It made me a little gassy

Lebanese Lentil Soup

[The recipe - and bonus commentary to follow]

Ingredients
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup red lentils
1 tablespoop olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
½ cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons ground cumin
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons cilantro
⅓ cup fresh lemon juice

Directions
Bring chicken stock and lentils to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and onion, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir garlic and onions into the lentils and season with cumin and cayenne. Continue simmering until the lentils are tender, about 10 minutes. Puree half of the soup in a blender, or with a stick blender until smooth. Stir in cilantro and lemon juice before serving.

based off of http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lebanese-style-red-lentil-soup/detail.aspx

It was pretty delicious. I added 1/4 teaspoon cayenne and the juice from one lemon and both were a little much for me. I could handle the spiciness, as it was a good level, but I think it took away from the flavor a little, it being my first time tasting it. You know how spiciness can do that sometimes... I would add less...and that's why I put 1/8 tsp in the recipe. I also would add less lemon juice than I added. I kind of measured and it was less than 1/2 cup, but nothing too exact. Just add maybe half a lemon at first and taste it. Stir it a little while it's cooking because the lentils will stick to the bottom of the pan (and make a delicious browned lentil mass of goodness) that I just blend back in. The recipe I mostly followed called for 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, but I didn't have any, so I ended up adding about 2 tsp cilantro.

I am pretty sure it gave me gas, so I wouldn't advise making it the day before you have to go somewhere. Maybe it's a friday night meal and a stay in Saturday kind of occasion ...ya know what I mean. :)

Oreo Softballs

A few months ago, I brought some Oreo Balls into work. Everybody loves them, so I try to make them on occasion. Plus, everybody is amazed at how simple they actually are. I was talking to a co-worker last time I made them and he came up with a great idea. He then proceeded to send me an Outlook invitation to make "Oreo Softball Thingies." Good thing he did that, or we wouldn't have had Oreo balls that looked like softballs at out Neogen/Hooker softball game Thursday night. I even made a double batch and brought some to our dinner on Wednesday night.

I don't remember where I originally got the recipe from. It's been such a long time, and I never actually had a physical recipe. It's not hard to remember the two basic ingredients.

Oreo Balls

1 (16 oz) package Oreo Cookies

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese

White chocolate for coating

Crush the Oreos in a food processor until you have a fine crumb. Mix in the cream cheese and form into a dough. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Roll dough into 1 inch balls (I usually get 50-60 balls per batch). Place the balls on wax paper and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.

Now comes the fun part. You can make these Oreo Balls look like anything you want. Personally I like them dipped in semi-sweet chocolate, but most people prefer white chocolate. I have also tried rolling them in cocoa powder. Nuts or extra oreo crumbs would work too, but I have not tried them.

I dipped them in white chocolate and let them set. Because it was already midnight, and I have to be to work at 7, I cheated on the red stitching lines. I just used one of those Betty Crocker frosting pouches with the decorating tip. It worked out pretty well considering my artistic abilities are quite limited.

Here's the end product:

I brought them to the softball game, and everyone enjoyed them. We even won our game!