Lentil loveliness...

I was up all night thinking.  I was thinking about what Mary wrote me about faith, about what my pastor said about John the Baptist and Jesus, about the Lord's Supper, and about spiritual struggles. Then, as I finally went to bed, I fell down the stairs.  Actually, I fell walking up the stairs and ended up falling back down them.

I hurt.

I finally managed to sleep.  And I didn't murder anyone in the twelve hours I spend not in my conscious mind.  I did steal.  Food.  I systematically stole food.  I think that that is because after the splurge of having a Thanksgiving, I really need to forego grocery shopping until the beginning of March, save for dairy products.  And, really, I would like to have more vegetables.

Thinking on how to extend the items currently in my cabinet, I remembered that when rooting around for the cream of tarter I was sure that I had (but did not) I found a bag of lentils that I had forgotten that I had purchased.  I love me some lentils.

So, I thought that I would make up the lentils, even though I had my final leftover Basil Burger (from Thursday) for lunch, because I like to finish them off by "stewing" them in the freezer.  Plus, I thought they would be a good way to extend my portion of the leftover turkey.  Marie has wanted the recipe, so I measured stuff this time ... and came up with a name:  Myrtle's All-But-The-Kitchen-Sink Lentils.  In the recipe, I wrote chicken because that is what I usually use.  But what is pictured is the turkey.  However, the chicken falls apart and when I get around to taking more accurate pictures (next time I make them ... if I remember), I doubt that anyone would notice the difference.

I am, though, really proud of how I thought to do the spices.  If you are a real Indian cook, things take eons to make, partly because you roast the spices you are going to use.  If you are not a real Indian cook but would like to make a better mixture for your lentils, you might do what I did.

I do not like onions, but I know cooking with them is a good thing.  So, I took an onion and puréed it.  Yep, I made onion mush.  Then, I took a large pot, tossed in a stick of butter, dumped in the mush, put two large dollops of minced garlic and one large dollop of minced ginger and cooked it all until it started to turn brown.  Then, I added the spices and continued to simmer out most of the remaining moisture so that I ended up with something like a spice paste mixture.  [Yes, I forgot to take a picture of this part.]

This is what the pot looked liked once I added all the rest of the ingredients (the lentils and meat are sitting at the bottom).  Doesn't it look lovely??  I certainly think so.  And, frankly, I thought it was a brilliant way to really mix up the spices.  Usually, I sprinkle them over the top after all the ingredients are in the pot.  However, doing it that way means some of the spices stick to the sides of the pot and the liquid and spices remain separate for a long while.  So, I feel like I discovered a perfect way to prepare my beloved lentils.

Here they are cooked.  Mmmm .... tasty!  But ...

... they really are not finished until they have stewed in the freezer for a while.  There is even an added awesomeness between the last jar and the first.  Oh, how I would like to gobble all of these up right now!

I consoled my stomach with some asparagus sautéed in olive oil and Kulp Spices' organic garlic seasoning salt and one of the four whole wheat dinner rolls I managed to wheedle out of Marie on our Thanksgiving as we were packing up the left overs.  I should have flat out stole the whole bag. After all, she can always make more, right?  This is the recipe that she used.

Before I fell asleep early this morning, as I was trying to absorb the hurt of the fall I took, I lay in bed and wrote Mary that with the twelve days of utter giddiness over the idea that Paul and Marie would like to have a Thanksgiving with me, I completely forgot that it is Advent.  This saddens me, because Advent is something the evangelical church doesn't have and is certainly something never celebrated in our family so it is not anything that is tainted by twisted theology, drunkenness, fighting, and abuse.  I would like a do-over for the start of Advent, but I also am not sure that I am ... present ... enough for Advent.

I wrote Mary that I am afraid I am dead inside.  Not just that I feel dead inside, but that I am actually dead inside.  She wrote back that Jesus came for the dead.  After tending to Amos' needs, I fell back asleep clutching my phone to my chest, pushing the center button each time the screen started to fade so I could see those words again and again and again.  There were no bad dreams in that bit of sleep between wakes.


Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!