4th Challenge Assignment - Rice & Lentils

I knew that going into this last challenge assignment, I'd be overwhelmed with the amount of options in the grocery co-op.  So instead of going in and figuring it out from there, I decided to pick a recipe out of Bittman's book and see if I couldn't make it work given the prices I was going to face.  I did Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions, and decided I was going to throw some more veggies in there depending on how much money I had left.  My shopping list from the Seward Co-op is as follows:


Organic Italian Parsley ($1.49 yet rung up as cilantro for 30 cents more...! Only used a little) $0.50
Organic Broccoli (I only used 1/3 of what I bought for $3.21) $1.07
Organic Long Brown Rice (Bulk, bought a pound for $1.79, used most of it) $1.50
Organic French Lentils (Bulk, I used most of what I bought for $2.59) $2.00
Sweet Onions (3 for 1.99/lb) $3.14
Garlic (I used 2 cloves) $0.25
Organic Ground Cumin (.06 lb) $0.76

So when you count up the total of the ingredients before taking into account the proportion used it comes to $14.05, but when you divvy up the servings actually used it comes to $9.22.

Following the recipe on page 437, I got to caramelizing chopped onions in one pot and later doing the same with sliced onions in a pan.  In the pot I added the spices and lentils and then later the rice.  In the pan I added broccoli to the extra-long-caramelizing onions for an extra dash of nutrition. 

The pan-caramelizing and broccoli-softening finished and the rice and lentils were supposed to follow close behind.... BUT... unfortunately I spaced out and added two cups of rice instead of one and so a lot more water and time was needed to finish up the meal...!

Well in the end it came together and was pretty delicious and I'd say a rather healthy meal!  Though I think it could have still used more flavoring - gotta work on my spice concoctions...