First LTEV recipe review!

A while ago, amidst my pregnancy tiredness and sickness, I received this in the mail.

Oh yea baby, yours truly received a copy of the amazing Dreena Burton's latest cook book Let Them Eat Vegan to review. I already own a copy of her Eat, Drink and Be Vegan and Vive le Vegan! and love them both.  So I was very excited to check out this new one.  And it was mine all mine to cook up tasty vegan treats from and review.  That was a good day.  However that good day has been surrounded by lots of bad, sick, tired pregnancy days.  And so the little book has sat on the shelf while PB&Js, green smoothies and oatmeal were dished out.  Lame-O. 

Finally tonight I had the chance to make my first (of many) recipes.  And...drum roll please...I chose the French Lentil Soup with Smoked Paprika.  

Why did I choose that on a warmish night?  A.  It looked super simple.  B. I had all the ingredients on hand.  C. It uses two of my favorite things, smoked paprika and lentils (french no less!).  D. I'm notorious for fixing soups on warm nights anyways.  Yes is makes things doubly warm, but I'll be danged if soups aren't one of the the EASIEST things to throw together when you don't have time.  Chop, toss, and simmer.   And this soup was no different.  So.  Easy. 

So the soup got made.  The picture was forgotten until hubby came home later and was eating his bowl.  Thus the terrible picture of the soup.  But it was the best I could get, and it is perked up dramatically by my two men smiling. :-)

The soup itself is SUPER yummy, although I knew it would be as soon as I read 'smoked paprika' in the title. I'm not a smoked paprika addict or anything.  The smokiness from the paprika, the earthiness from the thyme and lentils really give this soup an inviting flavor.  Paired with a crusty whole wheat bread or some croutons and you'd really be dining in fine style.  Lentil soups are so hearty and filling and this one is no different.  Not to mention chock full of protein, fiber, folate, iron and a whole HOST of other vitamins and nutrients.  Note the iron and the folate mention, since I'm preggo and my midwife has been emphasizing them to me. 

The soup looks very thick in the photo, and that's because I used a little less water than what was called for (hey we like our soups thick), and I tossed in a cubed potato so that it would be seasoned nicely and Charlie could practice chewing a new texture for therapy.  Worked out great.   Oh, I also didn't have any straight french lentils on hand, so I threw in a lentil blend mixture that I had.  While I love the firmer texture of the French Lentils, the mix of varieties worked just fine too since it contained French and Beluga, which are a bit firmer, and then varieties like red and ivory which almost melt into nothingness.  It was all good.

So back to the cook book, which I'll hopefully talk a little bit more about later... you want to know some of the recipes catching my eye? ;-)

Proper Healthy Granola Bars

Cocoa Cookie Dough Balls

Smoky Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad

Creamy Curried Almond Dressing

Smoky Spiked Tahini Sauce

Chipotle Avocado Cream

Truffled Cashew Cheese

Mac-oh-geez!

That's just a sampling of the goodness I want to try.  And I won't even go into the list of desserts that I want to make.  We'll see how much this baby cooperates and how much energy I get back in my second trimester. Fingers crossed folks - almost there.  

In the mean time.  It was a awesome soup.  Dreena strikes again with her delicious eats.  :-D