Leftovers and Such and Lentil Soup

So, today as I was cleaning up the clutter from being away for 4 weeks, I noticed the  bag of  "Just Add Water"  +Marie Callender's cornbread mix I had left behind in hopes that the left behind people would just add water and eat it with some of the cans of chili I had also left behind.  I also noticed the can of jalapeños, black olives, some expensive goat cheese and some poppy seeds that had been left behind as well.  Well, the poppy seeds had been there for quite some time.  I figured I could make a yummy cornbread to go with the lentil soup I had made the other day.

I saw that someone had bought a big pack of eggs, and since they had just been sitting there since I had gotten back home, I thought that even though the +Marie Callender's  cornbread mix said to "just add water", I could use up the eggs too and give my cornbread an extra boost of protein.

• I broke all the eggs into a large bowl and whipped them up until frothy.
• I opened the can of jalapeños and olives.
• I poured the juice from the jalapeños into the egg mix and stirred it up some more.
• I cut up an onion, the goat cheese, olives and jalapeños into small slices.  The jalapeños come with carrots and onion so I chopped those up as well.
• I added the cornbread mix and poppy seeds to the egg mixture  and stirred very gently until it was just moistened.
• I thought I would have to add water, but it turned out just right with the liquid from the jalapeño can and the egg.
• I buttered a long glass pan, with too much butter (just right really) and turned the oven on to 325 degrees.
• I poured in the batter and topped it with the onion, cheese, black olives, carrots and jalapeños.
• I placed it in the oven and baked it until the sides were golden brown and it separated from the edge of the pan (about half an hour).

The goodies had sunk down into the bread slightly and were tempting me to pull them out and taste them.  Instead, I cut a square out of it and tasted it.  Yummmmy.  This would be perfect with some of the lentil soup I had made the other day.  I heated up some soup and broke pieces of the cornbread over the top.  It made a delicious and filling breakfast/lunch.  I ate it with a tall glass of iced tea (my new fave +Red Rose Tea) with a couple scoops of +100% Organic Stevia from +Trader Joe's .

Lentil Soup Recipe (One of many)

• 5 Frozen Hamburger Patties
• 1 Onion chopped
• 1 Bulb of Garlic cleaned and chopped fine
• 1 tsp each:
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cumin
• Paprika
• Chili Powder
• Garlic Powder
• 1 Bag Lentils cleaned and rinsed well
• 4 or 5 dried whole red chili peppers
• 8-10 Grape Tomatoes
• A few quarts of water

On this particular occasion I decided to brown some frozen hamburger patties in my big stock pot, chopped an onion on top, added a bulb of garlic (chopped very small).  I let it brown very well, chopping up the patties into bite sized pieces as they thawed.  I added about a teaspoon of each:  salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, chili powder, and garlic powder.  I stirred it around then added the rinsed lentils with enough water to cover everything completely and then added a few cupfuls more since I wanted this to be more of soupy type of soup.  Lentils cook very quickly, I let it simmer for less than an hour.  Towards the end of the cooking time I added a few long whole dried red chili's and a large handful of grape tomatoes.  Voilà, it was done.

It tasted so good.  I had missed my home cooking.  Don't get me wrong, I needed that 4 weeks off more than even I had realized, but eating some good home cooked meals, especially lentil soup brought me back home again in a nice, gentle way. Brought back down to earth and the to the reality of my life in a good way!