Grace and Ben

It’s been a crazy summer for me. I have been out of town from Baltimore for more than half of August. And before that, I was figuring out my new neighborhood and job and co-workers. However, as the temperature in Baltimore begins to decrease to sub-90s, sub-90% humidity, I have decided to start cooking again. I enjoy eating a home-cooked meal and previously, I was lacking the time, energy, and tools for making a nice meal here. I would like to share a few recipes that I recommend, especially for my husband–to help him eat his veggies.

Tonight I made “Beefy Lentil Vegetable Soup” based on a recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef

1 1/2 cups dry lentils, rinsed

1 cup chopped onion

1 can beef stock

1 32 fl. oz. bottle of V8 (equivalent to 4 cups of any veggie-tomato juice)

1 dash of Worchestershire sauce

2 tsp. salt

ground pepper to taste

1 tsp. garlic powder (optional

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1 tsp. cumin (optional)

Instructions:

1. Brown beef, break meat into small pieces while cooking. Drain.

2. Place meat in a big pot with a lid. Add lentils, onion, beef stock, salt, pepper, V8, spices (optional). Cook on high until boiling. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 30-45 min, or until lentils are tender. Stir every 10-15 minutes.

See final product:

I also found a nice squash recipe that is similar to what I usually make (sometimes I add a little basil for flavor at the very end, before serving). It’s a cheap, healthy way to use up summer squashes. Next summer, if I’m not traveling too frequently, I might try to grow a basil plant. It rains frequently in Baltimore, but I still worry that if I’m gone for a week, my plant will die.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 30th, 2009 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Baltimore, Dining In, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.