Soup in the Summertime

I'm still in the mood to cook, so far so good. No issues have happened in the kitchen this week to make me feel like giving up yet.  So Saturday night with my spirits high it was time to get busy in the kitchen making soup.  I rarely make soup in the summer.  I think it's just something in my head that makes me think if it's hot outside than we shouldn't be eating soup.  This recipe looked too good to pass up, Spiced Coconut Lentil Soup.  No blender necessary which was a big plus. I hate having to pull the blender out of storage to make soup.

I minced the red onion in my food chopper (stored in the kitchen so it's not a hassle to use it) and put it in the dutch oven to saute with some coconut oil.  Let's stop here for a second.  I bought coconut oil during that $160 shopping trip that I made.  This stuff isn't cheap, $7.49.  I couldn't bring myself to taste it right out of the jar.  I tried, but it reminded me of candle wax or something else equally as unappealing.  So I'm not really sure if it helped with the flavor of the dish or not.  I figured it was a good investment since we make a ton of curries and Asian food and we can use it in place of other oils for that.  Apparently it's pretty good for your skin too and it's gives instructions on the jar for how to use it that way.

Then you add minced red chili (couldn't find a red chili so I used a hot pepper), ginger, and garlic and saute until the softened.  Now the recipe says for both of these steps (onion and chili, ginger, garlic) to cover while it's cooking.  I covered the onion and ended up burning it a little, so I wouldn't suggest covering it and I don't see why it's even needed. 

(sorry so blurry, I'm having some camera issues)

Next rinse your red lentils (which look more orange or pinkish in color) and add them to the pan with the spices ground coriander, cumin, and paprika, mix this well.  Add the coconut milk and water and crumble half of a vegetable bouillon cube into the pot; season with salt and pepper.  (I did not invest in pink Himalayan, not point in my opinion.) 

Cover the pan and bring it to a boil, than lower the heat so that you have a low simmer.  You will need to stir the soup a bit because the lentils could stick to the bottom of the pot.  Once the lentils have disintegrated (about 40 minutes), take the soup off the heat and stir in 1 lime's worth of lime juice.  Do not skip this step.  I tasted the soup before the lime juice and after.  It's so much better with the lime juice; it just gives it this extra depth that it needed. 

Final Product:

My thoughts:  Super good!  I loved everything about this soup.  The lime juice was perfect with the coconut milk and the lentils.  It was creamy and had a lot of flavor.  I served it with some sour dough bread, which was perfect to dip into the soup.  This recipe will be in heavy rotation.

Next up:  Budget Meals.  After overspending at Wegmans last week I can not afford to have the same thing happen again this week.  My first budget meal I will be testing out is Broccoli and Cheese Quiche.  Yes, I am on a bit of an egg kick, but eggs are soooo cheap.