Sick day soup

I am officially going to say I am sick with something flu like. Saturday I woke up feeling bad, but figured it was more due to one too many drinks on Friday night, but on Saturday at 10 pm when I still felt crappy, it clued me in to may be something else was up.

I will be the first to admit that I am the biggest wimp about being sick. I still function, but I move slow and sleep more than one person should. Part of my functioning though, usually has to do with making a huge batch of soup to eat in the next few days. Yesterday I found myself looking through the cupboard trying to find enough ingredients to whip together an easy soup. I quickly remembered that my sister had emailed me a recipe for a vegetarian soup that I had been wanting to try forever. I knew I didn't have all the ingredients, but decided to give it a try anyway.

Here's the recipe, with my notes and what I omitted. I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but I omitted a lot of them and it still turned out fabulous. This isn't an attractive looking soup by any means, but still very yummy (and healthy).

*Side note: I never kept fresh ginger in the house because I didn't use it that often, but you can freeze it and then just cut off what you need, so go out and buy some!!

Moroccan-style Lentil and Chickpea Soup
Cook time: 8 hours
Crockpot setting: low
Serves: 6
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped (I didn't have any, so I added in a zucchini instead)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
½ teaspoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom (omitted)
½ cup dried lentils, picked over and rinsed (omitted)
One 14.5-ounce can plum tomatoes, drained and chopped (I just used canned diced tomatoes)
One 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed ( used a little more than one can)
6 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons harissa sauce, to taste, plus more to serve (recipe follows)
salt and black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and garlic, cover, and cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and cardamom, stirring to coat the vegetables.
2. Transfer the onion mixture to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, add the lentils, tomatoes, chickpeas, and stock, cover, and cook on Low for 8 hours.
3. About 10 minutes before serving, add the lemon juice and harissa, and season with salt and pepper. A small bowl of harissa may be placed on the table for those who wish to add more.

Harissa Sauce
Makes about 1/2 cup
4 dried red chiles, stemmed and seeded (I used a couple tsps red pepper flakes and omitted step 1)
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
¾ teaspoon ground caraway seeds (omitted)
¾ teaspoon ground coriander (omitted)
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons water

1. Break the chiles into pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Add enough boiling water to cover and let soak for 5 minutes.
2. Drain the chiles and place them in a food processor. (I didn't use my food processor, just chopped everything really fine) Add the garlic, oil, caraway, coriander, and salt, and process until pureed. Add the water and process until smooth. Transfer the sauce to a tightly covered contained and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Properly stored, it will keep for several weeks.

Enjoy!!!