Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple, and Red Lentil Soup

Adapted from a recipe from allrecipes.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and
chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
4 cups vegetable broth
feta


Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Place the chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, apple, and onion in the pot. Stir and cook the apples and vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir the lentils, ginger, ground black pepper, salt, chili powder, paprika, and vegetable broth into the pot with the apple and vegetable mixture. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils and vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes.
3. Working in batches, pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
4. Return the pureed soup to the cooking pot. Bring back to a simmer over medium-high heat, about 10 minutes. Add water as needed to thin the soup to your preferred consistency. Serve with feta for garnish.

Shrimp Salad

Cook a pound of macaroni. Put one pound of cooked, frozen shrimp in a colander and then drain the macaroni over the shrimp. (This defrosts it without overcooking it.) Refrigerate. For the sauce: one cup of mayo, two finely-diced celery stalks, a little sugar, a little ketchup, a little lemon juice, a little Tabasco, and a lot of seasoning salt.

Yum.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

So I bought one of these for apples and today used it on sweet potatoes. Then we rolled the slices around in a little oil and seasoning salt and grilled them on our indoor grill. They were to die for!

Tomato Soup

Heat 1/2c cream, one can of tomato paste, 1c water, and 1/2T seasoning salt.

Biscuits

I can't believe I'd never made biscuits before.

Mix 2c flour, 1T baking powder, 1t salt, and 1T sugar. Then add 1c milk and 1/3c shortening. Stir a lot. Drop onto greased baking sheet. I added a little grated cheddar to the top of each biscuit. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

Yum.