Category: Main Dish

Recipes for main dishes.

‘Loin’ing to use pressure cooker no easy feat

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date January 24, 2019

A tender pork loin, along with tasty stuffing and gravy, can all be made in under an hour with a pressure cooker.

Over the past year or so, I’ve noticed quite a number of people jump on the electric pressure cooker bandwagon.

I have a traditional pressure cooker I inherited from my grandmother, but to be honest, I’ve always been a bit scared to actually try it, so it’s stayed packed away on a high shelf in my kitchen.

On Christmas, though, my parents gifted my sister and I each an electric pressure cooker, which somehow seems less terrifying than the stovetop variety.

So, since Christmas, I’ve been playing with recipes, trying to figure out how pressure cooking works, and I finally have a recipe I’m excited to share.

This recipe comes from the blog “The Creative Bite” by Danielle Green. One thing I really liked about this recipe is that it’s all made completely in the pressure cooker pot, so there’s only one dish to dirty. You can find her post at https://www.thecreativebite.com/pressure-cooker-pork-loin-stuffing-gravy/. I subbed in cornbread stuffing and added rosemary for seasoning.

Pressure Cooker Pork Loin, Stuffing and Gravy

A tender pork loin, along with tasty stuffing and gravy, can all be made in under an hour with a pressure cooker.

Course Main Course

Keyword cornbread, gravy, pork loin, stuffing

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter divided
1 medium yellow onion diced
24 ounce pork loin
4 to 5 teaspoons rosemary
3 to 4 teaspoons garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
6 ounce box cornbread stuffing mix
2 tablespoon flour

Instructions

Season the pork loin with rosemary, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Add two tablespoons of butter to the pressure cooker and turn to saute. Add the pork loin and sear for about four minutes.
Add the onions and flip the pork loin over and sear for another four minutes.
Add the chicken broth and cook on high pressure for 35 minutes, and then allow the pressure to release naturally.
Remove the pork loin and set aside to rest on a cutting board.
Scoop out about two cups of liquid, leaving the onions behind, and reserve it for gravy.
Dump in the stuffing and stir to moisten. (If it’s still a bit dry, pour a little of your reserve liquid back in. Look at the directions on the box if you’re unsure how much liquid the stuffing mix needs.)
Place the lid on the pot and let it sit for five minutes.
Pour the stuffing into a serving dish and cover it.
Add the rest of the butter to the pot and turn back to saute. When it melts, whisk in the flour. Stir it for a couple minutes and then whisk in the reserved liquid. Cook for about two minutes or until it thickens. Season with more salt and pepper.
Slice the pork loin and serve with stuffing and gravy.

This was such a nice, hearty meal, and it came together really easily, which I appreciated. Also, having this recipe turn out so well gave me a lot of confidence moving forward with learning to use my new kitchen toy.

My sister has also been playing with her pressure cooker, and we were discussing how the electric version seems less terrifying than the traditional variety.

“What is it about the Baby Boomers that they’re brave enough to use those things all the time,” I asked her.

“Well, they did grow up without seat belts,” she said. “Now they’re not afraid of anything.”

Good point, Sis. Good point.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 24, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Tags cornbread, gravy, pork, stuffing

Bread Main Dish

Get ready to bowl your guests over on soup night

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date January 3, 2019

Homemade bread bowls take some time to make, with waiting for dough to rise, but they come together easily.

When I was younger, our family frequented a local restaurant that served soup in bread bowls year round.

Even in the heart of summer, I would often order a big bread bowl of broccoli soup for lunch or dinner, while the rest of my family opted for their awesome sandwiches. There’s just something slightly irresistible about a bread bowl.

As we prepared for a potluck of soups with some friends a few weekends ago, I suddenly had a craving to eat whatever delicious concoctions ended up gracing our table in a bread bowl, so I turned to the Internet for help.

I discovered that they aren’t too difficult to make, although I continue to maintain that I don’t have the patience to wait on yeast to rise on a regular basis. Watching dough swell on the counter just makes me hungrier and hungrier for the finished product.

But the recipe I tried, which I found on the blog “I Heart Naptime,” promised to be easy, and the recipe’s author didn’t disappoint. You can find her post at https://www.iheartnaptime.net/bread-bowl/.

Homemade Bread Bowls

Homemade bread bowls take some time to make, with waiting for dough to rise, but they come together easily.

Course Main Course

Keyword bread, bread bowl, soup

Ingredients

2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast that’s three packets
1 tablespoon sugar
5 to 6 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons olive oil

Instructions

Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water and stir to dissolve. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. It’s ready when the plastic wrap puffs up.
In a large mixing bowl, combine four cups of flour, 1 teaspoon olive oil and the sugar-yeast mixture. Beat on medium speed with a dough hook, if possible. Add the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough is smooth and not sticky. (Don’t feel like you need to add all of it if you don’t need to, or add a bit more if it’s not coming together.)
Knead the dough with a stand mixture with a dough hook for three minutes on high, or knead on a floured counter by hand for about five minutes.
Coat the dough in about 1 teaspoon of oil and place in a large bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the dough doubles in size.
While the dough rises, prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
When the dough is ready, punch it down and divide it into six even balls. Place three on each baking sheet and cut an X in the top of each with a sharp knife.
Let the dough rise for another 30 minutes or until they double.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the bread is golden brown.
To serve, cut a circle out of the top of the bread bowl and then hollow out the center. (To leave more bread in the middle and make more room for soup, press the insides down a bit with your fingers.)
Keep the bread bowls in an airtight container if not serving immediately.

These bread bowls were a huge hit for our get together, as was the pile of bread scraps sitting in the kitchen. I think everyone nibbled on those at some point during the evening.

They were the perfect size for a small bowl of soup to go with the other goodies on our table. Also, for a recipe that was only difficult because I spent a lot of time waiting, the pay off was huge. There are few things people get more excited about than fresh-baked bread.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 31, 2019.

Tags bread bowl, soup

Main Dish Soup

Let’s ‘brocc’ and roll with soup this summer

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 5, 2018

Cream of broccoli soup uses fresh broccoli and carrots, along with some great melty cheese.

A few years ago, we met a young newspaper editor from Kentucky while we were at a conference. She’s one of those “do it all” folks and in addition to being a managing editor, she runs a small farm.

I’m friends with her on Facebook, and now that summer is in full swing, I enjoy seeing the photos of her fresh vegetables when she sets up at her local farmer’s market.

Recently, she posted a photo of some gorgeous stalks of broccoli, and it gave me a major craving. Joey isn’t much of a broccoli fan, so I waited for an evening when he wouldn’t be home and made myself a big batch of soup.

I know it’s July and it’s hot, but I will eat soup any time of the year—especially if it has some fresh veggies in it. Plus, the recipe’s author says it freezes well, so I was able to fill up some freezer containers for later, too.

The recipe I used is from the website “Happy Money Saver.” You can find it at https://happymoneysaver.com/homemade-creamy-cheesy-broccoli-soup/. I used more garlic and also swapped skim milk into the recipe instead of half and half. The original also used gouda in addition to cheddar.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Cream of broccoli soup uses fresh broccoli and carrots, along with some great melty cheese.

Course Main Course, Soup

Keyword broccoli, carrots, garlic, sharp cheddar cheese

Ingredients

5 cups chicken broth
1 small onion minced
4 cups fresh broccoli chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup carrots grated
4-6 cloves garlic minced
1 bay leaf
garlic salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk I used skim
1 1/2 cup sharp cheddar shredded

Instructions

In a pot with a lid, combine the broth, onion, broccoli, carrots, garlic, bay leaf and some garlic salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low and place the lid on the pot. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the broccoli is nearly cooked through.
When the veggies are nearly done, melt the butter over medium heat in a large Dutch oven. Whisk in the flour and let it cook for a couple minutes. Once the broccoli mixture is cooked, begin adding the liquid you cooked the vegetables in to the Dutch oven with a ladle, whisking as you do to incorporate the flour roux.
Once the liquid thickens a bit, toss in the vegetables (remove the bay leaf), milk and more garlic salt and pepper, if desired.
After the mixture is heated through, remove it from the stove and stir in the cheese until it’s melted.
Serve with some crusty bread and a fresh salad to really bring in the garden-fresh deliciousness.

I was really excited about this soup, and I liked that it wasn’t made with heavy cream, too, so I didn’t feel quite as badly about enjoying a big bowl of it.

Plus, I’m pumped to have several containers of this waiting in my freezer to go to work with me for lunch in the coming weeks.

I won’t be making it to Kentucky for my friend’s fresh broccoli any time soon, but I think it’s time to do some visiting to our local farmer’s markets. It looks like the gardens are starting to overflow with some amazing veggies, so it’s time for my table to overflow with them, too.

This piece first appeared in print on July 5, 2018.

Tags broccoli, carrots, garlic, sharp cheddar cheese

Main Dish

Verenike casserole will make you feel like a ham

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date June 21, 2018

Verenike casserole has the flavors of traditional verenike without all the effort to make it.

In a little less than a month, I’ll be heading off to one of my favorite places on Earth: Camp Mennoscah.

I love it for many reasons—the beauty, the people, the connection with God through nature—but one thing I always look forward to is the food.

While my co-director and I get to run around with a bunch of 8 year olds, there will be a group of wonderful volunteers in the kitchen, churning out tons of delicious meals for us to enjoy each day.

While the camp menu varies from week to week, there are a few staples that always seem to make it onto the list that I can’t get enough of.

One of those is verenike casserole.

If you’re not familiar, verenike is a dough pocket with cheese inside that is traditionally served with ham gravy. It’s an indulgence I adore, but it’s time consuming to make. Verenike casserole takes all the flavors of verenike and simplifies them into an amazing noodle dish.

The recipe I used comes from the cookbook “50 Years of Good Cooking and Camping at Camp Mennoscah,” which was edited by Nancy Becker. The recipe, which is called “Fettucini Casserole” in the book and was penned by Ruth Entz, is colloquially called “Verenike Casserole” by campers and camp staff. I’m leaving out the 1/4 cup of chopped onion.

Verenike Casserole

Verenike casserole has the flavors of traditional verenike without all the effort to make it.

Course Main Course

Keyword casserole, ham, noodles, verenike

Ingredients

8 ounces fettuccine noodles cooked according to package
2 cups cubed ham
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup sour cream
12 ounces dry curd cottage cheese
Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a 9-by-13-inch pan, combine the noodles, ham, 1-1/4 cups milk, sour cream and cottage cheese and some salt and pepper.
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, salt and pepper. Cook until the mixture begins to bubble. Add the 2 cups of milk slowly while continuing to stir. Bring the mixture up to a slow boil and then reduce heat back to medium to let the mixture thicken a little. You want it to coat the back of a spoon. If it’s too thick, add a touch more milk. If it’s too thin, add a touch more flour.
Pour the sauce over the mixture in the baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

If you can’t find dry curd cottage cheese, I buy normal cottage cheese and then rinse and drain it extremely well before adding it to my mixture.

Every time I make this, it’s always much better the day after, because the sauce really thickens up into something amazing, but it’s delicious straight out of the oven, too.

At camp, my favorite way to eat this is paired with some green beans and fresh bread. At home, I just load up a bowl and dig in.

There’s nothing better than food made with love, and after many trips out to Camp Mennoscah, I have never had a meal that didn’t contain a whole lot of love from volunteer cooks. I’m sure my trip in July will be no different.

This piece first appeared in print on June 21, 2018.

Tags casserole, ham, noodles, verenike

Main Dish Side Dish

Make ‘mushroom’ for lots of fresh veggies this summer

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date May 24, 2018

Mixing fresh vegetables and sausage with some simple seasonings makes for a great summer dish.

I’ve mentioned before that my gardening ability is pretty sad to say the least.

Part of that is due to my inability to figure out how much water to dump on my plants, and part of that is due to a thieving squirrel, who convinced me for most of a summer that my tomatoes were vanishing into thin air just before they were ripe enough to pick.

Thank goodness for good friends, local grocery stores and farmer’s markets now that I’ve mostly given up my goals of urban farming.

And with it being the time of year for gardens to begin bursting with lots of great veggies, I’ve started getting really impatient to put them on our dinner table as much as possible.

This week’s recipe is one that Joey and I decided to create while standing in the produce department of our local grocery store last week, so while I’m sure there are dozens of recipes much like it online, we really just made this one up as we went along.

A couple thoughts: if you’d rather make this a vegetarian dish, ditch the sausage and toss in some more veggies. The mushrooms give this a nice, meaty flavor all on their own. Also, once zucchini and summer squash is ready, it would be an amazing addition to this as well, cut into 1/2-inch rounds or half moons.

Summer Vegetables and Sausage

Mixing fresh vegetables and sausage with some simple seasonings makes for a great summer dish.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword bell pepper, mushrooms, sausage, tomatoes, vegetables

Ingredients

2 bell peppers any color
8 to 10 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes
8 ounces whole baby bella mushrooms
3 about 9 ounces bratwursts or sausages of your choice
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
black pepper to taste
garlic salt to taste
onion powder to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Wash and prepare the vegetables. Slice the bell peppers into 2-inch by 1/2-inch pieces. Slice the mushrooms in half. Leave the tomatoes whole.
Slice the sausages into 1/2-inch rounds. (We used a chicken, spinach and feta sausage that was out of this world.)
Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spread all the ingredients out on it. Drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle on your seasonings.
Use your hands to coat the ingredients in the oil and seasonings and spread everything out into as much of a single layer as you can.
Bake for 12 minutes and then give the ingredients a stir. Bake for another 12 minutes or until the sausage is done all the way through and the tomatoes are starting to burst.
Serve immediately.

We had leftovers of this and ate it a couple nights later after mixing it with a little marinara sauce and serving it over spaghetti. It was awesome.

There wasn’t much spring to enjoy this year, but at least that means summer gardens can get underway.

For my part, I’ll stick to keeping some flowers alive this year and get my veggies elsewhere. That sneaky squirrel will have to go bother someone else for his meals this summer.

This piece first appeared in print on May 24, 2018.

Tags bell pepper, mushrooms, sausage, tomatoes, vegetables

Main Dish

Can’t stop thinking ‘gumbout’ New Orleans dish

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date April 5, 2018

New Orleans shrimp and sausage gumbo is a spicy, filling meal.

Sometimes I let my fridge do the talking when I’m trying to figure out what to make for dinner, so when I had several leftover stalks of celery, most of an onion and lots of diced bell peppers at my disposal, I took to the Internet for a solution.

Much to Joey’s delight, I decided on trying a recipe for gumbo.

I headed to the grocery store to finish out my ingredient list and realized that one item on the list, gumbo file, which is made from sassafras leaves, is not sold in most Kansas grocery stores (if someone knows a hidden spot it exists, let me know).

After doing a little research, I decided to get a little weird and substitute for the gumbo file with a bit of root beer, since it has much the same flavor. I tried my gumbo before and after adding it, and I had to admit that it had a nice influence on the taste, so just go with me on this one.

I found this recipe on the blog “Little Spice Jar.” You can find it at http://littlespicejar.com/new-orleans-gumbo-shrimp-sausage/. I added more garlic and changed up the type of Tabasco (which I highly recommend), and of course, subbed in root beer in my version.

New Orleans Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo

New Orleans shrimp and sausage gumbo is a spicy, filling meal.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Cajun

Keyword Andouille sausage, bell pepper, celery, gumbo, New Orleans, onions, shrimp

Ingredients

1/2 cup high-heat oil I used canola
1/2 cup flour
1 onion diced (I used yellow)
2 bell peppers diced (any color)
4 stalks celery diced
8-10 cloves minced garlic
8 ounces Andouille sausage sliced
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning I used Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce I used chipotle Tabasco
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
14.5 ounces stewed tomatoes and juices diced
2 pounds raw shrimp peeled and de-veined
4 tablespoons root beer
White rice for serving

Instructions

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven. Whisk in the flour until it is smooth and then stir continuously for about 20 minutes or until the roux turns to a medium brown (the author calls it “peanut butter color”).
Stir in the onions, bell peppers and celery and keep stirring until they soften (about 10 minutes).
Add the garlic and sausage and keep stirring until you can really smell the garlic.
Now add the bay leaves, Cajun seasoning, Tabasco sauce, cayenne, chicken broth and tomatoes, making sure to scrape the pan to get all the good bits off the bottom.
Bring the mixture to a very low boil and lower the heat to medium-low and leave the lid on for about 15 minutes.
Stir in the shrimp and cook for about 10 more minutes or until the shrimp is done (they will curl up a bit and become opaque). Add the root beer and salt and pepper to taste.
Remove the bay leaves and serve the gumbo over white rice.

We reheated this on the stove over the next week so as not to overcook the shrimp, and it was good every single time. It makes a ton of food, especially when you’re serving it over rice, so we had quite a few meals of gumbo before it was all gone.

It’s definitely on the spicy side, so you could leave out the cayenne and replace it with paprika to tame it a bit if you like, but it was super good with the amount of kick it had.

It also helped me clean out my fridge and gave me a new use for root beer that I wasn’t expecting.

Sometimes you have to be inventive and flexible in your Midwestern kitchen.

This piece first appeared in print on April 5, 2018.

Tags Andouille sausage, bell pepper, Cajun, celery, New Orleans, onion, rice, shrimp

Main Dish

Try lamb so easy to cook it’ll make you feel sheepish

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date March 22, 2018

Making a rack of lamb becomes a lot less daunting with this recipe.

Last week, Joey and I stopped at a new restaurant in Kansas City on our way back from a conference in Iowa.

It was a cozy spot, and we got a table looking directly into the kitchen, which was fun, since we got to watch the chefs in action.

We decided to share an order of rabbit, cooked with a mole sauce and black beans. It was excellent and not something I’ve ever been brave enough to cook on my own at home.

Like rabbit, lamb is something that has always intimidated me in the kitchen. I know it tends to be a popular dish this time of year, but since it wasn’t something I grew up on, I’ve tended to avoid it.

I found a rack of lamb on sale recently, though, so I decided to overcome my fears and give it a try. Luckily, I found a recipe that promised to be an easy way to fix lamb.

This recipe comes from Buzzfeed’s food editor, Emily Fleischaker. You can find it at buzzfeed.com by searching “The Laziest, Most Delicious Way To Make Rack Of Lamb.” (A great title) I doubled the garlic in my version.

Rack of Lamb

Making a rack of lamb becomes a lot less daunting with this recipe.

Course Main Course

Keyword rack of lamb

Ingredients

2- pound rack of lamb
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1 slice rye bread I used marble rye

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
In a food processor, combine the olive oil, garlic, paprika and salt and pepper. Pulse to combine
Break the slice of bread into pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse to create a paste.
Trim any extra fat off of the rack of lamb and spread the paste over the meaty side of the rack.
Add a bit more salt and pepper if desired.
Place on a baking sheet (line it with foil for easier cleanup), meaty side up, and bake for about 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 125 degrees.
Let rest for a bit and cut between the bones to separate for serving.

This was a delicious dinner that I paired with some potatoes. The lamb was cooked perfectly, and the spice combination, while not fancy or complicated, was exactly the right amount.

While you could probably use some wheat bread instead of the rye, the flavor of the rye bread really comes through, so I’d recommend getting a loaf for this recipe.

This piece first appeared in print on March 22, 2018.

Tags rack of lamb

Main Dish

Chicken recipe will get you a ‘lada’ accolades

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 22, 2018

Sour cream chicken enchiladas are an extremely quick dinner, especially if you use pre-cooked chicken to make them.

I hate cooking chicken.

I think it’s all the scare tactics people use when talking about salmonella and separate cutting boards. It’s also the slimy factor when I remove the skin or trim off extra fat.

I would use ground meat for every recipe if I could.

Despite my hatred for cooking it, I do enjoy eating chicken, so I will often work past my bias in the search for something good for dinner.

I was checking out the clearance meat at our local grocery store recently and found a great deal on chicken legs, so I bought them and ended up de-boning so, so many of them for this week’s recipe and for use in quesadillas and lunch wraps the rest of the week.

So know that when I say this recipe was worth working with chicken, that’s saying something.

I found this recipe on the site “Centsless Meals.” You can find it at https://centslessdeals.com/sour-cream-chicken-enchiladas-recipe/. I added some seasoning and didn’t include onions in my version.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Sour cream chicken enchiladas are an extremely quick dinner, especially if you use pre-cooked chicken to make them.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword chicken, enchiladas, green chiles, Monterrey jack cheese, sour cream

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
4 ounces diced green chiles
1 rotisserie chicken or 3 cups cooked chicken shredded
16 ounces Monterrey jack cheese shredded
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
10 taco-sized flour tortillas

Instructions

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for a couple minutes until it starts to brown.
Whisk in the chicken broth until the lumps are worked out of the mixture.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens, stirring regularly.
Mix in the sour cream and green chiles (I lightly drained mine). Stir until it’s smooth.
In another bowl, combine the chicken, about one cup of cheese, cumin, salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Pour about 1 cup of the sauce (or just enough to cover the bottom) into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
Put about one-third cup of the chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll them up tightly (leaving the ends open). Place each one into the bottom of the pan. They’ll be pretty tightly packed in there.
Evenly distribute the rest of the sauce over top of the tortillas and top with the rest of the cheese.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown on top.

If you use a precooked rotisserie chicken for this recipe, it should make for a very quick dinner, but even with me boiling a mess of chicken legs on the stove, it came together pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, while Joey did get a great dinner (and subsequent leftovers) out of this meal, he did have to listen to me complain as I dealt with chicken skin and tendons in the kitchen. I was hoping maybe he’d come volunteer to help, but I suspect he may share my feelings on dealing with the slimy stuff.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 22, 2018.

Tags chicken, enchiladas, green chile, Monterrey jack cheese, sour cream

Main Dish Soup

Vegetarian soup will give you inner ‘peas’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 1, 2018

A pastor friend of mine noted on social media the other day that 2018 is a weird year, with Lent beginning on Valentine’s Day and Easter falling on April Fool’s Day. He was excited at the sermon possibilities that may come from it.

I started thinking about folks who will avoid taking their dates out for expensive steak or lobster dinners on Feb. 14.

If that happens to be you, or you’re looking for a good, filling meatless meal for Lent, you like to get some vegetables in your diet, or you just really like good soup, do I have a deal for you.

I was very curious about this week’s recipe when I first spotted it on Pinterest, because it features chickpeas, which I’ve only ever eaten when made into hummus.

This recipe comes from the blog “Feel Good Foodie.” You can find it at http://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/vegetarian-chickpea-pasta-soup/. I added a lot of spices and increased the amounts of some ingredients in my version.

Vegetarian chickpea pasta soup

Vegetarian chickpea pasta soup is a hearty soup despite being a meatless option.

Course Main Course

Keyword chickpeas, pasta, soup, vegetarian

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion diced (I used a yellow onion)
3-4 large carrots diced
4-5 stalks celery diced
4-5 cloves garlic minced
1 heaping teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
salt and pepper to taste
8 cups vegetable broth
15 ounces chickpeas rinsed and drained
8 ounces small pasta I used macaroni
grated parmesan and dried parsley for garnish

Instructions

In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion, carrots and celery until they’re soft (about five to 10 minutes). Add in the garlic and sauté until it’s aromatic and just beginning to brown.
Add the spices and vegetable broth, and stir to loosen any bits from the bottom of the pot.
Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and pasta and cook for another 10 minutes or until the pasta reaches your desired level of doneness. (If you need to add any liquid, pour in some hot water.)
Remove from heat and serve with parmesan and dried parsley sprinkled on top of each bowl.

We enjoyed this soup a lot, and between the chickpeas and pasta, it fills you up nicely. It also has a lot of great flavors going on.

If you’re wondering, the chickpeas had the same basic texture as beans, so if you like beans, you’ll probably like this, too. And if you’re really not sure about them, throw in a can of great northern beans instead.

And if you want to make a good, vegetarian dinner for Valentine’s Day this year, I give this one my stamp of approval. Pair it with some crusty bread and a great chocolate dessert, and you’ll sweep your sweetie right off his or her feet.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 1, 2018.

Tags carrots, celery, chickpeas, onion, pasta, vegetarian