Ladies and gents, autumn is upon us, and along with it comes colder weather. And lots of it. What is a poor LWer to do, then? Make some freaking soup, thats what!

Savory Spaghetti Soup

Inspired by a recipe by Giada de Laurentiis, this dish has got to be one of my favorite recipes to date. Combining common ingredients such as spaghetti noodles, lemon juice and tomato paste, this soup proves to be a creative venture from the ordinary with the meshing of unlikely flavor combinations.

For this recipe, you’ll need one large pot for our soup, one medium size pot for boiling the pasta, one wooden spoon for sauteeing/stirring, one chef’s knife for cutting your fingers off, and one grater for the garlic.

Ingredients
4 cloves of garlic
1 white onion
1 jar roasted red peppers
1 cup frozen corn

1 lemon, juiced
1 handful fresh parsley
1 handful fresh basil

Instructions: Obviously, this is a bit more advanced than my previous recipes, but never fear. Its still pretty easy.

First and foremost, get your medium pot and start some water on the stove.

Second thing you’ll want to do is grab your garlic and onion. Take your olive oil and drizzle it into the larger pot. While the oil heats on medium heat, chop your onion and drop it in. Use your grater to grate the garlic into fine pieces. Don’t worry about using the part of the clove close to your fingers.

While the onion and garlic fry up, toss in your frozen corn. You’ll want to get out your jar of roasted red peppers as well. These guys only require a quick chop before you drop, but they add some nice bulk and color to the soup. And yes, that creepy pepper smell will cook out.

While these ingredients are going on the pot, put in your tomato paste. I use this great sundried tomato paste in a tube from the pasta isle at my local store, but if you can’t find anything similar, the regular canned stuff works too. Stir this in with your veggies until its mixed in fairly well.

About now is when you wanna pour in your veggie stock and add the chickpeas. I chose chickpeas for this soup because they have a mild, creamy flavor that goes well with the dishes existing flavors, but they’re bulky enough to hold their own.

You should also add the spices, fresh herbs and lemon juice now. The lemon juice adds a unique tang that makes this dish really special. At this point you can put your soup on simmer and wait until the pasta is ready to drop.

And obviously mix them together when the pasta is finished cooking and drained.. duh……………………..

Serves: Probably like… 8 bowls maybe hng!!

Cooking Time: Roughly an hour.

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(If you don’t know why I spelled Bunansa like that, you do not deserve to know.)

In the spirit of last week’s simple recipe, I thought I’d share with everyone one of my all-time favorite snacks this week. I originally ran into this recipe several years ago on VegWeb, and have been in love with it since. To modify this enough to warrant a reposting, I decided that the perfect way to jazz this snack up would be to add the stuffing of your choice. I’ll elaborate on that below.

Stufed Apple Bunansa

For this recipe, you only need a few tools — which makes it easy and convenient. Make sure you have 1 fork and 1 spoon. Sounds weird, but it’ll make sense soon!

Since this recipe gives so much freedom for variation, I’m only going to list the essential building blocks before I dive further into some examples of things you can add to it.

Ingredients
1 large apple
2 tablespoons nut butter of your choice

Instructions: Similar to last week, preparation of this recipe is also super simple. Apple and fork in tow, mosey your way over to the nearest trash can. Throw both items in and leave.

… kidding.

Use the fork to dig into the apple from the top down, using the fork to dig out the stem and seeds. This part might sound a bit hard, but it’s actually quite easy and terrifyingly theraputic.

Once you have all those suckers cleaned out, you have your base vessel. for whatever kind of crap you wanna put in this boy. Wow that sounds just… bad. At this point, you wanna skiddle your way back to the counter and plunge your spoon of justice into your nut butter of choice. I personally use soy nut butter due to a peanut allergy, but regular PB works just dandy I’m sure. Anyways, just plop a little of that down into your base. Not too much, but enough to coat the bottom of the hole.

This is where you can get creative. This little vessel is pretty much your own personal little handheld joy. Mix it up, add whatever strikes your fancy! Just make sure to layer whatever you choose with enough nut butter to keep it moist and yum in the center. Here are a few examples:

Chocolate chips
M&Ms
Chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans)
Raisins
Dried cranberries, banana, mango, etc
Dried shredded coconut
Fresh banana, smashed

This recipe is obviously open to your own tastes and interpretation. It can be as simple or complex as you would like it to be. Overall, it is an easy, portable snack that is packed with flavor — not to mention protien!

Serves: 1 serving

With school season upon many of us, this snack is a great fuel to tote along with you in a plastic bag as a healthful alternative to quick fix candy bars or sodas. I hope you all come to love this recipe as much as I do — once you have it once, I’m afraid you’re addicted forever. And ever. And ever.

in your face guys i posted it on time OH WHAT NOW

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What’s up LW! This is obviously  my first post here, and I’m Medli for those of you who don’t know me. From here on out, I’m going to be your resident guide into the world of the culinary connoisseur.  What I write about may vary from week to week, but I aim to provide you all with helpful tips, nutritious recipes, and nifty tricks that will leave you enjoying the kitchen as much as I do.

One of my biggest passions in life is veganism — the lifestyle of living without animal products. Through this medium, I have come to be a huge fan of all types of culinary ventures.  Cooking is a hobby that is not only surprisingly enjoyable, but it can be easy and rewarding. Through my bi-weekly article, I hope to share some of my favorite recipes with all of you. And the best part is they are all 100% healthy and good for you!

This week, I want to start you guys off with an easy recipe I developed a few years back — my signature smoothie. Even though summer is coming to a close, that won’t stop you guys from enjoying a cold treat, amirite? This recipe has been constantly evolving for several years, but I think I’ve finally hit the right formula. It has a great texture, yummy flavor, and it only takes several ingredients.

Meduri’s Signature Smoothie!

The first and most vital tool you’ll need for this recipe is a quality blender. It can be handheld if that’s all you have, but I use a counter-top blender by Breville.

The ingredient list, like I mentioned above, is fairly short, but all of them are key to making this smoothie EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT (Wayne’s World, Wayne’s World..).

Ingredients
1 cup of frozen strawberries
2 cups orange juice
1 ripe banana
3-4 ice cubes
Sweetener of your choice, to taste (agave nectar, maple syrup)

Instructions: The instructions for this recipe is, unsurprisingly, painfully simple. Just dump that crap in, boi, and blend. I usually use the highest setting my blender has (mine also has a smoothie button), but yours may differ.

Serves: 2 tall glasses

And that’s about all there is to it. You can experiment with other fruits and juices, and find your favorite combination. If you’re feeling brave, this sweet treat is even a great way to sneak in some vegetables. You also have the option of using a frozen banana and making a treat of almost ice cream consistency. Smoothies are one of the best healthy recipes you can make to tame your sweet tooth, and its an extremely easy way to pump up your vitamin count for the day (especially vitamin C!).

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, and I’d love to hear anything you have to say — requests, questions, general opinions, etc. I dunno, I’ll try to be less stiff next time around — I AM STILL NEW AT THIS OKAY AND WAT BIG WORD REQUIREMENT HELLO?!

ps i dont know what to tag this some big manly admin help me.
pps watch me screw this up.
ppps lol all my pses put me over 500 words score

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