Talk About Using What You've Got...

There wasn't much for me to cook for dinner last night. No chicken, no onion, no fresh veggies... I felt lost. (But I did have bacon!) I looked in the cabinet and saw brown rice and lentils and I figured I could do something with them. Maybe the (often cringe-worthy) word casserole. I Googled "rice lentil casserole" and discovered that this is an actual dish! Pretty popular, I might add. According to the Internet anyway.

The basics are the right proportions of rice to lentils to liquid. Then whatever seasonings and add-ins you want. I found mostly Mexican flavors going on, but I went Italian instead...

What I Used:

• 3/4 c. brown rice
• 1/2 c. lentils
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1 1/2 c. crushed tomatoes w/ basil
• the last bit of a can of cream of chicken soup
• a couple spoonfuls of tomato paste
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• onion powder (I didn't have an onion!!)
• 2 chopped carrots
• oregano & parsley (just a little)
• peas

Put It All Together:

• Mix it all in a baking dish. 
• Cover and bake. Most of the recipes I found online said to bake at 300 for a little over an hour. But after about 40 minutes I checked on it and realized that would never work. So I upped the temperature to 325. It was in the oven for about 2 hours. ...It did come out a bit mushy, but surprisingly incredibly tasty!
• Oh and the best part: I topped with mozzarella, but didn't have quite enough so I grated lots of fresh Parmesan on top. (The good stuff, from work.) And then crumbled bacon!! This really made it.

I served it with salad & bread (rustic bread with prosciutto and provolone baked in).

*No photo... It's not exactly the most attractive dish. 

Pardon Me Vinaigrette

If you don't have one already, you really ought to invest in one of these:

They're in the grocery store and it even comes with a packet or two of that delicious Good Seasons salad dressing mix. And if you've never made your own vinaigrette before, just follow the directions on the box and you'll realize how easy it is to substitute your own ingredients. Like this one for example:

• In your bottle, shake together (or whisk in a bowl if you really aren't going to get one, sheesh) a couple spoonfuls of Grey Poupon, a squirt of honey, a generous shake of sage, a little garlic powder & black pepper with white wine vinegar (I also used apple cider vinegar... good, but not as awesome). The amount of vinegar should be a bit above the line marked on the bottle since the mustard takes up more volume (yeah, volume... right?) than just a packet of seasonings. 
• Add a little dash of water and your olive oil. The ratio for these two can change to fit your own health requirements and consistency preferences. Give the bottle one more good shake to combine (or a few good whisks) and you're done!

**Tastes best served over salad with the following ingredients:

• romaine lettuce
• arugula
• carrots
• cucumber
• red onion
• chicken (browned with sage & garlic)
• sliced strawberries
• sunflower seeds

Sometimes I Need Easy

This dinner isn't exactly "blog-worthy," but I figured I'd share it anyway... I mean, it's all part of the eating/cooking/food adventure, right?

And sometimes dinner needs to be this easy:

...End Scene...

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