Today, April 8th, 2013 is Food Bloggers Against Hunger Day!  This means we are donating our blog post to this wonderful cause.  We and 200 other food blogs are part of this.  This has hit the mainstream media which makes it even more exciting!  There are two call to actions by you the readers at the end of this post.

Good food is not just about being tasty and looking attractive.  It's also about being healthy.  Healthy, organic, local food tends to be more expensive and harder to access by all.  Today we are providing a low-cost, healthy recipe for this cause.  Our recipe is a traditional Greek lentil soup provided by our loving mother, someone who always strived towards healthy home cooked foods.  She is among the inspirations for this blog.  Growing up, she made sure we ate healthy which meant we would eat at home.  After all, Home is Healthy!  Lentil soup is high in iron & protein and doens't cost an arm and a leg!

Lentil soup

Ingredients

• One pound lentils

• ½ cup olive oil

• one medium onion shredded

• 3-4 cloves garlic chopped, two bay leaves

• half cup fresh tomato puree (4 plum very ripe tomatoes)

• 4 cups water

Instructions

1. Wash the lentils well in strainer (sourotiri)

2. Put the olive oil, onion, and lentils in a 6 quart pot

3. Start stirring them with a wooden spoon (koutala) until the lentils are well coated , with the olive oil.

4. Add the tomato puree, the garlic and continue cooking for a few minutes longer.

5. Total time 4-5 minutes

6. Add water, two bay leaves, salt to taste and continue cooking until they are tender soft but not over cooked.

7. Add more water to make the soup more watery or thick, the way you like it.

 

We've done our part, now you do your part.

1) go to this link https://secure.strength.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=113 

and 

Tell Congress: Federal nutrition programs are crucial for hungry children!

2) Check out the film A Place at the Table in select cities, iTunes, or Amazon.

 

P.S. Thanks mom for the recipe!