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Saturday, April 14th, 2007 01:57 pm
I don't cook; I apply heat to piles of completely random ingredients with no rhyme or reason behind it at all.

I found some dried lentils in the grocery store, so on a whim I bought some. I washed them & put them in the crock pot along with some dried barley, a big pile of water, and everything I could find that smelled good. Joy of Cooking says simmer for four hours so I figure four hours in the crock pot ought to do it.

I'll be fascinated to see how the water to other stuff ratio turns out. Different sources varied enormously on this. I may have what looks like a pile of veggies for a dinner plate or I may have water with a few things piled at the bottom of it. I'll have to check part way through.

I have a little stick blender for turning it into soup when it's done, but with the barley in there maybe I'll skip that step. Looking at the spices I chose, I probably should have skipped the barley. Oh well.

Stuff:
2.5 cups dried lentils
1/4 cup dried barley
8 cups water
small handful dried minced onion
hefty spoon of curry powder
couple shakes of turmeric
couple shakes of garlic powder
couple shakes of black pepper
tiny pile - maybe a scant 1/4 teaspoon - of ginger
teaspoon or less of salt

Now that I've thought of the stick blender, I want to get out the second crock and do potato-leek. But I'd have to go back to the store for leeks, and it's raining like whoa, and my feet still hurt from the first trip. Au gratin it is. I *will* make something better than and nearly as easy as that $1.29 box of mix... even if it takes me many tries. I am determined. (And potatoes aren't costly.)
Saturday, April 14th, 2007 10:08 pm (UTC)
I'm a firm believer in cross-pollination when it comes to flavors.
If you'd like sometime, I could give you a couple of evenings of really basic 'stuff that goes together and how to make it work' kinds of instruction. I've done that for other friends, and now they actually consider themselves 'cooks' (and it's true, they really are).
Saturday, April 14th, 2007 10:20 pm (UTC)
That would be awesome. (See? Apprenticeship! Do you have a printed chart? ;-) )
Saturday, April 14th, 2007 10:30 pm (UTC)
It's pretty easy-peasy stuff, but you have to write your own chart!
School just started, so I'm kind of up to my eyeballs right now, but after I get settled into a proper routine we can talk about when we can do this.
It's fun!
Saturday, April 14th, 2007 10:51 pm (UTC)
Oh, but it will be a while before you earn the funny hat or learn the secret handshake.
Saturday, April 14th, 2007 11:08 pm (UTC)
HAHAHAHA I love it!