Challah Bread and Lentil Soup

Everybody left me! (Sobs in a corner) Nobody loves me! (Sobs in a corner)

Noone was around yesterday! I had no friends to go out and play with! The boy was on the eastern shore with family, run-girl-run had a brunch, one roommate went home and the other had work. I was all lonely (whimpers). Oh well, more time for good food!

I will write about lunch and dessert later, but I figure I should discuss the fact that I do eat real food. I eat more than the sugary creations that have dominated this page as of late. I eat...bread.

Oh I love bread. Sourdough, french, italian. Rolls, loaves, sticks. I’ll eat it all. Last night, since I had noone else around, I decided to make a slow cooked dinner that the boy wouldn’t eat. The end result was a delicious lentil soup with an even more delicious challah bread.

For the soup I used the manischewitz lentil soup mix (the one my mom always used). I tried making one from scratch a few months back and it was delicious, but I really have been craving the lentil soup my mom used to serve. This fully satisfied that craving, so next time I can go back to making it from scratch (or use the mix again since it was still very good and possibly cheaper than buying all the different ingredients separately).

The bread was a challah bread recipe I have made at least a half dozen times. It is made in my trusty bread machine, so it doesn’t have the lovely braided shape, but it is so good. And, by not braiding it, I can use it for french toast whenever I have time.

Issues or tips for next time: None! Perfect! Just follow the recipe for the challah and it will be perfect. My bread machine doesn’t have a sweet bread setting, so I used the rapid bread setting. Otherwise I always do as I am told and it pays off.
Challah -- by Dick Hanson
Ingredients -- Basic Bread Machine
3/4 cup warm water
1 large egg
3 tablespoons margarine, cut up
3 cups bread flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions -- Basic Bread Machine
Add water, egg, margarine, flour, sugar, salt and yeast to bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Select Sweet Bread cycle. Remove to rack and cool when done.

(At the begining of the bake cycle)

The site has directions on how to change it to a braided and glazed version, but unless you are serving it to company, don’t worry about it because this tastes just as good. If serving to guests and you have time, check out the changes.