Pantry cooking never tasted so good!

So my car was fixed for a nanosecond and then it pooted out on me again. Which means I am digging through the cabinets looking for foodstuff until I can get a ride to the grocery store again. Went through and cleaned out the fridge of all the odds and ends that I have let get a little too ripe during finals week, and decided to make myself up a yummy pantry dinner.

Curried Lentils and Brown Rice

I boiled up about 1/2 bag of dried lentils with 2 bay leaves until they were very very soft. Drained and pulled the bay leaves out and added a large can of crushed tomatoes, about 1/4 cup of leftover curry ketchup, and somewhere in the ballpark of 1 Tb. each of curry powder, garlic powder and dried cilantro and some salt to taste. Basically, start small and add until it tastes good to you :-)

In the meantime I used my tried and true method for a pot of delicious brown rice (The secret - saute the dry grains of rice in some hot olive oil until they are nice and toasty before adding water. Lots of flavor and it doesn't get too mushy!)

Spooned up half a bowl from each pot of deliciousness and INSTANT YUM!!! This probably cost me no more than about $3 for the entire big pot. 1 cup of rice from a $1 bag, about $0.75 worth of lentils, $0.99 for a can of crushed tomatoes, a few pennies for the various spices. The curry ketchup was probably the most expensive thing and the meal would be just as good without it, I just happened to have a bit left in my bottle from my birthday. I think I will toss some frozen spinach in the rest of the pot to up the veggie quota, but otherwise this is about as perfect a winter dinner as it gets! Add a glass of white wine and some old episodes of Star Trek Voyager and I am a happy girl this Friday night.