Consistency

Okay.... In order to write more posts, I've decided that I'll write a post for each new recipe, craft, decorating endeavor, or other project I do. No, this does not include every picture I color with my kindergartners. Just stuff that takes some effort and has potential to a) inspire others or b) provide a lesson from which others can learn.

Tonight I tried a new recipe, lentil and ham soup, found on http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-lentil-and-ham-soup/detail.aspx
(I tried to make it link, but when I use the "link" option on Blogger it just shows a blank space where the text is. If anybody can help me fix this, let me know.)

This is what it ended up looking like:

Here's a close-up:

If you want the recipe, check out the above link, but a quick summary is chopped ham, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, some lentils, chicken broth, tomato sauce, and spices, dump it in a slow cooker and leave it the hell alone. I cooked mine on high because I didn't have the specified 11 hours to leave it on low, as we didn't drag ourselves out of bed until after noon today. It can easily be doubled, halved, what have you for whatever quantity you need.

It turned out okay. I have NO experience with lentils--never even bought them before. The soup tasted alright, not my favorite and perhaps a little too strong with some of the herbs. The lentils were perhaps cooked too long because the interior mush slipped right out of the skin once it hits your tongue, but everything else seemed perfect, including the consistency. If the lentils were added later, I'm guessing it would be more liquidy, but the lentils would perhaps be firmer. I don't know what they're supposed to be like, so I can't say whether that would be good or bad.

Bob seems to like it okay--we had it with cornbread (Aunt Jemima corn meal and recipe--a little too sweet for me), and he likes to dip the cornbread in his soup. His typical response when I ask how he likes something is, "It's not too bad." That can mean anything from toxic tar-like substance to what you would request as your last meal before your execution. Well, actually he usually tells me if there is something really wrong, but you get what I mean. He's eating it, so whatever.

I have to add for anybody who suffers from GERD (acid reflux) that I'm not feeling too hot at the moment--of course I'm also drinking Dr. Pepper, so that could be part of the problem.

Ooh, Bob just found the bay leaf, which means he wins the prize! I don't have a prize, but if there was one, he'd get it.

Coming up: I'm looking forward to baking some pumpkin snickerdoodles for Halloween at school on Wednesday--I'll post with pictures after that adventure.

Happy fall cooking!