Eat Veggies, save the planet

I came home again today with a huge bag of spinach from my garden. The freezer is full. I have frozen mucho spinach this winter. This is Austin and I have been harvesting the spinach I planted in October since December.

I couldn’t eat another spinach salad or any more steamed spinach so I made this Indian dish.

Ingredients

• toor dal 3/4 cup
•  fresh spinach 8 cups
• tamarind paste 1/2 tsp.
• oil 2 tsps.
• mustard seed 1 tsp
• urud dal 1 tsp
• chana dal 1 tsp.
• sambar powder 4 tsp
• tumeric powder 1/4 tsp
• salt 1/2 salt

1.Put toor dal in 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until soft.

2. In a wok or cast iron frying pan heat oil. Add mustard seed. When they pop add urud dal and chana dal. Heat until chana dal turns brown.

3.Add spinach with 1/2 cup water. Cook for a minute until spinach wilts.

4. Add tamarind paste and sambar powder to spinach mixture. Cook for 3 minutes.

5. Add tumeric powder and salt. Stir

6. Add spinach mixture to toor dal and bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Stir and serve.

This recipe makes 5 half cup servings and has 120 delicious calories per serving.

I am harvesting both fennel and leek from my garden and made this delicious soup. My company thought it was a cream soup. And the best thing, besides the taste,  is that it only has 64 calories in a cup.

• 1 leek
• 1 fennel bulb
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 zucchini
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 4 cups of vegetable broth
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop leek, fennel and garlic.
2. Heat olive oil in heavy duty soup pot.
3. Add leek, fennel and garlic to hot oil.
4. Cook on medium low for 15 minutes.
5. Chop zucchini and cook for 5 more minutes.
6. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes covered.
8. Take off cover and cool.
9. Puree in the blender for less than a minute
10. Reheat and serve.