Now, I love this song, but I don’t recommend it for those faint of heart around explicit lyrics. That said, I think this is the only rap tune I’ve heard to date advocating a healthy life based around vegan eating. Also, this song (“Be Healthy” by Dead Prez) is the reason I went ahead and made this lentil soup, so it deserves a lot of credit for some of the best food I’ve had in a while.Anyway, on to the good stuff! I made a date with the girls in the apartment upstairs to cook this past Thursday, and for lack of time to think of anything special to make we pretty much patched a meal together. Lentil soup was suggested by one of the girls and while at the local co-op we decided to make some chocolate chip cookies and pick up some bread from a local bakery…little did we know it would come out so well!

Here’s the quick-and-dirty of what we ended up making (recipe from about with many adjustments):

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 carrot sliced
• 1 potato, diced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup dry lentils
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• dash salt
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 3 cloves garlic

Preparation:
Sautee the onions in the vegetable oil until they turn clear (just a few minutes), then add the vegetable broth, lentils, potato, carrot, pepper, thyme, bay leaves, curry powder, garlic and salt. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until lentils are soft, about 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Nutrition Facts (from about, so may be a bit different with my substitutions):
Calories: 230, Calories from Fat: 27
Total Fat: 3.0g, 5% Saturated Fat: 0.7g, 3%
Cholesterol: 0mg, 0%
Sodium: 852mg, 36%
Total Carbohydrates: 33.0g, 11%
Dietary Fiber: 15.6g, 62%
Sugars: 4.6g
Protein: 18.7g
Vitamin A 37%, Vitamin C 12%, Calcium 5%, Iron 28%, Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Gotta love the protein in lentils. We used green lentils because they are even more protein dense than the average lentil. You may think the garlic and curry powder a bit odd, but it happened on the fly and ended up giving the soup a very strong, interesting flavor. When served up with some fresh potato bread and topped off with some cookies, it made for a great meal and a calming study break.

Hope you all enjoy!