A Chilly Winter's Eve

“Water-gruel, with three or four onions simmered in it, prepared with a lump of butter, pepper, and salt, eaten just before one goes to bed, is said to be a cure for a hoarse cold. A syrup made of horseradish-root and sugar is excellent for a cold.”

– Lydia M. Child, The American Frugal Housewife (1832)

      I’ll take your word for it Mrs. Child.  No matter how much we like onions that concoction sounds divinely nasty!  In case you haven’t guessed, someone at our house has a cold, and there’s nothing to cure a cold like a good soup!  (Actually there are dozens of things that would work a lot better, but just roll with this, okay?)  So, today I’d love to make soup and bread for dinner to help “cure the common cold,” using two handy appliances in my kitchen, while I have a fun afternoon of board games with the extended family. 

      Can you even begin to imagine what Mrs. Child and our foremothers would have thought if they saw these things?  (Ignore the fact electricity wasn’t invented yet so those plugs would be pretty useless.)  Surely, keeping hot coals in the fireplace all night would seem pretty useless right around this time.  There’s no boiling water and back breaking labor as your soup simmers in a crock pot today!  No heading out to the bake oven in knee-high snow only to realize you once again burned your bread.  Nope, you now have the ability to bake bread even when you’re not home for three hours!  Isn’t the magic of modern technology sometimes amazing? 

      Now, I enjoy kneading my bread as much as the next person, but when you sometimes make 3+ loaves of bread a week, it can be a little much.  (The forty mini-loaves of bread in one day at Christmas, along with homemade fudge, was a “little much” for ten hours of work).  So today, dust off the bread maker, pull out the crock pot, and go on a journey with me, to the meal that wanting a rest will allow: Gone-All-Day Lentil Soup and Cheesy Herb Bread.

Gone-All-Day Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of diced tomatoes (mine are unsalted and canned in tomato juice so I won’t be draining them)
• 1 pint of unsalted vegetable stock (you can also use either chicken stock or beef stock in place of vegetable stock for a more meaty taste)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup of lentils, washed
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 cup of green pepper, diced
• 3 carrots, coined
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• ½ tsp. sage (if desired for more flavor)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on low for seven hours.  (You can also cook it on the stove over medium heat for about 1 hour.)  Once done, it can be placed on keep warm until needed.  The prepared soup also freezes well for future meals. 

Cheesy Herb Bread

Ingredients:

• 10 oz. of water
• ½ tsp. of salt
• 1 ½ tbsp. of vegetable oil
• 3 ½ cups of bread flour
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (can use shredded for a stronger taste, or substitute out cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, or pepper jack cheese)
• 2 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. dried marjoram
• ½ tsp. dried thyme
• ½ tsp. onion powder
• ¼ tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 ¼ tsp. of active dry yeast (one packet) 

Directions:

Add ingredients in the order listed to the pan of the bread maker.  Turn on the bread maker about five minutes before you plan to leave so you can watch the dough.  If the dough is too sticky add more flour, a tablespoon at a time.  If the dough is not forming a ball and is too dry, add more water, a tablespoon at a time.  Cook on the French bread setting.  (Or, knead on the dough setting and remove from bread maker and place in a greased loaf pan.  Bake at 325° for 25-30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when knocked upon.)

      And most importantly, enjoy your home-cooked dinner (even when you didn’t have to be home all day)!