Take a moment and visualize what’s in your refrigerator.  If you’re like me, nobody had time to go grocery shopping this week, and the box of vegetables that arrived Monday is just about gone.  But it’s too late now.  It’s late Friday afternoon, and dinner should have been in the oven a few minutes ago.  There are a bunch of green peppers on the bottom shelf in the back.  And the counters have a few jars of grains, dried peas, beans, and even some raisins that I made by popping some tired-looking grapes into the dehydrator earlier in the week.  

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This raisin experiment, by the way, was quite successful; the raisins are sweet, chewy, and complex, with hints of tannic acid.  Some, the bigger ones, are even a bit juicy.  Yes, they are all different, and why shouldn’t they be?  That’s how grapes are in nature.  I never thought about that until this week.

Okay, back to dinner.  I pull out the green peppers and spin a knife around the tops to remove the cores.  Rinsed, they sit on the counter while I figure out how to proceed.  I turn to the jars and pull out red lentils and millet.  These will cook fast, I muse.

I dice two medium onions and fry them at the bottom of a saucepot with a teaspoon of olive oil for just a minute.  Then I pour in 2 cups of lentils, 3/4 cup millet, and 4 cups of water, and turn the heat to high.  Once the water boils I turn it to low, and the lentils and millet cook for 15 minutes until they have softened and turned the same yellow color.  Most, but not all, of the water has been absorbed.  I stir in a handful of the aforementioned raisins, plus 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon curry, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.  I spoon most of the mixture into the green peppers, now in a baking pan, and pour over them a jar of extra-chunky tomato sauce.  Covered with tin foil, they cook for 45 min at 350F. 

Now I turn to the other side of the kitchen, and I measure 2 1/3 cups of yellow split peas into the crockpot with 3 quarts of water, 5 carrots (peeled and sliced),1 medium potato (diced small), and 1 large onion (thinly sliced), plus 1 teaspoon salt, 1 1 /2 – 2 teaspoons black pepper, and 1 teaspoon sweet paprika.  Note: the potato is essential to the texture of the soup, so don’t skip it!  Without it the soup will turn out thin and watery.

The table is set, and we gather for dinner.  The green peppers are gorgeous when they exit the oven.  Served with pecan bread and leftover slices of turkey breast, roasted sweet potatoes, and Swiss chard, they are flavorful and filling.  When you eat like this you forget that it’s 24 degrees outside and it’s still February.

The crockpot cooks on low for eighteen hours.  Once everything is very soft, I push a potato masher into the soup a few times to thicken it and smooth the texture.  It comes out amazing — Chief Cook-and-bottle-washer eats two big bowls.

Finally, I just need to tell you that I put the remaining cup of cooked lentils and millet into the refrigerator, unsure what to do with them.  It turned out that, warmed and drizzled with maple syrup, they made a terrific breakfast.  I can’t wait to make that again!  Wanna see a photo of the green peppers?  Check out my facebook page.

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