Lentil Soup

We hope all of you had a loving Valentine's week!

We had such a sweet Valentine's Day! The downside was our choice of steaks but the steak sauce from Nigella that we made could have made a pair of Nikes taste delicious! I just love her.

This week has been a real challenge with work and family demands and just plain human fatigue! Plus, I made the mistake of not planning meals so everything was hit or miss. We must have gone to the grocery store a half a dozen times and usually we go once. That's why planning is so important (and even more so if you're busy). Haven't got time to plan? You just can't afford not to! It streamlines your life, keeps you on budget, and meal prep is a joy instead of a thrown-together-at-the-last-minute fiasco!

Another confession concerns my Friday night Polynesian chicken catastophe. I thought I'd try a recipe out of one of Grandma's more obscure cookbooks. The sure sign of recipe success is the amount of wear on the cookbook. If it doesn't have dogeared corners, scribbles, recipe adjustments, and random math calculations in the corners, it wasn't one of Grandma's favorite books. This one was apparently not one of her favorites. First mistake.

Second mistake: Too much ginger.

Third mistake: Grilling with a new cast iron grill pan...inadequately seasoned

Fourth mistake: Cooking a meal when no one was even home! Why?

Those are all the mistakes I can think of at the moment. Suffice it to say I spent the better part of Friday night scrubbing my new cast iron grill pan with a nylon scrub pad. My kitchen window will testify to that. I had to scrub that on Saturday morning. Ewwww!

On Sunday when we did our weekly fridge cleaning, my dear husband cut up the Polynesian debacle and we sampled a few bites. It actually didn't taste bad chilled and I thought it might be great atop an Asian variety salad. The disaster ended up okay after all.

So that's my week. Just like everyone else, mine don't always work out as expected! Such is life!

I will admit that my lesson learned from no planning last week began with a plan this week--hearty soups will be on the menu and I might even try some bread recipes to go along with them--in the bread maker, of course.

So this week is going to be great...I just know it!

Lentil Soup

1 cup dry lentils
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3 cans beef broth (or 4 cups homemade)
½ can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon thyme
¼ teaspoon pepper

sea salt
1 bay leaf
½ cup carrots, chopped
½ cup celery, chopped
1 pound smoked beef sausage, sliced (opt.)

Rinse lentils thoroughly and set aside. In Dutch oven, heat oil and cook onion and garlic until tender. Stir in lentils, broth, ½ can of tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, thyme, pepper. Add bay leaf. Bring to boiling then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add carrot and celery and bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer again for 20 minutes. Add water if necessary to reach desired consistency.  Cook until lentils, carrots and celery are tender.  If using meat, stir in last and heat through. Add sea salt to taste. Pull out bay leaf before serving. 6 hearty servings.