Soups and Stews | Kid Tested Firefighter Approved

Ingredients

5 cups vegetable broth + 3 cups water (OR 8 cups of water)

1 1/2 cups lentils, picked over and rinsed (I used brown lentils)

1 cup brown rice

1 (2 lb) can chopped tomatoes, drained,reserving juice – I used a large can of tomato sauce (all I had on hand) but I bet you could use fresh tomatoes, if you prefer

3 carrots, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into ¼ inch pieces

1 onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups chopped frozen kale (Trader Joe’s sells it now) OR 1 bunch fresh chopped kale

1/2 heaping tsp crumbled dried basil (pinch it between your fingers)

1/2 heaping tsp crumbled oregano

1/4 tsp crumbled dried thyme

1 bay leaves

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Directions

Combine broth, 3 cups water (or just 8 cups of water if you’re not using broth), lentils, rice, canned tomatoes with reserved juice (or tomato sauce OR fresh tomatoes), carrots, onion, celery, and herbs and bring to boil (do not add parsley and vinegar).

Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 45-55 minutes, or until lentils and rice are tender.

Stir in kale and cook for another 5 minutes or until kale is wilted.

Stir in parsley and vinegar and season to taste.

Serve as is or blend up soup using your immersion blender. (I blended mine so that our 1-year old could eat it)

Combine everything BUT parsley, vinegar and kale in a soup pot

Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 45-55 minutes, or until lentils and rice are tender. Add kale, cook for 5 more minutes or until wilted. Then add parsley and vinegar.

I blended my soup with an immersion blender but you can eat it just like this if you wish.

You’ve recently learned how to make burgers out of leftover soup, but how about burgers with only 3 ingredients!?! These are so easy to make and hold together really well, ready for whatever toppings you enjoy most. We like sautéed or raw spinach/collard greens, avocado, red onion, pickle relish and Southwestern Chipotle Sauce or Habanero Sauce (our latest favorite!) served with a side of Sweet Potato Fries.

This recipe calls for HOT beans – I usually cook a pound of beans in my electric pressure cooker and once they are done I assemble these burgers (and save the leftover beans for other things). You can also cook beans in a crock pot, make sure to soak them overnight before you cook them. Make sure to save the water you cooked the beans in when you drain them, helps the burgers stick together better!

3-Ingredient Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

This is another awesome Melomeals recipe – A.K.A. “The Food Genius” 🙂 I make about 9-10 average sized burgers from this one recipe, enough for leftovers for a few days!

3-Ingredient Burgers

Ingredients:

3 C HOT Beans (HOT means TEMPERATURE)
2 C old fashioned oats (rolled oats, uncooked) – I’ve used quick oats or rolled oats
1 envelope onion soup mix – I use Lipton or the Sprouts brand packet
Hot bean liquid if needed to bring the mixture together – I use about 1/3 cup of bean liquid for a batch of burgers

Method: