Lotsa Veggies Lentil Soup and Grilled Daiya Sandwiches

Sunday, November 17

Lotsa Veggies Lentil Soup and Grilled Daiya

Rating: 4.25

Our drive back from Chattanooga was a little more challenging than normal. I mentioned that Seth was coming down with a cold? Well, it hit him hard about half an hour after we got in the car. So, we stopped for gas and I took over driving so he could rest. It had been foggy and rainy all morning, but the rain was getting heavier as we drove, so by the time I took over, it was a downpour, which is always fun on the interstate. Plus, we ended up wedged into what I can only call a flock of tractor-trailers, so the spray from those coupled with the rain made it impossible to see. I drove at about 40 mph with my hazards on for about 45 minutes, then the rain started to get lighter and things went much better. Still, by the time we got back to Atlanta, all we wanted was a hot bowl of soup for dinner. I’d planned to make pasta, but pushed that over to Monday – see what I mean about meal planning not always working out? A quick stop to pick up the few things I needed to make it and we were all set. I love the Lotsa Veggies Lentil soup from Appetite for Reduction – it’s hearty without being heavy and gives you, as you can guess, lots of veggie goodness. It calls for half a pound of zucchini, but I had more like three-quarters. No complaints about the extra on that. It also uses carrots, celery and spinach along with French lentils, onion and garlic. It is so good. The spinach goes in at the very end, so it just gets wilted – if it went in sooner, it would be overcooked. The recipe says to use about 3 cups (1/4 pound) and to roughly chop it, but I usually just dump a 5 ounce bag in there. While I was at the grocery store, I picked up a loaf of sourdough from the bakery so we could have grilled cheese sandwiches with our soup. Normally, we have a big salad, but the weather had awakened my inner eight year old, so grilled cheese it is. We love to use the Daiya Garlic Jalapeno Havarti along with sliced tomato for grilled these. A sandwich they make at a pub in Charlotte, which uses Havarti with dill and sliced tomato, was the inspiration for this little combo. And seriously, not to gloat, but out version is proof that pretty much everything can be made vegan and will be just as good, if not better.