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You are in a rut.  You are having the same food, night after night.  You are going out to eat, spending too much money, and your wasteline is suffering.

I am here to solve your problems, with some slightly altered (lovingly borrowed) recipes you’re going to love. Break out your fez; tonight we’re eating North African-style.

Here’s what happened: I got one of my few cooking urges and somehow came up with the idea to make lentil soup in the crockpot.  A quick Google search led me to A Year of Slowcooking.

But I wanted more vegetables, and a few more searches led me to The Vegetarian Resource Group’s Egypt page.

Finally, I knew we had rice pudding in the fridge, so I came up with a quick dessert.  A run to the grocery store and I was on my way.  My altered recipes, based on those found at the links above, are below.  It’s all shockingly good, if I say so myself.  And I’m pretty sure the soup could be made on the stovetop in about an hour if you go our usual route of deciding on dinner when you’re already hungry for it.

Morrocan Lentil Soup

1 cup dried lentils
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 white onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot coins
28 oz can diced tomatoes, with liquid
4 cups vegetable broth (I used a low sodium variety) + 1 cup water
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
course sea salt, to taste

In a large crockpot, combine all ingredients.  Stir, place on high heat, and let it go all day–at least seven hours.  When you’re ready to eat, use an immersion blender to partially blend the soup, leaving some of the vegetables and legumes whole.  I served mine with whole wheat pita rounds warmed directly over the fire of the gas stovetop.  A dollop of sour cream is a nice touch.  This will serve six people as an entree–more as an opening act.

Egyptian Spinach with Dill

1 white onion, roughly chopped
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
1/2 loose cup chopped fresh dill
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
10 ounces fresh spinach (1 bag–you can use the cheaper, tougher adult varieties)
1/2 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepot, saute onions in oil for three or four minutes. Add garlic and dill and continue to saute for two minutes. Add tomato sauce, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add spinach and water–you will need to pack in the spinach and stir carefully to avoid losing it over the side! Once the spinach has wilted and you’ve given it a good stir, add your salt and pepper and cover and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.  I poured this over a pouch of microwavable basmati rice–it will serve four to six (though the rice, only two!).

Jaci’s Easy Honeyed Fruit Pudding

1 tub rice pudding
dried whole apricots
honey

Put a scoop of rice pudding (about 1/2 cup) in a small dessert cup or parfait dish.  Array three dried apricots on the surface of the pudding.  Swirl honey to taste over the top of the pudding.

To accompany the meal as a whole, I recommend some kalamata olives (or similar) and mint tea; we also had a glass or two of a red wine that I picked up on a total whim, but which upon additional Googling I found enthusiastically reviewed here.

It’s amazing what you can come up with when you’re avoiding your homework.