A few things about a person’s personality can disturb me.

• rudeness and unnecessary meanness
• thinking he/she is better than others
• whining about evvvvvverrrryyyything
• acting temperamental

One thing that doesn’t bother me? Personification. So, the fact I am currently not speaking with the weather’s sudden temperamental surge of warmth makes perfect sense. It’s just sooo rude. C’mon, weather! I had just bought a new crockpot and everything!

If I had to pick only one kitchen appliance to use, I would seriously consider making the crockpot my choice. How can it get any better than tossing a bunch of stuff in one pot and allowing it to cook for you? That’s my kind of cooking right there.

Our old el-cheapo crock pot ended up getting cracked in late spring. Peter deterred me from picking up a new one all summer. He knows me too well. I would have busted it out with a recipe for chili mid-July and forced him to profusely sweat through dinner.

Then last week rolled around. I saw a ton of soup recipes in the two magazine subscriptions I use for recipe inspiration – Cooking Light and Weight Watchers Magazine both always have great, simple, tasty, nutritious recipe ideas. The weather finally got a little chill in the air by evening. I convinced Peter to welcome back Mr. Pot.

Then…Monday rolled around and Miss Weather had to go all Makenzie on me with a temperamental attitude. I just reasoned I wouldn’t be sweating over a stove, so I can sweat while eating soup in 90 degree weather.

Crock pot,

Welcome back. I promise to love you deeply and cherish you forever as long as you help me to not have to cook and keep feeding me delicious soups.

Forever yours,
Tina

I told you I like personification. I also like this soup. Even if it is ugly.

Hearty Lentil Soup
This soup will stick to your ribs. The combination of vegetables and protein-packed lentils in this broth based soup will leave you feeling full without being weighed down. You can easily make this soup work for you by subbing in different root vegetables, such as parsnips, or using a different seasoning profile.

Servings: 8 servings (approximately 1 1/2 cups each)
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours in crockpot

Ingredients

• 1/2 large yellow onion
• 3 medium sized carrots
• 1 large sweet potato
• 2 celery ribs
• 1 (16 oz) bag lentils
• 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt (omit if not using low sodium broth)

Peel onion, carrots, and sweet potato. Chop all vegetables into even 1/2” to 1” pieces. Place in crockpot. Rinse, pick over, and drain the lentils. Place in the crockpot. Pour vegetable broth and water over everything. Add spices. Mix with spoon, cover, and cook on low eight hours. You could also cook on high for 4 hours.

Eat it plain or garnish with fresh parsley, a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt, a handful of cheese, or anything else that suits your fancy.

• Do you use any magazines for recipe ideas? Which ones?
• If you could only pick one kitchen appliance to have in your house, what would you choose?

Evening, friends! I hope you all had a good day. I certainly had a good one here. It was one of those days that felt extremely productive without feeling overwhelming. That always marks a good day in my book. What else makes a good day in my book? Blogging! I valued all the discussion on what makes quality content in blogs.

• Blogging: Quality Content Part One (a review of why I blog the way I do)
• Blogging: Quality Content Part Two (some perspectives on what defines “quality”)

I would love for you to give your point of view too!

Funnily enough, tonight’s post is actually a prime example of one that I would have likely skipped over before changing my blogging habits. I would have told myself “oh, it’s just another standard weekend day in the FFF house”. But why shouldn’t I recap some of our weekend fun if I enjoyed it and feel like giving you a peek into our Saturday? Why not is right. Which is why I’m here now.

After Saturday’s mother-daughter shopping time and getting other errands accomplished, we picked up the boys for some family bonding. I bet you can guess what our family bonding experience included…

Time in the sun at the park! Go figure.  

We have to soak up as much park time as we possibly can while the weather is so perfect for it. You can’t beat anywhere in the high 60s to low 80s for park fun. If I can get my kids outside playing and expending energy without freezing to death or stewing in my own sweat – I am there! Plus, it is so fun watching Makenzie play now. She has become quite the little adventurous one.

I have to keep a close eye on that one. I think she forgets that she is an itty bitty. Yet another way she is like her mommy – wanting to run around and explore everything.

Then Braedon sits over there taking after his daddy.

A people watcher to the extreme!

After enjoying the great outdoors for a little over an hour, the two adult units decided they needed some grub. It should come as no surprise that grub on a Saturday night involved dining out a la group deal. Groupon all the way!

This particularly deal was for a new to us restaurant called “The CooCoo’s Nest”.

It looked like a happening place with a jam packed parking lot. After being seated, I quickly ordered a Blue Moon and some water. I was craving a beer like none other on Saturday. I think long runs do that to me. Seriously!

Then, I got to work on deciding what to order. Uh-oh. The menu didn’t seem very promising. All of the food was your standard bar fare of chicken tenders, huge burgers, nachos, and the like. Nothing at all stuck out to me as sounding all that great. I eventually settled on the fish tacos. Along with a side of mango slaw, which I actually really enjoyed.

The fish tacos, on the other hand?

I should have sent them back. And I probably would have had we not used a group deal and had to get going. At least they didn’t taste as unappetizing as they look, but they certainly weren’t even close to good. I actually took at all but one piece of fish per taco and mainly ate the sweet potato fries they accidentally brought out extra (thank goodness for that mistake!) and the slaw. I also helped Peter finish off his Sweetwater 420. A dinner of beer and sweet potato fries can’t be all bad, right? That’s at least what I will tell myself. Can’t win ‘em all, I guess!

• Do you have trouble sending back food?
• Were you more adventurous or observant as a kid? As a kid, I was more observant, but I definitely like DOING now.