Seizing My Day

This My Friends …

My Chicken Curry Lentil Soup

is One of my personal favorite meals

My lovely Friend Nancy at The Goat and the Kid

is having a fun new blog hop about family food!!

So without further ado … stick around to see what I am cookin…

and then click over and see what other mom’s are cooking at Nancy’s blog!

I don’t really follow a recipe

and I forgot to take pictures of all the steps

what can I say…

I made this on the day my friend Susan and I cooked like crazy women

We  chopped, boiled, stirred, sauteed, cooked,  and baked ~

cinnamon rolls, chili, the curry soup  and twice baked potatoes in one afternoon ! =)

anyway… not that I am encouraging excuses

just sayin that is mine!  =)

So bare with me as I try to put this in recipe form!

Buy a small (not tiny) bag of yellow lentils.

and rinse them.  ok.

Place said lentils in a giant pot with 6 cups? of liquid

boil  according to package

I use  1/2 Chicken Stock and half water

while lentils are cooking 30-45 minutes according to the package

Pull out the rest of your  ingredients ~ as seen here

and here

and here

Stop here and chop 1/2 a red pepper and about 3 peeled carrots

Chop one or two shallots ~ I love these milder onions

Then peel about a 1/2 inch or so of fresh ginger

Cooking with fresh things like ginger still intimidates me…

but I suck it up buttercup and just do it!  =)

Then peel a few cloves of garlic

Put the ginger and garlic in a cool garlic/ginger  smoosher thing

and smoosh it in the said cool garlic smoosher thing

I have this cool garlic grater plate ~ which I LOVE ~

It is Super Easy to use ~ not very messy ~ EASY to clean and purees garlic

which is beautiful ladies ~ just beautiful when you are cooking some things! =)

but I did not have my garlic plate with me

and My cooking buddy  Susan  had recently bought this wonderful garlic tool

and I NEED one of these now too…

I was not strong enough to turn it with ginger in it =)   BUT I still LOVE it…

sometimes you need smooshed garlic and sometimes you need pureed garlic right?  =)

*cough*

ok ~ moving on

You will need to come back to this scene

After said veggies are chopped

and herbs are pulled ~ I just found this lemon thyme recently

it added a lovely flavor ~ but I have also used just fresh thyme

and After all your spices are out Yellow Curry, Cumin and oregano

start opening those cans and stirring them into the lentils now

I only used the light coconut milk and the corn

I left the tomatoes out  ~ oh and the barley which I recently found irritate my digestion!

lovely ~ anyway ~ it makes the recipe gluten free I think w/out the barley.  =)

and it was delish without them… =)  so leave those out!

sorry they are even in the picture ~  I changed my mind mid cooking!

Meanwhile saute said chopped veggies in olive oil

no picture of that either

then put those veggies and herbs now into the lentil pot

which should be hanging out on low right now.

Now Saute the chopped chicken breast

with a little garlic, onion and herbs… lots of herbs … the fresh thyme and oregano!

If you are crazy and multi-task like me

Turn the pot back up to med/high to reboil

continue to stir while doing this as you don’t want it to burn stick to the bottom of the pot!

Then Puree the lentils, liquids, sauteed veggies and corn.

I love love my nifty handy dandy hand blender

but after using Susan’s with a stainless steal one …

I think it is time for an upgrade!  =)

After you have been married almost 12 years

some of your kitchen “tools” get a little rusty or just old

They start falling apart… slowly we are loosing kitchen tools one by one!  =)

Though a few items are going to be hard to part with..

like the pots and pans my mom gave me for my wedding…

my memories with my mom are more important than the stuff she gave me

but still… it is bitter sweet getting rid of stuff your mom gave you …

after you loose said parent.  just sayin… its hard.

I will embrace the new … it is just “stuff”… =)

anywho…

add the yummy sauteed chicken after you puree the soup

I like a “little bit” of chunk in this soup

but I personally don’t like the veggies chunky in this one.

You might like the carrots and corn chunky…

it is a personal choice.

right. right. good then. the only chunk I like in this soup is chicken.

Which brings me to KIDS.  Most kids would enjoy this soup!

My little boy actually likes it.  BUT … My daughter who is EXTREMELY picky

“its a texture thing mostly”

well.. she won’t eat it.  one out of two ain’t bad. right.

Excellent. Now…

Go make this soup and Enjoy it  all by itself ~ or over rice ~ or little red potatoes!!

I like the potatoes chopped kinda small and baked… if I choose to eat it with potato.

it is yummy all by itself with bread on the side !!  =)

Go On ~ Off you Go ~

Shop, chop, cook, puree, saute and Eat!!

I think I am going to pull some out of the freezer and eat it tonight…

or maybe I will wait until the weekend while I am kid and hubby free????

hm… curious… huh!  =)

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Oh ~ should I try and write this in real recipe format for y’all ??

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Jenn’s Chicken Curry Lentil Soup

1 small package of yellow lentils

6 or so cups liquid  ~ at least 3 cups chicken stock

1 can light coconut milk

1 can corn ( I know can? ~ it adds sweet corn flavor!)

1/2 red pepper

1 or 2 shallot onions

3 medium/large carrots

1/2 inch fresh ginger

2-3 or 3-4 garlic cloves (dep. on kids) =)

Fresh thyme and oregano if you have it (otherwise dry will do)

4 chicken breasts ~ chopped & sauteed

1 tbsp curry

1 tbsp cumin

1 small handful oregano

1 small handful thyme

Directions:

Rinse lentils and cook as directed.  Keep lentils in juices after ~ do not ever drain.

Chop and saute all veggies, garlic, ginger with 1/2 the  fresh herbs.  Put in pot.

Put  coconut milk, cumin, curry and corn into pot.

Saute chicken with a little garlic, ginger and  1/2 fresh herbs.

Set chicken aside.  Turn up lentil soup boil for a minute or two stirring constantly.

Turn off soup and puree with a lovely handblender.  Add chicken.  Stir.  Serve and Enjoy!

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wow ~ that was easy ~ but less funny don’t ya think?  ha ha!

If you cook and enjoy this recipe ~ please let people know you got it here !!

It is my original recipe ~ Thank you!  =)