Monday, September 30, 2013

Day 8: Twenty tons of goodness

Ah, Mondays. The day I always promise myself I'll get up early and go to the gym before work. Coincidentally, it's also the day I always forcefully smash my alarm clock into submission and continue sleeping until all hope of a workout is long gone. One thing I did manage to pull off this morning, was throwing a ridiculous amount of vegetables into a crock pot on my way out the door. Here's how Crock Pot Lentil Soup was born:

It was way better than it looks, I swear. The recipe said it would turn to mush,
but mine stayed chunky. I'll just pretend I did that on purpose.

Crock Pot Lentil Soup (serves: one unincorporated town)


  1. Chop it. Chop it all. Seriously. Whatever you've got, just throw it in there. Here's what the recipe calls for: 4 large carrots, 4 stalks of celery, 1 onion, 2 large sweet potatoes, 1.5 cups of green beans, and 4 cloves of garlic. Your fiance and you will have an adorable evening, chopping and drinking wine like you're straight out of the happy half of an arthritis medication commercial. (Eventually the moment will be ruined when your fiance's overly sensitive eyes go on the onion offensive and suddenly it looks like he just finished watching Marley & Me.)
  2. Add even more stuff. Such as 2 cups of lentils, 64 ounces of vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon of minced fresh rosemary, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Additionally, you'll add one bay leaf. I will never claim to understand those things. One big leaf? In my soup? I just set it in there? Ok, if you say so. I would also like to acknowledge the fact that I actually have bay leaves in my home now... so that means I'm officially grown, right? Can I retire yet?
  3. Question whether or not it's ok to eat canned tomatoes. The internet HATES canned tomatoes and wants to ensure that you never even look at them for fear of imminent demise. Don't pretend like you haven't gotten at least a dozen forwarded emails from your mother, grandmother, or concerned friend regarding the dangers of canned tomatoes. Something about the cans being made of kryptonite because otherwise the tomatoes would eat through the metal and take over the world. You'll eventually decide one can won't kill you, so you'll add 15 ounces of diced tomatoes to the soup and then patiently await your untimely death.
  4. Throw it all in a crock pot the size of a VW bus. Let it cook for 10 hours on low. You'll come home to an awesome smelling house and dinner already made. When you spoon out two full bowls, you'll notice that you still have enough soup left to survive until the new year in case of a zombie apocalypse. Also note: the food you're about to hastily shovel into your face has been cooking for ten hours. Give it a minute to cool down before you cause irreversible damage to your taste buds.
The soup was great. It's excessively hearty and the perfect fall food. Scott loved it and had two bowls. There's nothing to feel guilty about and it's ridiculously easy to make. I added mushrooms as an after thought and they were soft within minutes. Really, anything could have gone in there... squash, zucchini, an old boot. It would end up tasty and tender no matter what. Our plan is to split the leftovers up into several different containers, adding minced peppers to one, corn to another, peas to a third. This way, at least there will be a little bit of variety in our lives for the next 80 Sunday afternoons. The freezer is going to have to pull it's weight this month.

1 comment:

  1. No matter what you do, someone will tell you it's terrible for you. When going for canned goods, look for cans that advertise no BPA lining as this is the anti-corrosive material that is linked to health problems, but the act of being canned isn't a problem :)

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