On Mondays, Michael explores the world of environmentalism and its intersection with queer culture in the column It’s Easy Being Green, despite what Kermit says. Home-cooking vegetarian food is a great way to reduce your environmental and carbon footprint.

The best part of last week’s split pea soup recipe is that you can easily make lentil soup using the exact same recipe, just swapping lentils for split peas. I did just that this evening, so I am not reposting a whole new video. However, I did make this recipe a little different. Instead of adding in the dried spices from last time, I seasoned this soup with lemon juice and cumin, salt and pepper. I also added cubed potato to add more texture and to make it a little more hearty. In the video below, I briefly describe this new soup and illustrate how to peel and chop a potato and juice a lemon.
Here’s the recipe:

• 1 onion, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 4 stalks of celery, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, squashed and minced
• 2 medium potatoes, cubed
• 8 cups of water
• 2 cups of lentils, french or green
• 1 bouillon cube
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1/4 cup ground cumin powder
• the juice of 2 lemons, about 1/2 cup.

Combine all the ingredients except the lemon juice in a large soup pot and bring to a boil.  (Alternatively, you can sauté the first 4 ingredients together for a while, adding some salt, until the onions become translucent.  Then add the water, lentils and spices.)  After reaching a rolling boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour, until the lentils are soft and the potato cubes are not hard in the center.  Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.  (It’s my belief that the delicate flavor of the lemon juice would break down when boiled with the rest of the ingredients.  Therefore, it should be stirred in at the end.)

This recipe is high in protein, fiber and vitamins A and C.  A serving size of about 14 oz (that’s a big bowl of soup!) provides 14 grams of protein, lots of dietary fiber, vitamins and iron.