Thai Curry Lentil Soup

I love lentils and I've been in the mood for a summery soup. The weather is sooo nice I decided I did not want to slave over a pot for hours, so I will let my crock pot do half the work.

• 2 can lentils, drained well




• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained




• 2 cups chicken broth or I used College Inn culinary Thai coconut curry broth http://www.collegeinn.com/products/culinary-thai-curry.aspx




• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic




• 1 medium onion diced fine




• 2 small zucchini's chopped fine




• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots




• 1 teaspoon curry powder




• 1 teaspoon cumin powder




• 1 teaspoon dried parsley




• salt and pepper to taste




• cooking spray
  

Add the first 4 ingredients in the crock pot on high. Then in a large pot over medium heat sprayed with cooking spray, soften onion, carrots and zucchini. Add salt and pepper to the veggies. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Add to crock pot. Add spices. Cook for an hour and a half on high heat. Just before eating take a cup or 2 of the mixture and blend it up and add it back to the crock pot for a thicker broth. Top with greek yogurt or sour cream! *Hint, if you do not want to cook all of the veggies you can throw all the ingredient in the crock for 8 hours on low.* Enjoy!

Orange Cumin Chicken

I know I do a lot of chicken recipes. This is basically because I love chicken. I know many post ops have a hard time with it. I couldn't eat chicken for a whole year. The chicken recipes I put up are super moist and easy going down, so give the chicken another try. This one is very different and delicious! It was so moist, it broke apart like fish. This would also be a perfect glaze for fish. We just got home from Florida and brought home a ton of oranges, thus my inspiration!

• 1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (depending on how many people you are serving)




• 1 cup Tropicana 50 (or any other low sugar OJ)




• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste




• 2 Tablespoons olive oil




• 2 Tablespoons crushed garlic




• 2 Tablespoons dried parsley




• 1 Tablespoon honey




• 1 teaspoon cumin powder




• a pinch of salt and pepper




• 1 whole orange, sliced
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Layer chicken in a baking dish. Add all the additional ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour glaze over chicken and cover with plastic wrap. You can marinade over night or just for an hour, it really doesn't matter because the glaze is so good. Leave the chicken in the baking dish with the glaze. Slice up whole orange and lay a slice on top of each piece of chicken. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!