On a snowy weekend, nothing beats a really hearty bean soup. And this one is dirt cheap, making it better still. Prices are for buying at places like Costco or Trader Joe's, and/or in bulk--and obviously, they are approximate.
1 lb lentils, rinsed well ($1)
1 med. onion, diced (.25)
2 med. carrots, scrubbed and diced (.25)
2 sm. sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (.50)
1 lg. red bell pepper, diced (.75--optional)
3 med. potatoes (.25)
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (.10)
1 lg. can crushed tomatoes (.50)
2-3 cups homemade vegetable broth* (plus enough water to reach consistency you like) (free)
salt, pepper, spices (such as oregano, thyme, dill, rosemary) to your taste (essentially free)
1/4 c. (or so) of extra virgin olive oil (optional, but makes a big difference) (.50)
Throw all but spices, oil and tomatoes in a pot, let it reach almost a boil, then reduce and simmer for a very long time (at least an hour). Make sure you keep an eye on it--you'll probably need to add water from time to time. Add tomatoes, cook a while longer. Then add spices, cook briefly, and serve. That's it! I tend to use whatever veggies I have lying around (mushrooms are an especially nice addition, and you can buy an enormous bag of dried Shitakes that will last you a couple of years from Costco, for about ten bucks). This makes at least a gallon of soup, and it freezes well. If you get eight servings out of a gallon (meaning a serving is a pint, or two cups), then this costs between .25 and .30 a serving, if you add the optional items.
For that price, you can afford a few slices of very nice bread, dipped in (homemade) roasted garlic oil, and a nice beer. You'll still be under $2 for the meal.
*Whenever you prepare veggies, save the skins and cuttings, etc. in a gallon-sized ziploc bag and freeze them. When the bag fills up, you are ready to make veggie broth: just fill a large stock pot with water and dump in the frozen veggies plus a few pepper corns, and a few cloves of peeled and coarsely cut garlic. Cook for a very long time; add salt and any spices you'd like towards the end. When it has reduced some and tastes nice, let it cool and then strain it. Freeze into 2-3 cup sized containers (quart sized Ziploc bags also work well), and use as needed. Using veggie broth adds a lot of depth over just plain water in soups.
I'm with Kipsy, I love lentil soup but I alway smoosh the lentils. I'm still eating from the pantry this month but I might find a sprouted onion and some carrots that are also trying to reanimate themselves and see if I can make it (sans sweet potatoes which I don't care for anyway).
ReplyDeleteLike I said to Kipsy, make sure you add enough water early on. Also, if no sweet potatoes I recommend you chop up some of those regular potatoes and put those in.
ReplyDeleteI just made myself some soup, too. But it's got canned beans, and hamburger meat (I left out the hamburger meat for a portion for Elliott.)
ReplyDeleteI have made chicken stock and frozen it in the past, and making vetable stock sounds good, BUT...where do I store it? The freezer just doesn't have enough room. I know a lot of people have an extra freezer, but it costs ALOT to run one of those. I can buy a little jar of veggie stock concentrate, so that's what I'm doing. I don't buy canned stock anymore. Another one of those trade-offs we were talking about!
If you use very low heat and cook it for a very long time, you should be able to concentrate it yourself, which would take up less room. But yeah, you'd still need to put it in the freezer. You are right re: the cost to run an extra freezer; I 86'd the idea myself. One thing to consider is whether there is a lot of crap taking up room in your freezer, esp. prepacked stuff (which is both expensive and usually unhealthy) that could be better used as storage for things like soup stock?
ReplyDeleteThat is, I'd cook it until "done," THEN strain it, THEN concentrate it. I think you'd risk burning it if you kept the large solids in when you concentrated it.
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