For lunch today I just reheated the leftovers of my lentil soup I made earlier in the week. It def. wasn’t as large as a portion as what I had for dinner the other night but it worked for a light lunch. The highlight, however, was the bagel! Even though it was small and lighter than most bagels it was sooo good and very chewy! I toasted it and smeared a little Earth Balance on it and savored every crumb. I’m glad I froze a couple of these because they will come in handy for sure! I also had a juicy red pear and (not pictured) a piece of dark chocolate. My roommate and I are both complete chocolate fiends and most of you would probably be appalled if you opened our fridge because we probably have four or five different varieties of dark chocolate sitting there in the ledge. We have Hershey’s extra dark, dark chocolate and mint squares, and what I had today: Hershey’s organic 60% dark chocolate squares. It’s the perfect way to end a meal, in my opinion!
VeggieGirl
March 7, 2008 at 4:31 pmOooh, that freshly-baked bagel certainly DOES deserve to be the highlight of your lunch; and it makes a perfect accompaniment to that warm bowl of lentil soup – yum!!
Haha, I’m actually NOT appalled by your chocolate stash, since my dad (a major chocoholic) has about 5 bars of 60-90% dark chocolate – yes, he likes the really “strong” percentage of cocoa in his chocolate :0)
Happy Friday!!
Meghan
March 7, 2008 at 4:43 pmMmm that bagel looks fabulous! I might just have to eat a bagel sandwich for lunch! yumm!
Betsy
March 7, 2008 at 4:49 pmchewy chewy bagels are amazing. i can’t wait to hear if you make the honey-wheat ones!! like those ridiculously addictive honey wheat pretzels.
speaking of good bagels, we might have to start talking about the awesomeness of murray’s whole wheat everything bagels…that hasn’t come up in conversation for a while 😉
Lori- the pleasantly plump vegan
March 7, 2008 at 4:49 pmyummmm bagels!
jenna
March 7, 2008 at 4:50 pmI LOVE Murray’s whole wheat bagels!!!!!!!!!!! Thats my favorite brand ever and I buy them whenever I see them because a lot of places don’t seem to carry them…..
erica
March 7, 2008 at 4:56 pmyour lunch is comprised of all of my favorites.. your lentil soup (best soup ever IMO!), a freshly baked bagel, and a pear.. YUM! i had your lentil soup for lunch two days in a row, it was that good!!
random question for you jenna, but where did you get your plate and bowl? i pretty much love all of your flatware. hehe. i do have all the latte bowls from anthropologie, those are among my favorites. 🙂
jenna
March 7, 2008 at 4:57 pmseriously–these are probably from target. they are my roommate’s….all my flatware is from anthropologie b/c I used to work there and get a killer discount. All my colored oatmeal bowls are from there as well as my glasses and most of my mugs.
arimcg
March 7, 2008 at 5:13 pmThey sell Murray’s in stores? I had no idea!
Lindsey
March 7, 2008 at 5:22 pmJenna, I think my question keeps getting lost, so here it is again 🙂
Jenna, does couscous fluff up more than rice? I’ve never had it before. But I know rice expands to like twice the size. Those little grains look so small, is it really filling? Also, I know its hard to describe taste, but I don’t want to buy a whole box to find out I don’t like- does it taste like rice?
Thanks! Have fun baking and good luck with your exam
jenna
March 7, 2008 at 5:26 pmLindsey,
Yes, couscous provides about 2X the volume of rice. 1/4 cup dry serving fluffs up to be about 1.5 cups of cooked pasta (couscous is actually a pasta). I think its much more filling than rice because it has soooo much volume so try it out and see what you think!
Betsy
March 7, 2008 at 5:42 pmi knew a mention of murray’s was going to take off.
i didn’t know they sold murray’s in stores either!!! well, when you come to new york, we’ll have to take a field trip to the real thing.
blueberrybabe
March 7, 2008 at 5:49 pmjumping on the oatmeal cookie convo… my FAVORITE cookies are chocolate chip oatmeal. anyone have a vegan or i guess just healthy recipe for something like this? thanks!
Jenna did you see my question about serving sizes from this mornings post? Thanks!
Tanya
March 7, 2008 at 5:50 pmDoes anyone have a good recipe for a breakfast cookie? Is it possible to find something in cookie form that would be filling without a thousand calories or cups of oil?
Emily W.
March 7, 2008 at 6:50 pmI was eating a kashi oatmeal rasin flax cookie the other day (very tasty by the way) and noticed that the flax was whole. I have heard alot about how we can’t really absorb the nutrients from whole flax so I emailed the Kashi company asking them why they didnt use ground flaxseed because they are all about health and they said:
Thank your for contacting us.
Flax seeds are rich in omega -3 (alpha-linolenic) which are essential fatty acids that are necessary to help maintain good health by acting as building blocks in cell membranes. In addition, essential fatty acids may help prevent certain chronic diseases such as heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Some information states that keeping the flax seeds whole may decrease the bioavailability of the essential fatty acids however grinding the flax into a meal can make the omega-3’s more susceptible to rancidity which causes a fishy taste and odor. We chose to keep the flax seeds whole so as to maintain the best flavor.
In addition, grinding the flax seeds can diminish the health benefits due to oxidation (exposure to air) which may compromise the inherent makeup of the flax.
We hope this information helps!
Thanks again for your interest in Kashi.
Does this suggest that they have the flaxseed in the cookies for show instead of the actual benefits?
VeggieGirl
March 7, 2008 at 7:01 pm**blueberrybabe:
I use the oatmeal cookie recipe from the “Eat, Drink & Be Vegan” cookbook, as well as this one:
http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2006/10/01/home-sweet-home/
just substitute chocolate chips for the raisins! :0)
VeggieGirl
March 7, 2008 at 7:03 pm**Emily W.:
I use flax in baked good recipes as a “binder” (since I don’t bake with eggs) – are there eggs in the Kashi cookies? maybe that’s why they use them? Haha, who knows :0)
VeggieGirl
March 7, 2008 at 7:04 pm**Tanya:
I found this recipe for a breakfast cookie: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_109112,00.html
Emily W.
March 7, 2008 at 7:25 pmEggs are the last ingredient….maybe they are using the flax as a binder?! I sure hope so because the idea that Kashi (a brand I have grown to trust as healthy) is trying to fool me by stating that these cookies offer a bunch of omega threes, yet they come in whole flax so we can’t actually reap the benefits, is saddening!
The boast that each cookie provides 600mg Omega-3s. Is this the amount that our bodies can absorb from the flax or is this what the whole flax contains that our bodies can not retain?
Any thoughts? I am just slightly confused on the whole flax issue and these cookies just sparked it (Im not trying to ransack Kashi or anything…!)
blueberrybabe
March 7, 2008 at 7:36 pmThanks for the recipe VeggieGirl! Do you prefer the one from the link you posted or from eat, drink, and be vegan? what is the main difference? texture? sweetness? Also after I posted last time I thought maybe i could just add oats to Dreena’s famous vegan choc chip cookies… does baking work like that or I cant just randomly add stuff? thanks!
Romina
March 7, 2008 at 7:46 pmI just love leftovers of my favorite meals. It’s all the yumminess without the work. I also find a little bit of dark chocolate really goes a long way!
VeggieGirl
March 7, 2008 at 8:13 pm**blueberrybabe:
I actually prefer the ones from ED&BV, since they’re chewier; but really, they’re both fabulous!
You could DEFINITELY add oats to the choc.chip cookies; although you may need to reduce the amount of flour to get the true “oatmeal look/texture” of the cookies.
Courty
March 7, 2008 at 8:31 pmBlueberrybabe,
I searched the internet awhile back for an oatmeal version of dreena’s choc chip cookies since they are so fabulous and I also love oatmeals! This site should have all the adjustments for flour etc. if you wanted to try it (and of course let us all know how they turn out :))
http://viveleveganrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/10/oatmeal-raisin-cookies.html
BethT
March 7, 2008 at 8:41 pmJenna, I made your lentil soup and have a question: my lentils aren’t as whole as yours look to be…they sort of dissolved and absorbed a lot of the liquid, so my soup is more of a stew. I used red lentils, could that me why? Are theye more delicate?
BethT
March 7, 2008 at 8:42 pmAnd P.S. the breakfast cookie recipe posted above (from Food Network) is AWESOME.
jenna
March 7, 2008 at 8:49 pmBeth,
Red lentils are much different than green or black lentils! That’s def. what happened!!! Red lentils are much softer while green lentils always keep their shape. Red lentils are great for things like lentil loaves but when it comes to a soup with body to it, green lentils are a much better bet!
BethT
March 7, 2008 at 10:51 pmAhhh, I see. Well, in any case, your recipe was great! It had a ton of flavor and I kinda likes the stewiness of it – made it sort of like Indian dal. I will use green next time for something more soupy.