Lentil Casserole

My oldest son’s first job was at the local Chick-fil-A. We discovered, in anticipation of the opening, that CFA does something called, “The First 100” at every new store the night before the Grand Opening, which always happens on a Thursday. You have to report to the store by 6 am the morning before the opening and register. The First 100 people that register and several alternates spend the whole day and the night in the parking lot. CFA feeds you breakfast, lunch, and dinner and provides unlimited drinks all day plus games with give-always and lots of fun activities. Throughout the day, they require the attendees to line up and do a count to be certain the 100 don’t leave the property. Early the following morning, they rally the attendees again and the first 100 (and any alternates that have taken the place of disqualified individuals) are given a gift card pre-loaded with 52 #1 meals. Supposedly, you can’t use the card multiple times in the same day, but I’ve found the employees are more than willing to let you, especially as you near the one-year mark, when the card expires.

My daughter and I had planned to do the First 100 together at our local new store, but complications from surgery sidelined me. My husband graciously agreed to do it for me, and we shared the gift card. My daughter, a “starving” college student, was very appreciative of her 52 free meals. A year later, while scanning the CFA website, a discovered that another store was opening near us and I was determined to make this one. We packed the van the night before with our family tent, an awning, extension cords, deck chairs, blow-up air mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows, and a large fan. Upon arrival at the store, at 5:45 a.m., we scoped out where the outside outlets were located, and set up camp quickly after registering, grabbing the outlet for our fan and air pump. We ended up sharing the outlet with several other people that had multiple outlets on their extension cords. We also discovered that many of our friends were there and they joined us under our awning. One of our friends contacted his father and asked him to bring a t.v. with him, which my younger son immediately set up for gaming.We spent a lovely day and night camping out in the parking lot with friends, food, and fun.

In the middle of the day, the management of the new store gathered us inside. They had decided to do a project for a charity and put together meals for the organization Feeding Children Everywhere. They carefully laid out the ingredients assembly-line style, and we got to work. We got to know the folks working at our stations and had a really great time. We put together, bagged, sealed, and boxed 10,000 individual meals for hungry children, to be distributed right in our area. I took great interest in the meals we were preparing. They only contained 4 things - lentils, rice, dried vegetables, and pink Himalayan salt. I ALWAYS ask a lot of questions, but I asked even more than usual that day. I discovered that pink Himalayan salt contains zinc, magnesium, iron, calcium, and potassium  (in varying amounts since minerals are not distributed evenly, and some people do not believe it really has any health benefit at all). The combination of the lentils and the rice form a complete protein, and the vegetables provide extra vitamins and flavor. All that is needed is water and a heat source to boil the ingredients in the water, and a tasty, healthy, nutritious meal is produced. I came home and looked up the recipe, fully intending to stock up on these ingredients so I could prepare this meal for my family from our Stores. The salt was easy to find. They even sell it in Costco now. And the rice and lentils could be purchased at any grocery store. But the dried veggie mix was a problem. For years, I looked for the mixture of dried veggies we used that day, to no avail. Then, 2 years ago, while ordering a soup mix from Walmart.com, I discovered a dried vegetable mix that they sold, sealed in a a mylar bag, and marketed as a vegetable soup mix. It contains more vegetables than the mix used for the lentil casserole for Feeding Children Everywhere, but I don’t think the extra veggies will hurt me. I bought a case of them to add to my Stores.

Since we will be eating lots of beans and rice when the time comes, I wanted a basic recipe to use. This met my need. And I can add bouillon cubes, herbs, seasonings, hot peppers, or a wealth of other things to vary the flavor. This is a huge win for me. I’m going to share the recipe below so you, too, can benefit from this simple but easily assembled meal.

Bring 5 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add 1 teaspoon pink salt (or table salt with iodine, if you prefer), 1tablespoon of dried vegetables, 1/2 cup of raw long-grain rice, and 1 cup of brown lentils. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Allow to cool slightly to set.

I’m sure there are many other recipes out there for bean and rice casseroles, but this one certainly seemed worth mentioning. Visit the CFA National website and go to your state and city’s store listing. If a new one is opening soon, put the date on your calendar and enjoy the fun time. It’s not very often you get offered free food for a year!

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