Beluga Lentil Salad

If you are like me who likes the flavor of lentil curry but wish to have a dried version that gets carried well through the day or may be on a picnic day, you are in a right place. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Beluga lentils
• 1/2 medium red onion chopped
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 2 tbsp capers

Dressing

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tbsp mustard
• 2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp crushed black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

Topping

• Baby arugula

INSTRUCTIONS

• Rinse the lentils and drain well, place it in a pan and cover 3-4 inches above with water. Bring to boil and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Make sure you don't overcook, they should still have a bite to it.
• While the lentils are cooking, mix all the dressing ingredients together and stir well
• When they are done cooking, run them through cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Add the dressing, chopped red onion, raisins and capers to the lentils.
• Add arugula or any other greens just before serving the salad.

Inspired from My New Roots.

Beet-Yogurt Dip- Dairy free, vegan recipe!

This recipe is a vegan version of a traditional Mahrashtrian recipe called Beetachi koshimbir/ Beet Raita.

• 1 medium sized Beet- cooked, peeled and grated.
• 1/2 cup coconut yogurt/ soy yogurt
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tbsp roasted peanut powder(danyache kut- Dry roast the peanuts, transfer to a blender and blend) 
• Salt to taste
• 1 small Chopped chilly(optional, if you need a little bit of kick)
• A few strands of Cilantro for garnishing

-Mix everything together except Cilantro

-Taste and adjust the ingredients as needed.

-Top it off with cilantro.

- Enjoy with a crusty bread or good old pita chips!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Oh...that smoky flavor of these tiny little green Brussels Sprouts is just worth eating rather than describing!
It's a great recipe to enjoy on the BBQ day.

Here is what you will need-:

Brussels Sprouts
Olive oil- about 2 tsp just enough to coat the sprouts in.
Paprika
Salt
Black pepper- freshly ground.

You can certainly alter the spices as per your choice.

Method-:

• Heat the oven to 375F
• Cut the Brussels sprouts in half.
• In a bowl mix olive oil and rest of the seasoning/ spices.
• Add the Brussels sprouts into the bowl and mix well so that every piece will get coated very well.
• Line the baking sheet with aluminium foil and spread the Brussels sprout on to the baking sheet. Arrange so that they form a single layer and do not overlap.
• Roast for about 10-12 minutes. Check if they are done and have burnt just enough to give you that smoky taste.
• Turn them if needed and bake for another 5 minutes or so. Keep checking.

Enjoy!!!

SIMPLE PLEASURES-Mung Dal Dhokla

 

Ingredients-:

Soaked mung daal - 1cup
Green chilly
Garlic crushed
Ginger crushed
Salt to taste
Turmeric- a pinch
Canola oil- 2 tbsp
Baking soda- 1 tsp
Water- 2 tbsp

For Garnishing-:
Chopped Cilantro(Coriander)
Shredded coconut

For tadka-:
Mustard Seeds- 1 tbsp
Curry leaves- 5-6
A pinch of asafoetida

Procedure-:

• Soak the yellow mung daal in water for 4-6 hours. Grind the soaked daal to a rough consistency. Don't make it too smooth.
• Also grind the garlic and chily in a grinder with some salt and keep it aside.
• Put the steamer on the medium flame.
• Mix the grounded mung daal with grounded garlic chilly mixture and add 2 tbsp of water and salt to taste.
• Also add 2 tbsp of canola oil.
• Add the baking soda just before you put the mixture in the steamer.
• Mix everything well and pour the mixture in to a pan that you can safely put in the steamer.
• On a medium- high heat keep the steamer for about 15 minutes.
• The dhokla will be ready in 15- 20 minutes. It's done if inserted knife comes out clean.

I am sending this recipe to Cooking concepts- Vegan Diet - Only plant based hosted by Srav's Culinary Concepts.

                                                      

Mushroom Barley Soup

Last day of 2011!!  Last post of the year 2011. I am so excited to  end this year with a warm comforting bowl of mushroom barley soup! This one is a perfect blend of vegetables and barley.

You will need-:

1. 1 cup Pearled Barley
2. Olive oil.
3. White button Mushrooms- sliced
4. Celery-  diced
5. Carrot -  chopped into small cubes
6. Tomato-  chopped into small cubes
7. Onion - chopped into small cubes
8. Garlic - minced
9. Low sodium Vegetable broth
10. 1 bay leaf
11. 1 cup water
12. Mint leaves for garnishing
13. Salt to taste
14. Freshly ground black pepper

Here is how you will prepare it-:

Wash the pearled barley in water and drain. In a pan, bring 4 cups of water and 1 cup barley to boil on high. Cover, reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 30-35 minutes. Turn off the heat when the barley becomesoft.

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add garlic and onions. Cook for about couple of minutes. Add carrots and celery. After about 5 minutes add mushrooms and then tomatoes. Cook until they are tender. Add vegetable broth. Also add 1 cup of water. You can add more broth and water to make the consistency you want your soup to be. Add the bay leaf. At this point you can also add any fresh or dried herbs like thyme, oregano if you like. Simmer for 10 more minutes before adding cooked barley. Mix well, and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add salt to taste, but remember that the broth you have added also has some salt. Also flavor with some freshly ground black pepper.

Garnish with a pair of mint leaves and serve hot.

6 Layer Dip

Last month, my little kiddo turned 2. We had a party at our home with a very few close friends. I wanted to keep it simple with less people and more fun..:) My dad was also here to celebrate.
So let's get straight to the menu! I made a 6 layer dip to go with organic corn chips, 2 types of chaats -bhel puri and ragada pattice. We also ordered vegetable biryani and a cake for everyone. To top it off I made a Kulfi and a vegan cake for V.
Kulfi and the 6 layer dip was a total hit. Vegan cake was a total failure. I am not so good when it comes to baking, somehow I don't get it. People say baking is easier than cooking, I find it other way round.  I am used to eyeballing my ingredients so much, that it's hard for me to measure everything precisely and put it all together. Strange but true!

Okay, so here is what that 6 layer dip looked like-:

The recipe called for a 7 layer dip, when I searched through the Internet. I omitted the layer of shredded cheese and made it 6 layer, which turned out to be of a great taste. It was very simple to put together and looked very fancy.
Layer- 1
The first layer was organic re-fried beans mixed with a packet of taco seasoning.

Layer -2
Organic Sour cream

Layer-3
Organic Medium salsa

Layer-4
Guacamole

Layer-5
A dollop of sour cream

Layer-6
Sprinkled chopped spring onions over all the 5 layers.

Spread all the layers across the plate on top of each other, starting with layer one and there you have it. I would say , take out as much water as you can from salsa and then add the layer carefully to avoid the tomato sauce dripping over the layer of sour cream.
If you want to add the shredded cheese, you can add that layer in between layers of salsa and guacamole. I thought adding cheese might include too much of fat than the recipe can handle.
You can also add chopped cilantro to the sour cream , mix and then spread, which I think will enhance the flavor.

Give it a try this holidays, and have fun!

Baked sweet potato fries

Delicious evening snack for my little one! Sweet potato, cut in to wedges and roasted in the oven to the perfection!

Here is my little bunny, all ready with the sweet potato.

Ingredients-:

Sweet Potato
Olive Oil
Salt

Skin the sweet potato and cut it in to wedges. Make the wedges thin if you want the fries to be crispy. Thick wedges does not get the crunch that is usually expected from the fries. I make them thick so that they are easier on the little teeth.

Line a baking pan with the aluminium foil and spread some Olive oil on the foil. They need a very little oil. Arrange the wedges on the foil and sprinkle salt. Toss them together.You can also season them with other spices as per your taste like, pepper, basil, oregano, cumin powder, garlic powder, red chili powder etc.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Roast the wedges for about 25 minutes. Turn them over after 15 minutes.
Enjoy..:)

Soya starter

Back to back recipe of Soya as a main ingredient! I just love it's versatility, and the meaty texture.
It's a great appetizer recipe, needless to say healthy. Throw in any veggies you have on hand. I am sure it will taste just as delicious. Read on for few simple ingredients with few simple steps.

Ingredients-:
Soya chunks- A handful
Green and red bell peppers- cut lengthwise
Onion- sliced
Green onion- white part
Green onion- couple of springs, green part only
Soy sauce- 2 tsp
Hot and sour sauce - 2 tsp
salt to taste.

This is how you do it-:

• Boil the salted water and add the soy chunks. Let them play around for about 10-15 minutes. Drain, give them a squeeze and set aside.
• Add some olive oil in to the pan, and add sliced onions and the white part of the green onions, saute them for a minute, then add the bell peppers. Saute for couple more minutes and add the soy chunks along with the sauces.
• Season with salt and top them off with green onions.

Soy cutlets/ Soya patties

Easy to make, yummy to taste, and loaded with proteins! Just right for kids, adults, great for pregnant women, especially vegetarians, who often worry about their protein intake during pregnancy.

Read on for the ingredients and the recipe.

Ingredients-:
Soya Granuals- Couple of handfuls
Cut and boiled vegetables- Carrots, peas, corn, green beans, onions.
Potato- boiled, peeled and mashed- 1 small
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbsp
red chilly powder
cumin powder
coriander powder
garam masala - about 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Wheat flour- couple of tbsp for binding
Breadcrumbs- whole wheat
olive oil for shallow frying.

Recipe-:
Boil the granules in the salted water for 3-4 minutes. Drain the water and set the granuals aside.
Mix all veggies, mashed potato, ginger garlic paste, red chilly powder, cumin and coriander powder, salt as per taste in to the soya granules. Add the wheat flour just enough to bind everything together and make round shaped patties out of it.

Cover the patties with the breadcrumbs, and shallow fry them over the non-stick skillet on a medium heat, until they are golden brown in color.

Serve with your favorite chutney or just tomato ketchup / sauce.

Yumm.........:)

Scallion / Spring onions/ green onion pancakes with guacamole dip

I was being really lazy to post this one. This one was made sometime in September. 

Scallions/ green onions/spring onions are not a common item in my grocery shopping.  We went to the Pike Place Market, and found a big bunch of scallions just for a couple of bucks. Grabbed them immediately..:)

Scallion Pancakes

The recipe I followed- http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2010/07/scallion-pancakes.html

 I made some changes in the dough. First off, I used whole grain wheat flour instead of all purpose and I added some Indian spices in the dough to make it more tastier. 

Using the wheat, I think affects the elasticity, all purpose might have made them taste better and why not!!

So here is what I used to make these tempting pancakes-:

• whole grain wheat flour
• cumin powder
• chili powder
• turmeric powder
• Ajwain seeds
• salt
• canola oil
• warm water to kneed the dough
• and lots of chopped scallions.

Just eyeballed the ingredients. 

Kneaded the dough with warm water and all the spices, with salt and some oil. Dividing them into small balls, rolled them, sprinkled the scallions and rolled them again to make nice round shapes. Shallow fried them over the stove top on a skillet. Served hot with homemade guacamole dip.

Here is the procedure with the step - by- step pictures. Hope it helps.

Guacamole dip

• Avocados
• Cumin Powder
• Lemon
• Salt 
• Cilantro spring

Cut the avocados in to cubes, add salt, cumin powder, chopped cilantro, and then squeeze some lemon juice on top. Mash the avocados and mix everything together. 

I didn't add garlic and tomatoes, which traditional recipe usually asks for. I thought I will keep it simple. It still tasted great.
Make the wedges out of pancakes and use the guacamole as a dip or simply eat it like paratha with guacamole as a chutney. So try this great combination and leave a comment if you like it.

I am sending this entry to Only Greens Event hosted by Sara's Corner and Foodelicious. What a great event!

Kale and Chickpea (garbanzo beans) stew

My palate recently found that one of delicious tasting greens is Kale.  Kale has a tremendous nutritional value. I steam kale at least twice a week because it's a very easy preparation and it has great cholesterol lowering benefits. I am going to reserve steamed kale as one of my future posts. Let me move on with Kale and chickpea stew.

Stews are my all time favorite. This one in particular, has veggies, protein, fiber and carbs all in one pot. It takes less than 30 minutes to prepare, if you happened to have canned chickpeas on hand.


Makes 4 servings (and by 4, I mean really big servings.)


You are going to need :

• 3/4 bunch of kale 
• 1 1/2 cups of chickpeas/garbanzo beans (soaked overnight, pressure cooked to 3 whistles next morning or a canned variety would work just fine)
• EVOO- about 1 tbsp

• Vegetables- 

Add any veggies you want and in whatever quantities you like. I always make stews when I want to empty my refrigerator. I almost put everything in there. Saturdays are usually planned for stews, because it's a farmers market day. I clean my refrigerator in order to have room for some fresh produce. 

So coming back to the stew. 

Here is a sample of veggies that I added for this stew. 

          Tomatoes

          Mushrooms

          Celery

          Onions

          Green Bell peppers

          Spring Onions

          Potato

          Carrots

          garlic-4 to 5 cloves

          Ginger - few chopped pieces

• Seasoning

         Freshly ground black pepper, 
         Italian seasoning, 
         cumin powder, 
         coriander powder, 
         crushed red chilli flakes 
         Salt to taste.

• Juice of half of lemon and a lemon wedge for garnishing.

Add EVOO to a big pot, and stir in garlic and onions. Add mushroom and tomatoes and sauté them for a couple of minutes. After this point, add all the veggies one by one. The vegetable that takes longer time  to cook will go in first, of course. Add dash of water in between, if you think the veggies are becoming too dry. Cook them for about 5 minutes and then add the chickpeas and then the chopped kale. Add seasonings as per your taste. At this point add black pepper, Italian seasoning, cumin powder, coriander powder, crushed red chilli flakes and last but not the least add some chopped ginger to the pot for some heat. Add salt to taste. 


Add water to the desired consistency. Bring everything to a nice boil and let it simmer for 15- 20 minutes. The longer it sits the better it tastes. Add some lemon juice at the last minute to enhance the flavor. Since I am trying to cut down on grains, this is a perfect stew for me, because it doesn't really need any bread on side. The heartiness from the chickpeas makes the trick..:)


Serve it with a lemon wedge.
Enjoy..:)

Baked Mung (mugachi / Yellow Split lentil dumplings) Bhaji

In Seattle, it rains half of  the time of the year, and the remaining half is covered with clouds. Although I don't have any complaints, as I am the one who don't like the Calif weather at all.. Too much sunshine for me..:) I am better off with less sunlight and so this is perfect for me, except I definitely crave for a cup of hot tea and some bhajis to enjoy this kind of weather to the fullest.

It's been more than a couple of years that I gave up on the traditional Indian black tea for hot Green tea, simply for it's enormous benefits. I don't crave for black tea anymore. Speaking about bhajjis, as much as I want to have deep fried bhajis that tastes delicious, I feel guilty about eating them for next few days. In order to avoid this guilt forever, I came up with baked bhajis.

Traditionally, a hot black tea goes well with onion bhajis. I tried making Moong bhanjis, just because I was cravings for them. Mung daal  in itself has so many wonderful benefits. Why not include mung daal in to your diet on a regular basis?

All you need is:-

Soaked Mung daal- 1 cup
Ginger- 1/2 inch
Garlic- 2 to 3 cloves
Green chillies- 1to 2 depending on how hot they are.
Cumin seeds- A pinch,  just for flavor
Cilantro- chopped.
EVOO
Salt to taste

Soak the mung daal in water for about 4 hours. Drain all the water and grind the daal. Do not make it too smooth, leave it a little bite coarser. Make a past out of ginger, garlic, green chillies and cumin seeds in to a mortar and pestle( khalbatta in marathi). Mix the paste in to the mung daal batter. Add the chopped cilantro. Mix well. Grease a baking sheet with EVOO and spoon the batter on to the sheet. Toss some EVOO on top.

Bake the oven to 375F and bake these little buddies for about 20 minutes. Less or more time might be required as per your oven. Turn them once and bake  for 5-10 minutes. They should be golden brown in color.

Just like these-:

Enjoy them with your favorite dipping sauce or just with a cup of  tea (Green Tea??)

Oh... and I am sending this recipe to My Legume Love Affair 27, hosted by The Well Seasoned Cook. I love MLLA event and as always it is so much fun to enter in to.Thanks Susan for hosting.

Steamed Spinach Diamonds

A quick healthy snack, a healthy version of traditional dhokla. Mixture of  soaked rice, soaked urad dal, cooked rice and fenugreek seeds steamed to perfection. Add the spinach before steaming. Enjoy with tomato ketchup or mint chutney/ tamarind chutney.

1 cup of rice
4tbsp urad dal
1/4th cup cooked rice
1 tsp fenugreek seeds

Soak the rice and the urad dal for about 6-7 hours. Mix the fenugreek seeds in to the dal before soaking. After 7 hours, grind the mixture and let it ferment for about15-16 hours. Less or more time is required  as per the weather. After the mixture gets fermented well, add the shredded spinach , salt to taste and pour the mixture in to the container and steam for about 15-20 minutes. You can also add jeera (cumin seeds) or ajwain before steaming the diamonds. Cut them in to diamond shapes and serve hot with any kind of chutney you like.

Baked Vegetable Spring Rolls

Now a days, I want everything baked. I love spring rolls, can't eat them often as they are always fried when you order them in any restaurant. I decided to try the baked version instead and loved it. It isn't as crisp as a fried version, still it satisfies my Craving for it.

Roadmap-:
Shreded cabbage, carrots, green beans, spring onions, and rice noodles. Saute everything in a sauce pan with corn flour mixed in a water and a dab of  soy sauce. Season it with a pinch of salt. Wrap the mixture in a egg roll, and roll to make spring rolls.

You will need:-

• Thinly sliced cabbage
• Thinly sliced  carrots
• Thinly sliced  green beans
• Thinly sliced green bell pepper (capsicum)
• Spring onions- cut in pieces
• Ginger thinly sliced
• rice noodle- soaked in water, ready to go in.
• Soy Sauce- 2-3 tbsp
• Corn Flour mixed in water
• Egg roll wraps ( you can also use spring roll wrappers)
• Some olive oil
• Canola oil 

For dipping sauce-

• Say sauce 
• tomato chilli sauce
• vinegar

Stuffing-:

• In a pan, heat some olive oil and add the ginger. Add thinly sliced veggies except spring onions to it and over the low to medium heat saute everything for a minute. 

NOTE-The key here is not to cook the veggies completely it should have a nice crunch to it. Also keep in mind that, these rolls are going to cook in the oven even further. So keep them on the stove top for not more than 4-5 minutes.

• Add the soy sauce and the cornflour mixed in  water to the veggies. mix everything well. Season it with some salt and black pepper. Keep in mind that the soy sauce also contains salt. 
• Add the spring onions that we kept aside.
• Take the mixture off the heat.

Putting everything together-:

• Before we start putting everything together, preheat the oven to 375 F.
• Place one of the egg roll wrapper on a plate. 
• Take a spoonful of stuffing and place it in the middle of the wrapper.

• Fold the lower corner, as shown in the picture.

• Fold the wrapper from both the sides, refer to the picture.

• Apply a dab of water on both the sides so that the edges will stick nicely preventing the stuffing from coming out. 
• Roll the spring roll from bottom to top. Put required pressure to seal the deal....:)
• Brush both the sides of the spring rolls with some canola oil. Prepare the rest of the spring rolls the same way.
• Spray the baking sheet with non-stick cooking  spray and place all the spring rolls on it. 

• Bake them for about 15 minutes and then turn them once. Bake for another 10 and they should be done.

•  They will be golden brown on outside due to the canola oil and the vegetables should have nice crunch inside.

For the dipping sauce-: I love mint chutney as dipping, but you can also mix some soy sauce tomato chilli sauce and very little vinegar as a dipping sauce. Just eyeball everything as per your taste.

Enjoy-:

Asparagus Soup- A slow cooker/crock-pot wonder

This is the first time I used slow cooker for making this healthful soup. And now that I have used it once I am kind of addicted to use it over and over. Slow cooker is such a convenient invention, that it gives you ease of preparing your food while you are away the whole day/ sleeping the whole night. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Preparing the soup is such a simple task, all you have to do is gather the ingredients.

chop them.

and throw them in to the slow cooker, with vegetable stock/vegetable broth. I used vegetable stock. Also add salt and pepper to taste. Keep in mind that the vegetable stock also contains salt.

Set the cooker to low for about 7-9 hours, or high for about 5-6 hours. I set it on high for 5 hours, just until the potatoes are tender.

Let the mixture cool for an hour and then use the blender/mixer to blend it in to a soup like consistency.

Return the mixture to the slow cooker add the milk or half an half. Using milk or half and half is totally optional. As per my experience, using it is a wise decision, as it will make the soup creamy and thick. Set on a low for about 45 minutes, and then set the cooker on warm until you are ready to eat.

Ladle the soup in to a bowl. I garnished the soup with a dollop of cream cheese, shaved red pepper and asparagus spears that I kept aside.

Enjoy!!!

Coming up: Baked pasta with roasted vegetables

Eggplant Crispies

An eggplant is something I don't include in my diet on a regular basis. When I was growing up my mom used to make these eggplant crispies and I used to love it. That was her trick to include an eggplant in our diet.

Some facts about an eggplant:

Picture Courtesy: www.vegparadise.com

• In India, eggplant is called brinjal.
• Eggplant does not have much of vitamins but it does have nutritional value to it. Eggplant is low in calories and sodium and does provide lots of minerals.
• Eggplant also contains phytochemical monoterpene that helps in preventing growth of cancer cell.
• The skin of an eggplant is high in dietary fibre which is ideal for weight loss.

Check these out if you want to be friends with eggplant..:)

• Nutritional facts
• From History of an eggplant to recipes

Coming back to eggplant crispies-:

It's a very simple dish, and you will be surprised how tasty it would turn out. They would have a nice crunch on outside with a bite to the the eggplant inside.

Here is what you will need:

Eggplant slices about 1/4inch of thickness- 7-8 slices

Canola oil- 2-3 tablespoon for shallow frying

Dry Ingredients:-

1/2 cup Chick pea flour

1/4 cup Rice flour

Cumin powder- about 1 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder- 1 pinch

Amchur powder - 1 pinch

Chilly powder to taste

salt to taste

• Before you start on the mixing all the dry ingredients, place the eggplant slices in to salted water for about 5-7 minutes.

• Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

• Heat the griddle on a stove top on a medium flame.
• Give a little shake to the the eggplant slices to get rid of excess water and then give them a bath in the mixture.

• Coat them from both the sides with the mixture and shake off any of the excess.
• Spray some oil on the hot griddle, and place the eggplant on the griddle keeping the heat medium/ medium to high. The eggplant should cook slowly, giving a little brown color on both sides.

• Flip on to other side in about 2 minutes.

• Add more oil if you want them to be more crispy.
• Remove from the griddle and serve.

These eggplant crispies are so good that you can serve them by themselves!

Have Fun!!!

An entry to No croutons required.

Hello everyone, here is a small request to all of you out there. If you like my Spinach Soup recipe, then please vote for my recipe at Tinned Tomatoes. The winner will receive a plaque to display on their blog.

I would love to win my first plaque, so if you like my recipe and it's presentation and if you feel it's worth winning the plaque, then please visit Tinned Tomatoes and vote for my recipe. The last day to vote is coming Sunday.

I would appreciate your effort.

Thank you.

After completion of one year of blogging here comes my first entry to the next year's. Well this was posted last year, but the theme of the event is matching to my post, so I am sending the entry to one of my favourites " NO CROUTONS REQUIRED"!!!

This is a monthly food blogging event. This time it is hosted my Lisa's Kitchen. They are looking for a soup or a salad that feature leaves.

I decided to send my spinach soup recipe.

So here you go:

I wanted to serve something in a cute little white bowl that I recently bought. The first thing came to my mind was a colorful spinach soup which is full of nutritional value as well as rich flavor. Every time I make this soup I use different recipe, the reason is I don't remember the recipe I used last time. It's funny, because I make this soup all the time, at least once a month or so...:)

So this time I am documenting it down so that I won't forget it. Although I kind of like the newness of this recipe every time. So I guess I might document it today in my blog, but I don't think I would be using it next time......lols!!!

Whatever, here is how I made my favorite soup-:

1. Heat some unsalted butter in the pan, add chopped onions fry for a minute
2. Add 1 chopped potato to it.
3. Add half a cup of vegetable stock and and half a cup of 2% reduced fat milk( I used 2 % , you can certainly use whatever you have on hand.) Bring it to a boil. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes on a lowered heat.
4. Add cut spinach leaves, keeping aside few leaves to add later when you blend the mixture.
5. Add 2 cups of stock to it. Bring it to boil. Allow to simmer for 10 more minutes with a lid on it.
6. Allow the mixture to cool down, before you blend that in a mixture.
7. When you blend the mixture, make sure you add remaining spinach leaves. This will give your soup nice green color.
8. Return the mixture to the pan heated with little more butter. Heat the mixture, add some salt, sometimes I add crushed cumin seeds that gives nice fresh taste to the soup. But you can skip that. Do not allow the soup to boil. Serve in a nice plate garnished with spinach leaves and some Parmesan shaves or any grated cheese you like.

This is a perfect soup for cold winter weather. Spinach has tons of nutrients, it's a very good source of iron as well. So make a bowl for you and savour the warmth in the cold winter or on a gloomy rainy day.

Enjoy......:)