Lentil Soup

Arab lentil soup, simply made with red lentils, leeks (or onions), salt, pepper, and cumin. Add lemon and raw onions before serving. Throwing in a few pieces of (gluten-free) pita or other bread into the bowl is also delicious.

Chard and White Bean Soup

Vegetables are very cool, as evinced by these rainbow chard.

Which were made into a chard, bean, and fennel soup, garnished with a bit of bacon. I'm not eating dairy for now, but this soup would also be good with some parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

Lettuce and Parsley Salad

The humble iceberg lettuce, parsley, green onion, lemon, sea salt, olive oil: that's it. Leave the stems on the parsley; they are healthy and delicious. Plus, parsley detoxifies the blood, so you should always eat plenty of it.

Kale, Cranberries, and Almonds

This is the first time I eat kale, which is one of the most nutritious vegetables. My coworker described it as pure chlorophyll, which is appropriate for something that tastes like a cross between cabbage and broccoli rabe. I sauteed it in olive oil and garlic, and added almonds and cranberries.  

Spinach

In the Middle East, when someone says they cooked spinach, they almost always mean they cooked it like this: simply, with some beef or lamb and salt, pepper, onions, and maybe garlic. I added sumac to mine as well. 

Chickpeas in Tahini

Do not be confused by the claims some make; chickpease in tahini, commonly called hummus, is a 100% Arab dish. While Americans consider hummus a light dip, Arabs find it hearty and often start their day with it as a substantial breakfast. Additionally, if you find hummus that's been mixed with roasted bell peppers, artichokes, olives, etc., it's not authentic. Nor is hummus traditionally scooped up with anything other than pita bread. Alas, for now, until I can bake my own gluten-free pita, I've had to eat my hummus with carrot sticks and rice crackers. I hang my head in shame.

Medicinal Chicken Soup and Rice

Anyone who is on the verge of the sniffles, as I am, needs to quickly make themselves some medicinal chicken soup. I always flavor my soup with the aromatic ingredients you'll find in this post, but if you want your chicken soup to be even more powerful, then you want to double the amount.

If you aren't eating basmati rice, then don't bother eating rice. I flavored mine with cardamom.

Aaahhhh, hot chicken soup. You'll notice plenty of onions, parsley, whole cloves, whole allspice, and whole cardamom. Additionally, the soup was cooked with a whole cinnamon stick, and lots of garlic and ginger.

Mmm, and here they are together....

And this is how you eat it: place some of your rice in the bowl and flood it with hot chicken soup.