Curried Lentil, Potato and Cauliflower Soup

I've always been taught that soup needs to simmer all day before it tastes good - preferably sitting in the fridge overnight to meld. So I was highly skeptical when I bought a new cookbook, Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons by Nava Atlas, and saw that many of her cooking times are 20 - 30 min.
Who'd have thought a published cookbook author would know more than I do about soup?! I've tried several of her recipes and the cooking times seemed dead on as far as texture and taste go.
This soup was okay. Not awesome but decent. I might make it if I have cauliflower on hand and need to use it up (because I always have lentils and a potato or two around). But there are so many awesome soups out there that I don't want to spend time on 'okay' soup. Nonetheless, it was decent so maybe it will score higher on your scale. Who knows.

Oh! One other big plus to this cookbook - she provides nutrition information! THANK YOU!

Stats:
Vegan
Makes: 6-8 servings
Calories: 250
Find it: On page 72 of Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons by Nava Atlas
Taste: Okay. Not bad by any means. Just not awesome.

Thai Sweet and Garlicky Cauliflower with Red Bell Pepper Strips

This book is riddled with long titles but that was no reflection on the time it took to make this dish. I ended up making a double batch because a single batch called for 1/2 head of cauliflower, 1/2 a yellow pepper and 1/2 a red. I figured if I was going to be left over with exactly enough to make a batch, I might as well make it again. The hardest part of this dish was chopping everything up - and isn't prep always the most time consuming? But even that wasn't bad. I had my sweetheart help me and we were done with everything in about 15-20 minutes. Just enough time to make some rice - which I did. There is a lot of juice left over from the 3T of soy sauce in here and rice just seemed like a perfect thing to serve this with, though CD doesn't call for it. Next time, I'll serve it with quinoa to up the protein intake (I was hungry again in about an hour). CD recommends that you measure everything and prep all your ingredients prior to cooking. I never used to do that but I started trying it and it really helped with this dish (there is a little bit of "do this for 15 seconds then quick throw this in for 30 seconds" that was greatly eased by having everything ready.) Oh, and it was delicious!

Find it: On page 723 of Passionate Vegetarian