Gencon! (a double recipe day with soup and croutons!)

The kilt is strong in this one. . .

I'm back from one of the most exhausting weeks of gaming I do all year, Gencon. For those of you in the reading audience who don't know what Gencon is, this is the largest roleplaying conference in the United States held in Indianapolis during August. During this time, gamers of all stripes come together to enjoy four days of new games, ideas, visiting friends, family, and everything else you can imagine. For the last several years, I have been a gamemaster for my favorite living campaign setting, Legend of the Shining Jewel, meeting new friends left and right as I run various games with new groups of players.

Fantastic Steam Punk costumes!

But with all conferences comes the stark realization that my diet has gone to heck since I've been eating all sorts of fast food that I'd never eat otherwise. Oh, it was good, in that sort of "I feel gross" kind of way. Coming back home, my entire body feels out of whack as I get it back into shape.

Ugh, I don't feel too good after four days of this. . .

With that said, it's time to get back into the swing of things and get this blog a rockin' with some new recipes! In honor of a) my stomach needing something that isn't deep fried, and b) all the students returning, I'm going to give one of my easiest lunch creations for the school year. I'm a huge fan of lentils, the little beans that take only 20 minutes to cook, because they are high in great fiber, are filling, and a good source of protein. Couple this with some broth and veggies and you have a tasty lunch or dinner.

Lentil-Veggie Soup (one serving)

Tools:

Pot

Cutting Board

Knife

Spoon

Bowl to eat it in

Ingredients:

2 cups of low sodium chicken broth

OR

2 cups of water with a low sodium chicken bouillon cube

1/4th cup of dry lentils

1 small onion, chopped up

1 carrot, chopped up

Another one pot recipe, add all the ingredients together in the pot and bring to a boil (this is one of the few times I'll turn the burner on my stove to High, just to get everything boiling, and then lowering it to medium high once it is cooking). Once the soup starts to boil, cook for an additional 15 minutes with a low boil (the difference between a hard and a low boil are easy, if you see a lot of steam coming from the pot, lower the temperature because all the moisture is going away. If you leave it boiling like that too long you will lose all the liquid and have a burned mess in the pot). 

At the fifteen minute mark, get your spoon out and try one of the lentils, it should be soft enough to eat. If not, leave it to cook for another five or so minutes, checking back every so often. The lentils will soak up about half of the water/broth, leaving you with a rich soup base with the veggies in it. I just pour the entire mixture into a bowl and then serve with a slice or two of toasted whole wheat bread croutons. What? you don't know how to make croutons? OK, recipe two for the day!

Simple Croutons!

Tools:

Cutting Board

Knife

Foil

Oven

Ingredients:

2 slices of whole wheat bread, chopped up about 1/2 inch cubes

spray olive oil or butter

dash of garlic powder

You can do this while making your soup! Turn the oven to 250 degrees (Fahrenheit because I am in the USA, or 120-ish degrees in Celsius for the rest of the world). Once the pot of soup is on the stove, chop up the bread and spread over a sheet of foil. Spray lightly with the olive oil or butter, and then lightly sprinkle garlic powder over the mess. Put it into the oven and let it toast for 7 minutes. Check the croutons to see if they have toasted, if they haven't leave them in the oven and check every minute or so. You do NOT want to burn this, the stench which be horrendous. I know in my oven I need about 10 minutes for the croutons to come out perfect, but everyone's oven is different, so experiment. 

Well with a great lunch/dinner down, I'm off! I have a lot to catch up on since my return home from Gencon! Until next time!

Bien Camino!