Today, in our series on Easy Weeknight Meals we’re joining my friend Ashley of Vibrant Healthy Kids and her sweet daughter Sloan as they make one of their favorite easy weeknight meals: Sweet Potato Curry Lentil Soup with Homemade Kale Pesto. Here’s how quickly it comes together on a busy weeknight…
Ashley’s love for healthy, clean cooking came from spending years with chronic health problems and medications, and then making healthier food and lifestyle choices that completely turned things around for her. “My transformation began with the farmers markets of Northern California and learning to cook…making small changes over time turned into a lifestyle that allowed me to abandoned the small pharmacy I had created and enjoy life feeling truly healthy for the first time in as long as I can remember.”
Fast forward to motherhood (Ashley has two daughters ages 6 and 4), “our pediatrician taught me how food was a powerful tool for supporting my own children’s health challenges”. She started her blog Vibrant Healthy Kids, and has become so passionate on the subject of healthy cooking, that she left her thriving career to go back to school and study to become a pediatric nutritionist. I’m so inspired by her!
Sweet Potato Curry Lentil Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 sweet potatoes cut in 1 inch cubes (i leave skin on, but can remove skin if you prefer)
1 yellow onion finely chopped
1½ vegetable bouillon cubes cut into smaller pieces (we love Rapunzel Organic No Salt Added)
fine grain sea salt
2 teaspoons indian curry powder
1 cup green or black lentils, rinsed with debris removed
4 cups of water
Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil in pot over medium-high heat. Add sweet potatoes and onions to pot with a pinch of sea salt. stir. Cook until onions become slightly translucent and soften. Add in curry powder and stir until spread evenly with sweet potatoes and onions. Add lentils and 4 cups of water (or slightly more until sweet potatoes and lentils are covered with water). Add previously cut vegetable bouillon cubes into pot. Bring to boil for 1-3 minutes until bouillon appears to be dissolved. Reduce to simmer and cover. Cook for 20-30 minutes until lentils soften to desired tenderness. Taste and add additional salt to desired taste.
Kale Pesto
1 cup kale or 1 large handful washed
1 cup basil or 1 large handful washed
6 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves
1½ teaspoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon sea salt
6 Tablespoons pine nuts (or raw cashews is a great healthy, affordable alternative)
Combine ingredients in the food processor
Combine ingredients in food processor or blender. Process until combined well. This recipe makes plenty, so if you do not want leftovers in the fridge or freezer, cut it in half.
Thank you Ashley for inviting us into your home and sharing your brilliant recipe and inspiring story! Find more about Ashley at her blog Vibrant Healthy Kids
Makes me hungry!
Love the sweet potato lentil recipe and bonus because most ingredients are always in our pantry! I make lentil soups all the time because growing up in India, lentils have always been a staple for us but I never thought of adding potatoes and making it such a wholesome dish. Thanks for sharing! http://www.thirdeyechicfashion.com