Thursday, July 24, 2008 ;
5:48 PM
Today's post is about
S U B S T I T U T I O N.If you know me well, you are aware that for the last two years Jim has been between churches and we have been just barely surviving. We have fought all sorts of battles, from small ones like cockroaches to large ones like almost losing our cars. Somehow, through the grace of God and our wonderful families, we have stayed in the game.
Some day there might be a book about this wilderness experience. For now, I am content to share some ideas with you, my blog-audience...blaudience. Hey, cool word! I want to give you a recipe that I made today, then tell you about substituting when you don't have the things you think you need.
Here's the original recipe:
SLOW COOKER LENTIL SOUP (from the newspaper) serves 6-8
2 cups dried green lentils, rinsed & drained
8 cups canned chicken broth
1 meaty ham bone
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp thyme, crumbled
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cups thinly sliced spinach
Combine all ingredients except spinach in slow cooker. Cover, cook on low 8 hrs. (high, 4 hrs) Remove ham bone and bay leaf; discard leaf. Remove & chop meat from ham bone; discard bone. Stir meat & spinach into soup; cover and cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.
Okay, that's what my little card said. And as a newlywed, I would have made sure I had every single ingredient on hand. But after 35 years, plus the lessons God's been teaching me, I surveyed my almost bare cabinets and "made do."
I never have ham bones...plus, ham is too salty for every day. (New Year's Day, maybe) I had a cup of cooked chicken, so I threw that in plus extra buillon since the bone would have added flavor. Didn't have much celery. Figured up the total amount of chopped veggies, then substituted extra carrots for my lack of celery. Had half a bag of wilting spinach salad; picked all the slimy ones out and got enough for my soup. Only had one cup of lentils, so substituted my last cup of brown rice. AND...Jim just told me it's the best soup I've ever made. It's called "Cooking outside the Box." Hey--another great book title!
Labels: Recipe
♫♫♪♫♪ from Marg
Marg Marshall, 5:48 PM
I love me some lentils. They should be in most foods. (And barley)
I just realized that you passed 1000 hits today! That is a huge accomplishment, and one for which you should be very proud.
Yay you!
Hyperion, at
12 August, 2008 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's post is about S U B S T I T U T I O N.
