Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup with Tomatoes and Herbs

If technique is not your strength, and you don't want to slave over the stove, this dish is for you. Here's how you do it: you chop up a few veggies and herbs, dump them in a large sauce pan with lentils, water, a can of diced tomatoes, and some ground spices, bring it to a boil, and then simmer for an hour. It sits on the stove for a while because the lentils need time to soften, but once you turn it to a simmer, your work is done.

Jack comments that you can play with the herbs, and I think next time I'll try it with some cumin rather than tumeric. I did add a couple shakes of ground sumac to give a hint of a lemony flavor, and I think it worked. (Thanks Lebanese Taverna cooking class for that tip. Your lentil soup rocks BTW.) In fact, I think I might take another idea from Lebanese Taverna and also add in some potato chunks next time. Wait. Maybe I should just find the Lebanese Taverna recipe and follow it...

Anywho, I'm going with 3 stars for this dish. It's good. Not fabulous. But good. It's a nice hearty soup, with plenty of nutrients, and it's super easy to make. Nothing wrong with that.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chipotle Chiles and Garlic

Holy heat, Batman! The last time I made this soup, I found it to be beyond my comfortable heat threshold. I thought perhaps that I had added more chipotle chiles than were called for in the recipe, so tonight I made certain that I stuck to the measurements exactly.

Well, it wasn't me. The recipe calls for two teaspoons of minced chiles plus an additional teaspoon of adobo sauce. For me, it's WAY too hot.

The sweetened croutons help to offset the heat, and the flavors are fantastic, but for me, this has just too much heat. Tommie has had a lousy day today, so this will at least cheer him up -- the hotter the better for him.

I'm giving this soup 3 stars. Tommie's going to definitely disagree with me on that -- he's gonna love it. I'm making a note to remind myself to try it with only one teaspoon of the chiles next time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find some more tissues and some water. Ouch!

Southwestern Bean Cakes (with Mango Salsa)

¡Olé! For some reason I'm drawn to the "Spring" section of the book this week, as this dish comes from there as well. I try to have some type of Latin-flavored meal each week, because the spices and chiles are muy delicioso.

These bean cakes are pretty good, but once you add in the mango salsa, you have a very tasty meal. I'd recommend this dinner for a night when you're pressed for time. It doesn't take a lot to put it all together, and it only cooks for about 8 minutes. I needed to use a bit more corn meal, as the cakes were a little hard to flip. Must remember that for the future...

We're giving Jack Bishop's Southwestern Bean Cakes 3 stars. Very healthy, and tastes good, but putting the fork down was a bit too easy.