Easy Winter Meal for a Snowy Day

Whole Wheat Bread
& Raspberry Jam










Easy Lentil Soup











Aroma of Baking Bread










Bread Is Moist and Chewy










No Preservatives, Chemicals




or Plastic Packaging










Use Any Vegetables On-Hand for Soup










Bread Dough Should Be Sticky











Kneading the Dough















Water, Lentils, Oil, Salt,
Pepper and Bay Leaves











Rinse Lentils in Fresh Water






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"Easy Winter Meal for a Snowy Day"
by Charleen Touchette, 2009
One Earth Blog

Cold snowy mornings are the perfect time to bake bread and cook a vegetarian lentil soup in the crock pot. Baking bread is a lot easier than it looks and simple if you are at home on a snowy day. If you think you do not have time to cook, try these easy simple recipes and surprise yourself and your loved ones with a wholesome healthy dinner that costs next to nothing.

I began baking whole wheat bread in a farmhouse kitchen in Clinton Hollow in upstate New York while still in college. The first time, I killed the yeast and my bread was as hard and flat as a brick. My boyfriend, who learned to bake bread from hippies in Eugene, Oregon, taught me yeast is a living organism. Everything it touches has to be lukewarm so the yeast can grow. Anything too hot or too cold will kill the yeast and the bread will not rise. Once I learned that it was easy to take any bread recipe and modify and tweak it to knead and bake any kind of bread.

Whole Wheat bread is simple and easy to make and tastes so good, as well as being good for you with no preservatives and chemicals. There is really no reason to buy store bought bread in plastic wrapping.

Vegetarian Lentil Soup is a nourishing inexpensive and easy soup to make for busy young mothers or anyone who needs to make a quick dinner in an hour for pennies that is loved by children and people of all ages.

All you need is a stock pot or crock pot, a bag of lentils, water, a bay leaf, oil, salt, pepper and whatever vegetables you have on hand. Serve with short grain brown rice. This lentil soup is a perennial favorite with our four children and their friends from toddlers to adults.

Lentil soup can be cooked on the stovetop for 1 hour or slow cooked in a crock pot for 4 or more hours. This soup is perfect for days when you need to put dinner in the crock pot in the morning before going to work and come home to a hot meal.

For variety, pour the lentil soup atop fresh washed beet greens or spinach leaves from the garden just before serving. The hot soup cooks the greens instantly. It is a delicious variation rich in iron and other good nutrients. I also sometimes ladle the lentil soup into bowls and top with barbecued or roasted beef, chicken or fish and steamed vegetables.

Baked Apples are delicious and soothing for dessert on a cold winter night. Place 4-6 apples (pricked with a fork) in a Pyrex oven-safe dish, add ¼ inch water, juice or wine and pop into the 375 degree oven with the baking bread to conserve energy. Bake and drizzle honey on top or sift or sprinkle powdered or brown sugar on apples when done and serve.

This easy winter dinner warms the tummy and heart on cold winter nights when snow outside makes you want to cuddle by the fire with a bowl of steaming soup wrapped in a blanket by yourself or surrounded by loved ones.

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One Earth Whole Wheat Bread

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
4 cups warm water
2 pkgs. active dry yeast
1 T brown sugar
8 cups whole wheat flour
1 T salt

- Stir brown sugar into 4 cups warm water. (Sugar feeds the yeast.) Water should be lukewarm, warm enough to grow yeast and not so hot that it kills it. Sprinkle yeast on top of sugar water and cover with a dishcloth until it has bubbled up (about 7-10 minutes). Measure out 4 cups of flour into large bowl and add water/sugar/yeast mixture with wooden spoon. Add remaining 4 cups flour plus 1 T salt mixing with wooden spoon then kneading with hands until dough is elastic but still somewhat wet and sticky.

Oil bowl and return dough to bowl turning it to coat with oil. Cover with dishcloth and put in warm place to rise for about 1 1/2 -2 hours until doubled. Punch down. Separate into 2 sections and form into loaves. Let rise in warm place for about 20 minutes until dough is above loaf pan. Bake in 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes.(Optional glaze - Paint loaves with beaten egg or egg white diluted with eggshell of water after 20 minutes of baking. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds. Return to oven for another 20 minutes.)

You can put up this bread dough before leaving for work in the morning and put it in fridge to rise slowly all day. When you get home, remove, cut into 2 parts and form loaves, put in warm place (oven with pilot light on or sunny window work well). Let rise and bake for 40 minutes. If it is not ready for dinner, this bread makes a great dessert with butter and is delicious with raspberry jam and honey from the Farmers Market.

One Earth Vegetarian Lentil Soup

Combine in big soup or crock pot the following ingredients -
2 cups lentils (rinsed)
~ 16 cups water (stock pot or crock pot full)
1 T salt
2-3 T Oil – olive or safflower
2-3 bay
ground black pepper
Add coarsely chopped vegetables - I use whatever I have in the refrigerator or pantry.
1-3 potatoes
1-3 carrots
1-2 onions and/or leeks or shallots
1-3 celery stalks (optional)
1-3 tomatoes or 18 oz can (optional)
1-3 garlic cloves (optional)
Optional - Add 2 T Fresh Chopped Herbs as available. I add fresh basil, homegrown, organic, Herbes de Provence (basil, sage, rosemary, lavender, thyme, tarragon, or dill depending on what is growing well in the garden.)
Mix all ingredients into large soup stock pot and put to boil on stove, cover and simmer for 1 hour or place in crock pot for slow cooking all day. Serve over steamed brown rice or noodles.
Vegetarian Variation – Pour over ¼ cup fresh beet greens or spinach in bowls just before serving.
Meat/Fish Lovers Variation – Barbecue chicken, steak or fish and place atop lentil soup in bowls and serve. Steamed fish also works well.

One Earth Easy Baked Apples

Prick 4-6 apples (core, if desired)
Place in baking dish with ¼ inch water, juice or wine.
Bake 40 minutes to 1 ¼ in 350-375 degree oven.

Test for doneness with fork.
Optional – drizzle with honey, sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg and/or confectioners or brown sugar.
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Text, recipes and photos by Charleen Touchette 2009
http://www.oneearthblog.blogspot.com/