I Love Fake Vacation

I have been on a fake vacation the past week.  In consultant language, it's called being "on the bench." Without  a project. My project in Dallas ended last week, and now I have to wait to be re-assigned.  Until then... I hang out. It gets old pretty fast, but a paid vacation, planned or otherwise, is always good.  So, of course, I've been cooking!  I don't have much time (will get to the reason in a minute), but I wanted to do a quickie post because this recipe is perfect for being stuck inside.

Ilene really loves Heidi, but I hadn't yet tried anything of hers.  Sometimes there are a lot of ingredients, and sometimes I think that maybe our flavor profiles just don't quite match up.  But regardless, I knew I had seen a lentil soup on her site recently, so I hunted it down and ended up with this beauty!

Oh, how I wish I had better lighting for photos!  Anyway, I made her lentil soups as directed, and it was AWESOME.  So hearty.  Katie came over and we ate it with some amazing multi grain baguette and it filled me for hours.  What's on top my yellow mountain of fiber, you ask? Chopped black oil cured olives (Gourmet Garage called them Moroccan olives), and the tzatziki style sauce from this recipe.  That's right, I merged Heidis.

So, the reason I am off and away is because we are going on a family CRUISE today!  Cape Canaveral and then the Bahamas.  We are running around like lunatics, as per usual.  What would a family vacation be without a little threat of being incredibly late?  No internet, no blog, no cooking, but good god, I can only imagine way too much food.  It will be photographed.  Off I go!  See ya in a week.