Turtle Trails Crisis, and some good eats.

I went grocery shopping today.

And... for the second week in a row...

THERE WAS NO TURTLE TRAILS ICE CREAM!!!

But...

not only was there not any there, and a big empty hole, like last week...

There was no hole!!

I am just going to tell myself that some poor, ignorant stock boy mistakenly filled the space where Turtle trails goes, with some other, lesser ice cream, and that it will be there next week. 

Because if I couldn't have this glorious, amazing, delicious, fantastic ice cream anymore....

I would die. Really. I think so.

On another, non-related note, I made a new stew for us tonight. 

I make something really large, that will last us a few days, on Sunday nights when I'm off, so we have something to eat throughout the week.

Well, Misty, I think I may have found a soup/stew substance that even your anti-soup husband can enjoy. For real.

Hearty Italian Lentil Soup

• 1 cup lentils
• 1 1/3 quarts water, divided
• 2/3 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tablespoons Italian bread crumbs
• salt, to taste
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 quart tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese for topping
• 
  
• Place lentils in a pot with 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cook 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
• Bring rice and 1 1/3 cup water to boil in a pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. 
• In a bowl, combine the ground beef, beaten egg, garlic, 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, parsley, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Form ground beef mixture into 1 inch balls. Place meatballs in skillet and cook 5 minutes or until evenly brown.
• In a large pot, bring the tomato sauce and 4 cups water to a boil. Transfer the browned meatballs to the pot. Mix in cooked lentils and rice. Return to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese to serve.

Ta-da!

It was a bit hectic at first, because I put the lentils, rice, sauce/water on, and started the meatballs all at once, because it would have taken forever otherwise. 

It was also my first experience with meatballs, and other than being a little large, they turned out awesome. 

We ate it with Italian bread and butter, and some white Zinfindel (that was already open in our fridge).

It was delicious.

My one tweak for next time would be to use a garlic flavored tomato sauce, and add some parsley or something, because the sauce was a bit bland.

Other than that, it was fantastic.

Definitely looking forward to eating this all week.

See Misty, how could Tim not like a thick soup with meatballs?

♥