While I don’t really intend to enter the realm of “food blogger,” I do love food, and I am going to post about it. Eventually I’ll be posting pictures of the delicious gluten-free goodies I find in China, but for now, you’re going to have to put up with the things I make here in the US.
Because of my strange work schedule (2-6) and my co-op house’s requirement to cook twice a month, I find myself using the crock pot a lot lately. In addition, I have plenty of time in the morning to cut and mix things that just need to be tossed in the oven when I finally get home.
Today’s menu starts with a jar of yellow lentils found in the pantry last night. I wanted to make lentil soup like one finds in a Middle Eastern restaurant, but none of the web recipes looked quite right. I found one anyway, and quickly ignored it. Here’s what I did, keeping in mind that I have 9 people to feed:
Turn the crockpot on High, and add some olive oil. Let it heat while you chop.
Chop onion – I used 3 small ones – and add to the warm oil.
Mince 3ish cloves of garlic and add in.
Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes. I screwed up and used the kind with Italian herbs already added, but as it turned out that was all we had in the house anyway.
Let this cook while you rinse the lentils and heat extra water.
A note about water: If I had started this at 9am, I would have put the water in at whatever temp in came out of the tap. Because it was already noon, I boiled water in the electric kettle so the soup would start cooking faster.
I used 3 cups of lentils, and 9 cups of water. I added 1tbsp each of turmeric, cumin, and vegetarian chicken broth powder. As an afterthought, I added in 2 chopped up celery stalks when I stirred it. Lemon and/or yogurt can be added when you serve it.
Because my crockpot is “smart” it will only run on High for a maximum of 6 hours. This means that I will unplug it before I go to work so it will reset, and turn it back on for 6 more hours. 
——–
Roasted root veggies are the easiest thing in the world. Our winter CSA share is loaded with potatoes, rutabaga, carrots, celeriac, beets, etc. A rutabaga started to sprout in the drawer where we keep these, so in it went. It was HUGE, so that didn’t leave room for much else.
In addition to the rutabaga, I used 2 small beets, 2 carrots, 1 largish potato, and 2 small celeriac. Cube everything, toss with about a third of a cup of olive oil, and top with coarse sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Toss together in a roasting dish, cover, and leave on countertop with a note begging your housemates to put it in the oven at 6pm at 350.
This post will be updated with pictures when I return from work. Happy biking!
Recent Comments