy spot for easy reference.

It's that time of year, the week when we food bloggers look back over a year's worth of recipes and pick our favorites! I love-love-love this process! It really helps us hone our recipe collections, highlighting the best of the already very good, especially for sites like A Veggie Venture and my food column Kitchen Parade which by design, already post only really good recipes, the ones that work, the ones that are special or especially useful. (Here's the 2012 favorite recipes from Kitchen Parade too.)

But I also love all the many sources of "best of the year" lists for movies, books, gadgets, etc. So this year, I'm collecting "best of the year" lists on Pinterest. Follow me there and you'll see all the new entries over the next couple of weeks on this board, Best of the Year Lists & Favorites.

But okay, here you go, my favorite recipes for 2012. Do we share some favorites? Have I completely missed one you loved? Let me know in the comments!
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Good Luck for 2013: New Year's Soup Recipe ♥ with Black-eyed Peas & Collard Greens

Today's soup recipe: Easy, healthy and satisfying, a good way to kick off the new year (even a few days early!) after the indulgence of the holiday. For Weight Watchers, just 2 points (PointsPlus) and 1 point (Old Points).

So how did 2012 treat you? Mine was just swell, thanks for asking. (And yours? Do tell!) Should credit be given to this lovely little soup that I cooked up for New Years a year ago? Maybe! You see, by southern tradition, black-eyed peas bring "good fortune" to the new year and greens – any green, that's collard greens, turnip greens, kale, chard, etc – bring "financial success".

And no bitter medicine, this soup. It really hits a sweet spot with just a tiny touch of underlying heat. It's a vegan soup, though no one will likely notice. On the other hand, a little ham or bacon wouldn't hurt here (Note to Vegetarians). Meat isn't needed, mind you, but it would just add a protein component and calories that might especially satisfy, say, the menfolk at the table.

DO BLACK-EYED PEAS NEED TO SOAK BEFORE GETTING COOKED? Great news, they don't! So this soup is easy to make right now, ASAP. You might even have all the ingredients on hand!
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