A story and a recipe

Once upon a time, I lived on my own in the big city. I worked as an office temp and had my paychecks mailed to me every week. It was during the time that microwave dinners first started showing up in the supermarket, so I practically lived off of them. Why cook a big meal when you are all alone? As a result, I had very little real food in my apartment.

One week my paycheck didn't show up. I asked my agency and they said that they sent it. The next week, my check didn't show up again. I went to my agency again. This time they looked at me askance as they told me that they did send my check. By the third week when my check didn't show up, I was in a bit of a pickle. All my bills were paid but the cupboards were bare. I had eaten all my frozen meals and only had $10 to spare outside of the bus fare I needed to get back and forth to work.

In a fit of inspiration, I thought that if I could make one big pot of something I could eat it every day until the mess with my paychecks was straightened out. This was all pre-internet, so I had to rely on the one cookbook I had on my shelf -- The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas, a holdover from one of my brief hippie phases. My five bucks bought me half the makings of a pot of Lentil-Tomato Soup:

2/3 cup dried lentils
4 cups water
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup of tomato paste
chopped parsley
garlic
salt and pepper
dill weed
tarragon
dry white wine (optional)

Put the first 6 ingredients into a large pot and simmer gently for about 3 hours, replenishing the water as needed. If you have a taste for it, try adding a little dry white wine. Then, tasting to see what quantity is right for you, add very small amounts of the herbs and spices. Finally, stir in a cup of tomato paste and let it all heat through. 6 servings.

Since I was broke, I left out all the spices except the garlic, salt, and pepper. Oh, and remember that replenish water as needed bit? Yeah, I forgot that when I reheated it the second day, so I ended up with paste. I was eating lentil paste sandwiches for the rest of the week.

Are you wondering what happened to my paychecks? They were stolen from my mailbox and cashed by some guy at a biker bar who forged my signature. I started picking up my paychecks from the office after that :-).