soup and salad easy

One of the easiest dinners to make is a freshly snipped mesclun salad and a bowl of soup. The mesclun didn't even need washing, and if there's bits of grass in there, that's just fine with me. The soup took about an hour to simmer, and just before serving, you stir in a large dollop of coconut milk-use the full fat one, it's so good (you can freeze leftover coconut milk). I used organic red lentils and organic coconut milk, as they are relatively inexpensive ingredients. I also always add more cilantro than called for, and I always add my Thai red dragon peppers. I think putting some fresh oregano from the herb patch, and maybe a shaving or two of feta on the salad would be splendid. Dinner is served! Curried Red Lentil Soup recipe: 2.5 cups red lentils 8 cups water or veg. broth 4 cloves garlic minced 2 tsp. ground coriander 1/2 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp cayenne or more to taste 3 bay leaves 2 Tbl. olive oil 1 large onion finely chopped 1 Tbl. ginger, minced 1 tsp. cumin juice of one lemon 1 cup coconut milk 1/4 cup cilantro salt and pepper Combine lentils, water, turmeric, cayenne, and bay leaves and bring to a boil, simmer 40 - 60 mins. Cool and puree. Saute onion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander in olive oil and stir into puree. Add lemon juice, simmer 10 mins. just before serving add coconut milk and cilantro. (don't boil the coconut milk!)