SOUP! I invented some delicious soup today. →[More:]Completely by accident, which is the best way to invent anything. The exciting part was I got all this kitchen crap for Christmas and damned if I didn't use nearly all of it making this soup.

After holiday pay lag (no monies until next friday) meant I needed something cheap and using whatever was left in my house (not much since I just got back from my trip yesterday and had cleared out the perishables before I left).

On my way home I happened to stop in a store to try to find an outrageous sale item I could afford with the 2 bucks in my pocket. Cans of cream of mushroom were on sale $.59 each. Woot!

Here is my tasty soup:

- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup (Campbells, if it matters).

- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (I used my new cutting board and knife!)

- ~2 cups cooked brown lentils

- 3 cloves garlic (I used my new garlic press!)

- 2 cups chicken broth (Pacific Foods, if it matters)

- ~1 cup chopped mixed green frozen veg (mine has spinach, pea pods, asparagus and broccoli)

- Various other ingredients (explained below, YMMV).

Cook the lentils first. I threw them in the rice cooker with some chicken broth (~1 cup) for about an hour (? it felt like it anyway). Uncooked it was maybe two handfuls of lentils. Cooked it ended up being about two cups.

When lentils were cooked, I sauteed the onion and garlic in a pan with a little oil. On a whim I remembered I had some brown sesame seeds so I tossed in a quarter cup of those into the mix. Why the F not, amirite?

When the onion was nice and translucent, I then tossed in the lentils and let things get mixed together. Then I dumped in the two cans of soup. It was neat how the soup stays shaped like the can. Then I added about another cup or so of chicken broth and stirred it with my new whisk!

It was looking a little too thick so I added a little water. Then I tossed in a plop of this tasty spicy black bean and chile sauce I bought in Chinatown a while ago. Whisked it some more.

After that I decided it needed a little more substance so I chopped up a cup of frozen veggies and let those get going in there, keeping everything on a nice, even simmer so the soup wouldn't scorch. At the last minute, I realized I had some romano in the fridge so I grated some of that business in there using...my new cheese grater! Yay! Then I served it up with my new ladle! Woot! And then I ate it with some pepper on it. It was the best soup ever and I put the leftover (about another bowl and a half) into some of my new tupperware.

The end.