Lemony Lentils

I purged many of my cookbooks during Covid lock down, but the few that I've kept I'm trying to actually use! Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan is by one of the vegan authors/chefs that I used to follow pretty closely (Dreena Burton) and I'm a big fan of two of her other soups. Katie in my office recently had a lemony soup that piqued my interest in trying her Lemon Chickpea Lentil soup (no link- grab the book). It was good but not great. The lemon flavor did make it more interesting than a standard lentil soup, and since I'm *always* a chick pea fan I had no problem polishing off this pot. That said, I probably won't make it again, as she has other soups that I much prefer (see earlier posts). 

Black Bean Chili with Mushrooms... Meh.

I had high hopes for this chili. I even made a special trip to the spice shop to get the chipotle powder and the mild ground chili. It has dried porcini mushrooms in it! Black beans! All the things that I love... and yet the result was just meh. There was also an excessive amount of chopping- so it didn't feel like a low key chop and pour sort of chili recipe that I like. The resulting chili was oddly watery and the mushroom flavor and texture were both lost in the mix. I finished the pot myself but would not repeat this recipe. Onward!