Lentils tonight, and I actually remembered to take pictures as I put it together, so y'all can have my secret recipe, lol.
Lentil soup = $4.51
Bread-rolls = $0.55
Gluten-free muffins = ~$0.75
Cucumber on the side = $0.50
Total cost of dinner + leftovers = $6.31. There is literally enough leftover lentil soup for lunch AND a whole 'nother dinner,
at least. Sometimes I'll fill up a quart ziploc bag and freeze part of a batch-- a quart ziploc happens to be
exactly enough lentil soup for one dinner for us.
16oz dry lentils: $.99
2/3 lb ground beef: $2.08
1 medium-large onion: $.45
1 Tbsp minced garlic: $.10
6 medium carrots (~12oz): $.45
~1/3-1/2 head of celery: $.44
~2 Tbsp sausage grease
Broth/water
Salt
Garlic powder
Pepper
Italian seasoning
Grease in first. I used the leftover sausage grease from the sausage I put in the baked beans yesterday, but it'd work just as well to use butter or oil
Then onions, garlic, and celery. I'm cooking in my Instant Pot, but a regular big pot would work too.
Then carrots as soon as I could peel and chop them.
I could have added the carrots first; I don't know that it matters that much. I generally start with onions and garlic, then add my other veggies as soon as I can get them chopped up. I just stir them until the bottom of the pot starts getting browned-- like, almost burned, but not quite, just very dark brown. This is not rocket surgery. As long as there isn't charred ashes in your pot, you're pretty golden. If you are afraid that it's starting to go a bit too far, you can add a glug of water/liquid and stir it around a bit; that will pretty much stop the browning process immediately (at least until that bit of water evaporates).
Then add the ground beef. Mine is frozen. I just cook it long enough to break it up into relatively bite-sized bits: think "marble-sized". Again, there's no precision here-- you're not worried about actually cooking it through (that will happen regardless by the time you pressure cook)... you're just defrosting and maybe browning some bits.
Then I add the lentils and broth-- I used about 50/50 broth and water, so as to use up the last of the chicken broth. I use 4:1 ratio of liquid to lentils.
I add an appropriate amount of salt (probably a bit more than you think you need), yay-much garlic powder, and about a "cover-the-surface-of-the-liquid-in-the-pot" amount of italian seasonings. Then pressure-cook for 20 minutes. If you use a regular pot, you'll want to simmer it on the stove for ~2-3 hrs.
Meanwhile, I made a rushed version of bread-rolls. It turns out that even if you only let your bread dough rise for like 5 minutes, and just chop it up into roll-sized pieces.... it still bakes up pretty decent and still tastes like fresh-baked bread. YUM.
I also made some gluten-free rolls for Kiddo. I've been trying to get the bake time right, as it's my own improvised recipe...I think I overbaked this batch by about 3 minutes.