Hey guys! Happy Fourth of July to all my US peeps! I hope you are all having a fantastic day and spending it with family, friends, and of course…good food!
A couple of months ago, Cierra from Vegacontacted me asking if I’d be interested in helping debut one of their newest books, Peggy Kotsopoulos’s Must Have Been Something I Ate.
“Peggy is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Health Educator, and a Culinary Consultant focused on teaching REAL health through lifestyle and dietary choices that are easy and delicious!”
Um, yeah, so that pretty much sums up my ENTIRE outlook on health and nutrition…sign me up!
The following post contains a book and recipe review that is of my own personal opinion. Vega sent me Peggy’s book along with samples of their smoothie mixes/whole food shake mixes free of charge, but I was in no way compensated for this review.
When the book first arrived, I couldn’t wait to check out the inside. For easy reference, it’s divided into five sections each discussing the correlation between the food we put into our bodies and how it can benefit us:
- Food-Mood Connection
- Food-Weight Connection
- Food-Beauty Connection
- Food-Health Connection
- and Recipes
After the first couple of pages, I could not put this book down! Peggy’s writing is so fluid and relaxed! You almost feel as if the two of you are having a little “girl chat” over a cup of coffee. I was surprised, especially given my experience with food and nutrition/supplements from my years working at a supplement store, that I was able to discover even more about the things I use to fuel my body.
I loved the organization of this book too…very easy to flip back and forth from section to section (what, I know I’m not the only ADD book reader out there!)…and the scattered “tips & tricks” boxes were great references!
I’m sure you guys can guess what my favorite part of the book was…
Out of all the recipes included in Peggy’s book, one of the ones that interested me the most was her Lentil Soup. Makes sense right? Because it’s totally the season for warm hearty soups?! Yeah, well tell that to the AC unit at the hospital! I’m gonna be nice and warm during my lunch break all week with these leftovers! 😉
Lentil Soup
- 12 oz. or 1 3/4 cup dry brown or green lentils
- 1 large white onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 medium tomatoes, crushed or 1/2 15 oz. can (3/4 cup) crushed tomatoes
- 1 small potato (Yukon gold or red potato), peeled and cut in quarters
- 1 tsp paprika
- 5 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Juice from 1 lemon
Rinse lentils thoroughly. Cover with 4 cups water in a small post and bring to a boil. Once boiled, rinse lentils again and add to a large pot filled with 8 cups of water. Add onion, green pepper, celery, carrots, garlic, tomato, potato, paprika, and bay leaves to the pot and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until lentils become soft (approximately 15-20 minutes). Remove potato from pot, cut into small cubes and add back to pot. Reduce to a simmer and add oregano, salt, and black pepper to taste. Before serving, remove bay leaves and stir in lemon juice.
Yields: Approximately 3 liters
After the soup finished cooking, I took my “taste test.” I thought it could still use a bit more in the flavor and spice department so I did a little rummaging through my cupboards and came up with the following additions:
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast (or you could just add some vegan/regular cheese to the bowl once it is served)
So howabout that giveaway, huh?
For a chance to win a copy of Must Have Been Something I Ate, leave a comment (mandatory) below telling me one food that you love to eat out of season.
For an additional entry, tweet this giveaway with:
Good luck! The giveaway will close Thursday night at 11:59pm (CST) and the winner will be announced on Friday!
Strawberries any time any season!
Ohh this sounds like a fantastic book 😀 I love to eat pumpkin out of season… I’ve gotta have it even in the spring/summer.
I just Tweeted 😀
I love to eat anything grilled mid-winter!
any and every fruit! especially mangoes. my winter is a sad sad place without them 🙁 (just tweeted!)
I love to eat berries out of season. I usually buy them frozen and heat them up to pour over porridge or toss them in a smoothie. Oh! And carrots – I love them year round, though they taste WAY better in season.
Ice cream during the winter!
I could eat strawberries ANY time out of season. Oh, and ice cream. I know ice cream doesn’t technically have a season, but I feel like Oct-March are kind of considered “out of season” for ice cream. I, however, justify consuming it 365 guilt free.
And I’m tweeting 😉
It’s funny, I think I actually crave ice cream/fro-yo more during the winter months than I do during the summer! I guess I like that you don’t have to rush to eat it before it melts when it’s below 60 degrees outside!
I eat pumpkin year round! The only reason I haven’t for a while is that I ran out and my skin is a horrid shade of orange 😉
Haha! Working on that natural pumpkin “glow” huh? Lol
awesome giveaway. i love eating avocado year round…so it must be out of season for most of that time. although being in CA certainly helps. i always felt guilty in nyc for eating tomatoes and avo all months of the year bc of the cost to ship it to the east coast from who knows where. now i just feel *less* guilty 😉
Pumpkin all year long!
I would love to eat persimmons all year – my all time favorite fruit ever!! But I do eat pumpkin all year because it’s just amazing, especially when it’s with maple syrup 🙂
And I just tweeted! 🙂
Honeycrisp apples! But they don’t exist out of season 🙁
AMEN! Best.apple.ever! Just wish the season was longer!
I tweeted about your giveaway!
I love pumpkin all year! I actually still crave it a lot now regardless of how ‘out of season’ it is.
I eat avocados anytime of year. Anytime I can find ripe avocados at the store I get them…even if they might be a little more expensive.
I love to eat pumpkin “out of season”. It’s not just a fall food in my opinion–it’s an any season food!
My thoughts EXACTLY! Now if I could just find some of it so I can quit
hoardingsaving the one can I have in my pantry! LolOmg, this book seems to be great, I have read sooooo many wonderful reviews!
And my ingredient of choice to answer your question is Pumpkin!! I love it and we are always happy to have pumpkin muffins at our house, doesn’t matter what season it is! 🙂
Ana
I tweeted the giveaway!!
@KitchenspaceAna
Ana
I love to eat chestnuts out of season, not just during Christmat 😉
I love to eat apples anytime of the year!! I will even buy them out of season (which I shouldn’t but do anyway!) 😀
i can’t resist buying blueberries even when they are suppper expensive out of season!
Sweet potatoes. I eat those babies year round:)
I Tweeted! And it won’t let me comment unless I make my comment longer…?
AVOCADOES! every day, every season. And this is why I’m poor.
Bananas 🙂 aall year long
I tweeted on twitter!
I eat avocados, blueberries, and sweet potatoes any time of the year!
Asparagus in winter!
Berries. I love berries in any season. Blackberries, especially. I stock up in the summer and freeze ’em. YUM! 🙂
Rhubarb. I have been known to pay a ridiculous amount of money for rubarb, sad-looking as it is, when there is still snow on the ground. Sometimes you just need some eaton mess with stewed rhubarb. Yum.
I love oatmeal and pineapples any time of the year. And Granny Smith apples. In summer I keep them in fridge and eat them cold. So crisp and refreshing!
I eat pumpkin almost everyday regardless of what season it is! Fall shmall 🙂
Just about all my veggies, or at least those that don’t grow in a greenhouse, are out of season at least 1/2 of the year – that’s the reality of living in a colder northern climate! The main ones would be broccoli, kale, squash, berries, mangos, potatoes, and zucchini.
A-v-o-c-a-d-o…I will eat it anytime, anywhere 🙂
Tweet Tweet!! I tweeted the giveaway 🙂
I love to eat pumpkin out of season – in any way!
I also tweeted!
I love to eat soup all year round. So I am with you on the soup. I don’t care if it is 90 degree’s outside I LOVE SOUP…. My husband will say, “It’s summer” and I will say, “Who said soup has to be for winter eating? NOT ME”.
Thanks for posting the recipe. I have a bag of lentils calling out my name in my cupboard.
great giveaway! I love eating tomatoes all year round. They’re just so good, I can’t help it! But they are wayyy better in the summer.
I also eat soup all summer. Even though it’s generally hot, I find soup to be a lighter meal and if the A.C.’s cranked, I too NEED the warmth 🙂
I also tweeted 🙂
I love pumpkin year around! I also love vegetable soup ANY time!!! Why wait for cold weather to eat something that yummy!?
I like to eat avocados out of season 🙂 I LOVE avocados!
haha, when i heard you were making soup yesterday i was a little surprised. makes sense now 😉
i love bananas all year ’round. i suppose they’re “in season” all year round in costa rica, but i don’t think they’re ever in season in vermont 😛
this book looks like a great read!
I want this book SO bad!
one thing I can eat ALL year long? ice cream. the lentils look awesome!
I eat bananas and apples almost every day of the year!
apples are a must. always!
Not that there really is a season for hot oatmeal but I absolutely love it in the summer alongside a hot cup of coffee, yes I’m very much a heat loving girl!
I tweeted about this giveaway!
I do whole heartedly try to eat within the seasons. But there are two things that I eat out of season. Zucchini and berries. I love my berries. I stockpile like a squirrel freezing in season berries to use over the winter but alas they never last. I end up buying my frozen berries midway through winter. And over the winter all my zucchini came in from Mexico.
And bananas. they’re a must! and they’re always in season somewhere! 😀
And I just tweeted it. . . . . I will never get used to saying that :\
I love to eat sweet potatoes out of season. Though by turning them into fries, I guess I make them in season!
Fuyu persimmons! I miss them! But I am in love with the fresh summer fruits in season right now, but persimmons are delightful to have too! 🙂
Oh I LOVE persimmons…my absolute favorite fruit!
I wish I could eat berries all year…
I made a huge pot of stew for the week–so I’m with you on hot and hearty in the middle of summer.
What a great giveaway!!! I love to eat pomegranates all year long!!! Such an expensive love to have.
I eat fruits out of season in the winter. I can’t imagine EVER going a day without fruit. It’s my favorite!
I tweeted about the giveaway!
Pumpkin! I love it in pretty much everything! 🙂
berries!!! any time of the year
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