Trip, Awesome Lentil Soup, and Tillie

I'm flying to visit Soulmate over Thanksgiving weekend. For complicated reasons, he couldn't get away just then. Since I already have the time off school, it just made more sense than for him to fly in here a different weekend (which he offered to do). Will keep you posted.

I made my second soup tonight and it's full of all the yummiest things - garlic, onion, tomatoes... Here's the recipe based on the Lentil Soup Recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook:

Lentil Soup
3 c. dry lentils
7 c. water
2 t. salt
6-8 medium cloves garlic, crushed
2 c. chopped onion
1 c. baby carrots (chopped, if you must - I left them whole)
1 t. basil
1/2 t. thyme
1/2 t. oregano
black pepper to taste
1 large can diced tomatoes (or if you're really groovy, chop your own - I used the canned out of laziness)

Boil lentils in water with salt. Lower heat and simmer 20-30 min, partly covered. Add vegetables (except tomatoes) and herbs and simmer another 20-30 min. Pour in the canned tomatoes, juice and all, and heat through. Yum!

Oh, and I named the bread starter "Tillie". Thanks for all the harassment. Am waiting for the starter to develop fully before attempting any more bread - the first "loaf" was tasty and remarkably flat. Tillie should hit puberty later this week and be fully mature sometime next week if i can manage to keep her warm and fed.