Therapeutic Meal: Cancer – Zesty Lentil Veggie Soup

This soup was the main course of our cancer meal. It was a big hit – I recommend giving it a try. Also, the girl in our group who made it mentioned that it freezes well, so make extras! Again, sorry about no photos…

Recipe

1 lb brown or green lentils

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cups yellow onion, chopped

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 cup carrots, chopped

½ cup celery, chopped

1 tbsp smoked or regular paprika

¼ tsp ground cumin

8 cups vegetable broth

3 sprigs fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)

1 bay leaf

3 cups tomatoes, chopped

¼ cup parsley, chopped

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

Wash lentils, sort, drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil and sauté onions, garlic, carrots and celery for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper, cook one minute. Stir and mix in broth and lentils. Bring to a boil.

Tie thyme and bay leaf together with kitchen twine and put in pot. Cover and reduce to simmer and cook for thirty minutes.

Add tomatoes and cook uncovered for another 10-15 minutes. Stir in parsley and lemon juice. Add salt to taste (optional) and garnish with plain Greek yogurt and remaining parsley. Serves 12.

Carrots are high in potassium and calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin K, carotenoids, B vitamins and iodine. Carrots’ antioxidant compounds help protect against cancer.

Onions are high in chromium, Vitamin C, vitamin B6 and potassium.

Garlic as an excellent source of manganese, vitamins B6 and B1, vitamin C, calcium and potassium.

Tomatoes have large amounts of vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E and vitamin K. They are also a very good source of potassium, magnesium, dietary fiber, and vitamins B1, B2 and B6. One interesting fact we found is that chopping and heating actually makes the cancer-fighting constituents of tomatoes and broccoli more bioavailable, meaning easier for our bodies to recognize and absorb.

Celery is an excellent source of vitamin C, potassium, calcium, B-vitamins, vitamin A and magnesium.

Lentils are a very good source of dietary fiber and a good source of iron, protein, B-vitamins and potassium.

Tomorrrow: Antioxidant Fruit Salad!

Kale, Sausage & Lentil Skillet Supper

Last month, one of PWN’s readers e-mailed me and mentioned EatingWell magazine. I hadn’t heard of it, but I happened to get an EatingWell 2010 daily calendar from Santa. It’s great because each week has a new recipe that is healthy and simple.

Since we try to eat a lot of kale at our house (it has quickly become one of my favorite veggies!), the recipe for Kale, Sausage & Lentil Skillet Supper caught my attention right away. Lentils are really easy to prepare and full of health benefits: they are full of fiber and help lower cholesterol; they help keep blood sugar under control; they contain many nutrients including iron, folate, manganese, tryptophan, protein and two different B-vitamins. So between the many health benefits of kale (read about it here) and lentils, this dinner will fill you up and provide you with loads of nutrients.

It was fairly easy to prepare but took longer than I expected, so do it when you have some time. It’s not active cooking the entire time, but requires some check in and stir every once in a while.

Recipe

3 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 12-oz package cooked chicken or turkey sausage (I used Applegate Farms chicken sausage from Whole Foods)

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

2 ½ cups water

1 ½ cups red wine

1 cup lentils (I used French green and red, because we had a little of both at our house)

6-8 cups chopped kale leaves

1 tsp chopped fresh sage

¼ tsp sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Heat 1 tsp olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook until browned on all sides (4-5 mins). Transfer to cutting board.

Add remaining 2 tsp olive oil and onion to pan and cook until browned (4-5 mins). Add garlic and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant (15 seconds). Add water and wine, increase heat to high and bring to a boil, scraping sides and bottom of pan. Add lentils, reduce heat to simmer, and cook partially covered for 40 minutes.

Add kale, sage and salt and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until lentils and kale are tender, about 10 minutes. Slice sausage and stir into pan along with pepper. Cover and cook until heated, another few minutes.

It says this only makes 4 servings, however Ed and I ate it for dinner two nights in a row, plus lunches. Also, I added some purple cabbage because we didn’t have quite enough kale. We ate it with some quinoa and it was delicious – very filling.

Enjoy!