Spicy Chickpea Soup with Roasted Peppers

Ingredients!

5 cloves garlic, chopped
Oil and/or butter (this is vegan if you skip the butter)
1 can chickpeas
Splash of lemon juice.
About 1 cup worth of chopped tomatoes 
1 red and 1 green bell pepper
Dry spices: thyme, garlic, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper
1 and a half cups of broth or water

Steps:

First thing: start your peppers roasting. Do this using whatever method appeals to you or follow the instructions here.

Then start 4 of your garlic cloves in some oil and/or butter. Lately I have been reserving 1 clove and chop it much more finely to throw in raw at the end - when raw, garlic is a prebiotic (i.e. feeds the helpful bacteria) and also has antifungal/antibacterial properties.

While simmering, add spices and lemon juice. For the spices: I added a large amount of paprika because I want that red pepper flavor, and a couple shakes of everything else. Let your nose be your guide. FYI for cayenne & cinnamon, a little goes a long way.

When your garlic is tender add your chickpeas and water or broth. Bring back up to a simmer.

Then smash up your chickpeas somewhat. You can use an immersion blender or, if you're like me and don't have fancy cookware, just use a potato masher! It doesn't have to be a puree, just smaller chunks.

Let this simmer until your peppers are roasted. Peel your roasted peppers (let them cool first, dude, don't get burned!), chop them into bite size pieces and stir them in.

Add your chopped tomatoes and raw garlic and you're good to go!

This is way yummy for dipping bread in or just eating on its own.

Soul-chinnis with Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce

This entire recipe is under 200 calories, really simple and quick, and tastes awesome.  The zuchinnis are kind of hot and hearty and the dipping sauce has this very nice cooling effect because of the red pepper and cilantro. Serve it as an appetizer for 2-4 people or do what I did and eat the whole thing for dinner! (I threw in a side salad and an english muffin to make it a whole meal.)

Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce:

There used to be this amazing place in Brooklyn called Aunt Suzy's, and they served every table bread and butter with this amazing red pepper dipping sauce. They closed last year and I have been mourning that amazing sauce ever since.  Anyway, this sauce isn't exactly the same but it does have that nice roasted red pepper zing.

Ingredients

1 red pepper

1 small tomato

a small bunch of cilantro

splash of shiraz

Roasting a Red Pepper:

Roasting a red pepper is really easy but takes time in the oven, so start this about an hour before you plan to actually cook everything else. You can brush the pepper with oil but I usually don't (why add calories?) and I'm still quite happy with how it comes out. Basically, preheat your oven to about 450-500 degrees, stick your pepper on some foil or a baking sheet, stick it in there and walk away. Check periodically. When a spot turns black, turn it. When the whole thing is mostly black, take it out (carefully!), put it in a bowl and cover the bowl with saran wrap. Leave it for 10-20 minutes. Then you will be able to easily peel off the skin and get the seed/stem out when it is cool enough to touch.

Once your red pepper is roasted, throw it, and a tomato (chop the tomato up into big pieces), and your cilantro, and your shiraz, into a blender. Then blend until it's a good consistency. You're done.

Soul-chinnis:

Ingredients

1 large zuchinni

1 tsp whipped butter

1 tsp Jamaican soul seasoning

dash pepper, dash thyme, dash paprika

Peel & julienne your zuchinni. Put a wok* on medium-high heat and melt the butter in it, spreading it around to cover as much surface area as possible. Add your zuchinnis, then your spices, then mix around vigorously with a spatula. 

This does not take long to cook. When the skinniest zuchinnis start getting floppy and translucent, you're done.

And there you have it!

*If you don't have a wok, I'm sad for you. You can use a frying pan. Or go to ikea and buy a wok for $20.