I have been browsing through food magazines while walking the treadmill. The problem with this is that I get too many ideas and want to make them all at the same time. Last week I found an article in Rachel Ray’s magazine on One Grocery Bag: 3 Great Meals. This was from March of last year. One of the menus was lentil soup with pita and whipped feta. Sounded interesting. I have a bag of lentils in the pantry and feta in the fridge. So what’s the problem?

Before I get to make that meal, I am browsing through one of her magazines from 2014 and find other interesting recipes that I want to make and have the ingredients (or most of them). One of them is a pasta with chimichurri and tomatoes. This is fabulous because in my “Want to Try” recipe clippings I have a chimichurri recipe that I was trying to figure out what it should go with. Pasta!

But one thing at a time!

For Monday night’s meal I go with the lentil soup. I have leftover chicken so this will not be a Meatless Monday. I use the recipe as a guideline only. I use chicken broth and add potatoes and celery. I want to make a lentil stew as Hubby likes stews better than soups.

• 1 cup rinsed lentils
• 4 cups chicken broth plus two cups water
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 medium potato
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• about 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• about one cup cooked chicken, diced or shredded
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2-1 cup crumbled feta
• fresh parsley for garnish

Chop the vegetables. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in large pot. Throw all the chopped vegetables, including garlic, into this pot and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the rinsed lentils and chicken broth along with the cumin. Add the chicken and bring to a boil.

Cover the pot and let simmer for 30 minutes until the lentils are tender. This could take a bit longer, up to 40 minutes.

Now for the whipped feta. I used my immersion blender instead of a food processor because I only had 1/2 cup of cheese. I put this in a glass measuring cup and added 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Blend/whip/process until smooth and fluffy. Mine was more smooth and creamy than fluffy. I added about 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano as well and drizzled a bit of lime infused olive oil on top. I added some parsley for presentation.

I served this with Keebler Townhouse Pita Crackers instead of the toasted Pita bread wedges suggested in the magazine. The soup and this made a nice supper. The dip was “grown up” per Hubby and is definitely worth making again. I think I would add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to the soup next time. I forgot to add chopped parsley to the soup for the picture. When I added it to my soup it gave it a nice fresh flavor addition. This is parsley growing out on my porch. Much nicer than the dried stuff!