Sue's Irish Soda Bread and Lentil Soup Supper

This is one of our new favourite dinners - simple and hearty. A veggie friend who came over lately said she thought the soup in particular was fantastic, but we are partial to the bread too - it is so quick and easy - and we haven't even been using real buttermilk until tonight!

So, here are the recipes:

Irish Soda Bread

In a large bowl mix together 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup wheat germ, and 2.5 cups of whole wheat flour.

Melt 4 heaping T butter with 2 heaping T of honey, and add to 3 cups buttermilk.

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and blend thoroughly and quickly until the flour is just barely incorporated - don't overmix! Pile dough into 2 rounds on a cookie sheet. They will be slightly stiffer than bran muffin mixture. Don't attempt to shape them.

Bake at 350 for 40- 45 min.

Lentil Soup

Fill a dutch oven sized pot about 3/4 full of water, rinse and then add a mix of red lentils and yellow split peas (about 2 1/4 cups total), some chopped onion and leek, 1 bay leaf, 2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. savory. If desired, add worcestershire or tabasco to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 1.5 hours. Add 1 cup diced celery and 1 cup diced carrot, and simmer covered for 30 minutes--until vegetables are tender. Mash roughly using a potato masher, and season with pepper.