Lentil Soup and Sloppy Joes

Meal 1: Lentil Soup, Roasted Red Pepper Fougasse, Sauteed Winter Greens

·      Warm the soup on the stovetop.

·      Warm the fougasse in the oven.

·      Give the greens a quick saute in olive oil or butter and serve wilted.

Meal 2: Sloppy Joes on Challah Rolls, Baked Beans, Apple Crisp

·      Heat the Joe up in a sauce pan.  Thin a tiny bit with water and adjust the seasoning.

·      Cut the rolls in half and toast lightly.  I like the Joes best open faced.

·      Heat up the beans.  Thin if necessary and adjust the seasoning.

·      Remove the crisp topping and reserve.  Zap the crisp in the microwave briefly and then allow it to heat through in the oven.  Add the topping and heat a few moments more.

Notes:  "Adjust the seasoning"  means adding salt and pepper to 're-right ' the ship after diluting with water or stock.  Maybe taste the dish before, and then adjust after based on what you recall.  Also, generally when seasoning, keep seasoning until you can taste a spectrum of flavors, usually arriving on your palate in succession, or sometimes until you can taste a 'harmonic' flavor of all things at once and greater than the sum of its parts.    I don't mean for this to be metaphysical, but seasoning properly is a critical if simple skill.

Apples are from Ela Orchard.  Red peppers from Snug Haven.  We roasted and froze them this past Sept.  Its a special variety Bill Warner grew just for us!  Relationships remember are key to the CSK and they go beyond you and us, which is a warming thought on this chilly day.

Be Well in 2015,

Ben and family.