Who does not want to be as healthy as possible and live longer? I say no one.
In a previous Thirsty Thursday post, Luxe du Jour featured some of our favorite cookbooks. One of those is The Blue Zones Kitchen by Dan Buettner. This book features the “zones” where people live the longest. One of the keys to the longevity of the people living in these zones is that they eat whole and healthy foods. Most of their diet is made up of fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes.
Our plan is to incorporate more plant-based menus into our diet which seems to be the common element to longevity in these zones. We definitely cannot become vegans or even vegetarians as we still like our chicken and fish (and occasional pork dish). However, we think that if we prepare some of the recipes in the book that are super delish — it can’t hurt!
One of the recipes that we think is really yummy is a one-pot meal called One-Pot Lasagna Soup. It is quite thick and more like a stew or the consistency of a lasagna. The use of black lentils in this recipe makes it seem hearty and almost like meat is added.
The hubs loves this so much that I have already made it a few times. It’s super simple and so flavorful that you will definitely not miss the meat.
Of course, we modified this to suit our tastes by not adding the tofu ricotta as a topping. We used regular ricotta mixed with some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Blue Zone One-Pot Lasagna Soup
- January 21, 2020
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Ingredients
- Extra virgin olive oil for sauteing
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (we added one really large clove)
- 1/2 cup brown lentils (we used black and they were fabulous)
- 1 - 28 ounce can good quality tomatoes with the liquid
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano (we used a little less)
- 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
- 1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds (we added this and it really enhanced the flavors)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/2 pound lasagna noodles, broken into pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup ricotta cheese mixed with 2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese as a topping
- Fresh basil leaves as a garnish
Directions
- Step 1
- In a large soup pot, saute the onions in olive oil until tender (6 -10 minutes)
- Step 2
- Place the next four ingredients into the pot (vegetable broth, garlic, lentils, and tomatoes)
- Step 3
- Bring to a boil and reduce to medium-low heat to simmer for 20 minutes
- Step 4
- Stir in the wine, herbs, and spices and simmer for another 20 minutes
- Step 5
- Add the lasagna noodles to the soup and add salt and pepper to taste
- Step 6
- Cook until the noodles are al dente
- Step 7
- Remove from heat and ladle into bowls
- Step 8
- Top with a generous dollop of ricotta and parmesan mixture
- Step 9
- NOTE: You may add some red pepper flakes if you like a little spice