Lentil Soup Fun

I'm waiting on an important call and woke up today wanting to make something new. I opened the cupboard and the bag of lentils began speaking to me. I'm following Ina Garten's recipe which I found online but am making some tweaks (as usual). The biggest edit is the addition of some bacon grease. I made some bacon while the vegetables were sautéing and once the bacon was done, I added the grease from the pan. The reason I was making bacon is I want to serve the soup with some mini sandwich triangles. I'm going to toast our usual Pepperidge Farm brand whole wheat thin slices and add tomato, cheese and bacon slices. Just trying to make the healthy fiber intake more fun. Hope it turns out as good as it looks in my head. Stay tuned for some photos later. Hope you're having a great day!

INGREDIENTS

Half pound of dry lentils

1 1/2 chopped large yellow onions 

1 1/2 minced cloves of garlic cloves

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

Half tablespoon of salt

3/4 teaspoons ground black pepper

Half teaspoon of dried thyme

Half teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 cups medium-diced celery

1 1/2 cups medium-diced carrots

1 1/2 quarts of low sodium chicken stock

1/8 cup of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of red wine

3 slices chopped cooked bacon

2 tablespoons freshly grated asiago cheese

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, cover the lentils in boiling water and let it sit for 15 minutes then drain.
In a large pot on medium heat, saute the onion and garlic with the olive oil, salt pepper, thyme and cumin for about 20 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and continue to saute for 10 more minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste and lentils. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and dimmer uncovered for about an hour. Add the red wine and stir. I like my lentil soup to be a little more dense so I poured the mixture into a food processor and pulsed until I got the texture I desired. Pour back into the pot and let it sit on low until ready to serve. Garnish with bacon and asiago.

UPDATE

I scratched the mini sandwiches idea and instead added the bacon directly and grated asiago directly to the soup as a garnish. It took about 1/4 cup freshly grated asiago cheese and three slices of bacon, cooked and chopped. Delicious and filling!

Styling the New Apartment

I've been thinking about what the new place will look like with old and new things in it. One of my go-to shops is Ikea. They have great looking stuff at decent prices so I'm a big fan. Here are a few items I'm viewing as inspiration and possible future purchases. We already have some carefully selected items that I've found in an assortment of places. The inspiration is meant to keep me in the right direction. We really like furniture and accessories that are comfortable, functional and stylish. In that order. With that said, here's the list:

I love the traditional shape of this chair and would mix it up by using playful patterns and colors like the throw and cushions below.

Not too bright, not too dull. Just right for a throw.

 Such a fun color to contrast the ultra mature chair and couch colors. I would stain the legs to match the coffee table and TV stand just to keep some unity somewhere.

Love this mod pattern.

A great basic in a masculine shape and color. Hopefully, it's comfy when we go try it out.

Love, love bold colors.

Cute fabric to make cushions out of. I love cushions. My boyfriend has learned this the hard way.

A pretty basic solid wood coffee table with clean lines. We have a dining/living room combo and this piece is from the same line as our dining room table. I'm big on matching feet. My only exception in this post is the chair. It's too cool for me to care about the feet.

Fun rug to spice things up even more! You can probably tell by now that I'm not afraid of color.

This TV stand is also pretty basic and is also the same line as the dining table (Hemnes). Unity, people. Unity.

The packing starts tomorrow, but not before brunch at a place down the street from our new place called Route 9. Hope it's good!

-all photos courtesy of www.ikea.com-

Summer "Leftovers" Bread Pudding

Hope you're all having an awesome day! I just got done with some work and made a "leftovers" bread pudding that I wanted to share with you. It's a classic bread pudding recipe with a touch of summer. One of my favorite things about summer is making key lime pies. I have a special recipe (the crust is to-die-for!) that I can share another day, but my point in giving you this tidbit is to explain that my bread pudding is a mix of leftover delights. I had some italian loaf from weekday lunchtime sandwich-making, chocolate from an anniversary fudge cake I made Monday night, and key lime juice from a pie-making extravaganza last month.

I tailored the recipe to my 5 1/2 x 2 inch pie round which you can multiply to get larger amounts.

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup of granulated sugar

2/3 cups of milk

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of light brown sugar

1 1/2 large eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons of key lime juice

1 1/2 cups of day-old italian bread, cubed

DIRECTIONS

Butter the inside of the pie round. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix together sugar, milk, vanilla extract, brown sugar, eggs and key lime juice. Place the bread in a bowl and pour the mixture over top. Stir and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Fold in a handful of chocolate chips and pour everything into the pie round. Bake for 35-40 minutes (depends on your oven's personality).

Enjoy!