Phone Photo Fun

Why hello!

First, I'd like to put it on the record that 15F is sooooo much nicer than -15F. I think I may have froze my upper eyelids while walking the dogs a couple days ago. Second, I thought today would be a nice day to share some pretty sweet photos with you. This was prompted by the Christmas tree decorating at my Grandpa's, yesterday. You can read more about my Grandpa, here. You want to, trust me.

Heh heh, I couldn't resist creating some ridiculous little imagery. 

Okay, first up, this is how Bob watches football. At two different houses, it doesn't matter where he is, this is his football position. Dead beetle style.

Second, here are some lovely photos from our ski last week. You can see more on my Instagram, Twitter, and/or Facebook page. See the top right side of the blog to connect and keep up on all the Alaskan awesomeness. 

And now, here are some photos from Grandpa's basement basement. What's a basement basement? Well, there's the basement...and then there's the basement basement. The latter being a straight up sketchy ass place below the regular basement with narrow, terrifying stairs, crushed and broken glass, oddities that were outcast from the kitchen, and enough food to seriously supply a small army. The kind of place you make sure your guests don't know about.

It would be a supreme location for an episode of Fear Factor...or Saw. As a child it was scary as hell. Now, it's a wonderful place (minus the spiderwebs) filled with old-timey treasures from bygone eras! Need a bottle of antibiotics from the 1940s? We got that! Looking for a canned WHOLE chicken from the 1950s? We got that, too! There's also rusted out japanese teapots and a deep freeze full of old caribou meat!

Also, there are these four beauties from my Grandpa's old office. I asked for them for Christmas. I love them. Note the old crazy old snowshoe at the top of the photo. Just one. Where is the other snowshoe? What happened to it? We'll never know...

This is my super sweet, adorable Grandma.When I grow up, I want to be just like her! 

This is why I have to take an antihistamine everyday. Or, I could just stop rescuing dogs. Haha, no, I'll take the Zyrtec. I've been trying to master the "petting dogs is okay", but "petting dogs then touching face/eye is not okay".

Ew, sorry for that gross picture. This one is much better. Look at these two explorers!

Well, I hope you enjoyed these little treasures from my phone. Keep in touch for more excitement down the road!

Cheers! Wishing you a crazy and eccentric Holiday season. 

Listening to Lily Allen – Somewhere Only We Know

Creamy Spiced Coconut Lentil Soup

If I ever get to death row...what? It could definitely happen, that's all I'm saying. I'm a pretty irritable person. Anyways, this is the meal I would ask for. No joke.  Try as I might, I can't figure out why it's taken me this long to share my all-time favorite, favorite, favorite recipe! I've even made it several times since I started this blog in April. I've also made it for Todd's family, who lives in Ohio, twice. While visiting, all us kids had to go on a grandadventure for ground cardamom. One of my favorite spices ever, I guess it's just not that hot in Ohio. Instead of buying a bottle for $13 we ended up getting only the amount needed for the soup, from Whole Foods in the bulk section for a quarter. Man, I wish we had a Whole Foods up here in Alaska. Sad face.

In August, coconut milk, spices, and even lemongrass paste were trucked all the way to Turks and Caicos (I still haven't posted any pics! Sorry!) That's 22 hours of flight time from Alaska! Just to make this soup. It's that good. I'd do anything for this soup. Okay? That's the the reality of it. 

I can't say whatexactly it is that I love so much about it. Just all of it. The combination of such aromatic spices, creamy coconut milk and hearty lentils is just...the best damn thing ever. Throw in a little sweet (sugar), a little sour (lemon juice) and some greens of course (kale) and there you have it. The best meal eva.

Creamy Spiced Coconut Lentil Soup

By Katie Henry - Produce On Parade

This soup is the best thing I've ever eaten. The combination of beautiful aromatic spices like cardamom and cinnamon, creamy coconut milk, and hearty lentils is just perfect. There’s a subtle sweetness, a little zestiness from lemon, and a healthy dose of kale for additional fiber and protein.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup dry red lentils
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil
• ¾ tsp. ground turmeric
• ¾ tsp. curry powder
• ½ tsp. ground cardamom
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• sprinkle of crushed red pepper
• pinch of fresh ground nutmeg
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemongrass paste (or 2 stalks)
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger paste (or minced ginger)
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 15 oz. can of full-fat coconut milk
• ½ small bunch of kale, de-stemmed and chopped
• 1 small lemon, juiced
• 1 Tbsp. vegan sugar
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ½ cup cilantro, chopped
• coconut flakes, for garnish (optional)

Ingredients

1. In a large soup pot, combine the lentils and vegetable broth and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat the coconut oil over medium-low in a large saute pan. Add in the turmeric, curry, cardamom, cinnamon, crushed red pepper, and nutmeg.
3. Saute for about one minute, then add in the diced onion. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are limp. Add in the lemongrass, ginger, thyme, and garlic. Continue to saute for another few minutes, then remove from heat.
4. Add the coconut milk as well as the cooked onions to the lentil mixture and stir. Now, stir in the chopped kale, lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes, over low heat, or until the kale is tender.
5. Serve hot and topped with a liberal amount of chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of coconut flakes!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 00:40
Total time: 00:50
Yield: 6 servings

SAVE MONEY!

I buy my canned coconut milk here.

It’s only $2.20 per can vs $4 per can at my local grocery store Fred Meyer!

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More Lentil Soup Recipes

Remarkable Root Soup

Thai Lentil Sweet Potato Stew

Copycat Amy's Lentil Soup

Spiced Lentil Soup with Roasted Beets and Delicata Squash

Maybe this will be your new favorite dish, too?

Swaying to Vampire Weekend – Step

This recipe has been adapted many times over. I adapted my verison from Sprouted Kitchen, who adapted it from someone else, who adapted it from a cookbook!

Thai Lentil & Sweet Potato Stew

Hello my darlings! I'd like to take just a quick minute to encourage you to help kickstart Home Grown Food Products! Home Grown Food Products (HGFP) is a small-scale, intentional food processing business making all natural, holistically healthy food products for the benefit of their community. They are located in McMinnville, Oregon, a town of over 32,000 residents in the lush Yamhill River Valley, approximately 35 miles southwest of Portland. HGFP is operated by just a handful of environmentally-friendly stewards of the earth, one from my hometown of Palmer, Alaska! They have until December 30th to reach their Kickstarter goal. See their Kickstarter page here. Even if it's just one dollar, it's the small contributions that add up to make the difference! Feel good this Christmas by helping out a local, small-scale, healthy food company with integrity.

So, go do it! Then, make this delicious Thai Lentil & Sweet Potato Stew. When Todd and I first started removing animal products from our lives, this was one of the first things we made and we loved it! It's pretty quick and very hands off. I'm so excited to share it with you!

This stew is thick, and filling. It's sweet and hearty and has a wonderful Thai influence. I really like to use red lentils because they cook so quickly. They also happen to be the most nutritious of lentils and the prettiest too! 

Thai Lentil & Sweet Potato Stew

Serves 6

• 4-6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, unpeeled and diced
• 15 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes
• 2/3 cup canned full-fat coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tsp. lemongrass paste (optional)
• sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 small green cabbage head (or half a large one), chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

--Notes-- Using brown or green lentils will significantly lengthen the cooking time. Dice the sweet potato fairly small, to ensure a shorter cooking time. 

In a large soup pot, bring the vegetable broth, lentils and sweet potatoes to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes, uncovered and stirring occasionally or until the lentils and sweet potatoes are cooked. The lentils should not be hard, yet, the sweet potatoes should still hold their shape.

Remove from heat and stir in the tomatoes and coconut milk.

In a large frying pan over low, heat the coconut oil. Then add in the turmeric, lemongrass, ginger and red pepper flakes. Saute for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Now, add in the garlic, onion and cabbage. Saute for about 10 minutes, or until the cabbage is limp and cooked through. 

Add the cabbage mixture to the lentil and sweet potato mixture and stir to combine. At this point, if you want a thinner soup, feel free to add more coconut milk or water. 

Serve hot and garnished with a liberal amount of cilantro.

Listening to The Head And The Heart – Down in the Valley

[yumprint-recipe id='51']Adapted from Pinch of Yum