Ash Reshteh (Persian Vegetable and Noodle Soup)

This hearty vegetarian soup is easy to make with a little planning. There are several versions online and this recipe contains personal tweaks. It is the type of recipe that tolerates "tweaks" very well. You can use alternate legumes, including canned ones if you are in a hurry. 

Soak 1-1/2 cups of dried beans in water for 8-12 hours. I used 1/2 cup each of garbanzos, navy beans and small red beans. Black beans, small fava beans, and green or brown lentils would also work well but I would cook the lentils separately.

Rinse the beans and cook in fresh salted water until they are tender. I used the Instant Pot (manual setting x 12 minutes with natural release).  This makes about 4 cups of cooked beans if you prefer to used canned beans.

In the meantime...

Use a large soup pot.

• Dice 2 onions, 3 cloves of garlic and soften in a tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat
• Add 8 cups of vegetable broth. I used Better than Bouillon paste and water.
• Add 1 generous cup each of chopped parsley, chopped dill, chopped cilantro and fresh spinach or baby kale to the broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until greens are wilted
• Add 200- 225 g of pasta like bucatini or linguine
• Add the cooked beans.

Simmer for 15 minutes until pasta is cooked.

Add 1 teaspoon of turmeric, 1 teaspoon of cumin, salt and pepper to taste

If you have some preserved lemons, finely dice the peel of 1/2 a lemon and add it to the soup. You could squeeze some fresh lemon juice in the soup instead. 

Add a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt to serve. 

Serves 6-8

Cornbread Biscuits

I tweaked this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for drop cornbread biscuits. They are drop-dead delicious! I added a little more liquid, some whole wheat flour and baked them at a lower temperature. I think making 16 smaller biscuits is the way to go if you are serving them with soup or stew or a big dinner. If you wanted them as a main item for breakfast with something like eggs, dividing the recipe in 8-12 would be preferable. They are fast and easy to make.

Preheat oven to 425 F

In a large mixing bowl combine

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup white flour
• 2/3 cup cornmeal
• 1-2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Cut in with a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly

• 1/2 cup cold butter (cut in cubes to make the blending easier)

Add

• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1/4 cup of water

Mix the dough lightly until it is all moistened. Pat the dough into a circle in the bottom of the bowl and cut into 8, 12 or 16 sections. Drop the portions of dough on an ungreased baking pan. You could use a biscuit cutter if you prefer.

Bake for 14-18 minutes.

I baked 16 biscuits for 14 minutes and they were done perfectly.  

Nutrition Information for 1/16 of recipe

Banana Oat Granola Bars

These granola bars are fat-free, sugar-free (unless you add chocolate chips), egg-free and gluten-free. They are surprisingly delicious for such a healthy treat.


Preheat oven to 350 F
Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper.

Mash 3 large bananas or the number of bananas to equal 1-1/2 cups. It does not matter if you add a little extra mashed banana

Add 2 cups of large flake rolled oats

Add 2-1/2 cups of a combination of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, trail mix. We used a bag of trail mix, some hulled hemp seeds, roasted and ground flaxseed, and a handful of chocolate chips.

Add some flavouring and 1/2 tsp of salt. You can flavour with 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon or a teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract.

Mix everything together well and spread ingredients evenly in the baking pan.

Bake for 25 minutes. Cool and cut in squares.  (32 squares)

Nutrients for 1/32 of recipe