Soup for a Snow Day

Who doesn't love a snow day? As a kid I remember huddling around the Philco radio, an ear pressed to the speaker like a an underground dissident straining to hear Radio Free Europe. When I worked in school counseling, I found out that adults are actually want snow days more than the kids.

Having an unexpected day at home was a luxury. I didn't sleep in but hit the ground running at 6:30 a.m. I had lots I wanted to accomplish and got a good chunk of it done.

Unfortunately, snow days are perfect for cooking, and therefore eating. I love to cook. I love everything about food - buying it, trying new recipes, organizing it in my cupboards, cooking it, and of course, consuming! People who have been to my house know that I keep a VERY well stocked pantry. Most of the time I have two months worth of food on hand.

And on a snow day, that means DANGER. Usually when snowed in, I want a rich soup, a cheesy comforting casserole, and something decadent for dessert - usually cookies or a cake or something amazing. So today was a particular challenge for weight loss. I wanted to fill the house with the delicious aroma of homemade cinnamon rolls or blackberry cobbler.

But that would have been bad. Very, very bad.

So I decided to pull out a great recipe that was Thin and Healthy compliant. On Phase One, there are limited choices - proteins, some fruits, lots of fresh vegetables - all good stuff to be sure but not exactly a sticky bun. One protein choice is lentils. I love them - they are on my top 10 list of favorite foods, about 9 notches down from my Mother's chicken paprikash.

A very easy recipe, this soup is wonderful and is even better the next day - so I've got lunch tomorrow in the brown bag. The recipe is from a Williams-Sonoma cookbook and is one of those things that you can make quickly with ingredients that are usually on hand. Enjoy!

WILLIAMS-SONOMA LENTIL SOUP

1 tablespoon olive oil (I use non-stick spray)

1 large onion, diced

1 to 2 carrots peeled and diced

1 to 2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 cups of dried lentils

6 to 7 cups water or chicken stock (use a low sodium brand)

Salt and pepper

Sauté onion in oil until clear and slightly caramelized – about 8 minutes.

Add cumin, carrots, lentils, and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until lentils are tender about 20-30 minutes.

The recipe also calls for adding chopped fresh spinach at the end of cooking if desired. It is also great (and very healthy) with chopped kale.