Never feel *locked into* following a recipe such as this to the letter. To show you what I mean, I am listing both the original recipe and my own modifications based on what I had available in the house to make this quickly. My family enjoyed this variation and couldn't think of any way to improve it.

• 1 - 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 cloves fresh garlic (I used 3 and minced them 10 minutes prior to adding to the oil to maximize the cancer-fighting activity)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 4 cups water
• 1-1/4 cup red lentils
• 2 potatoes, cubed (I didn't have any so used 2 cups of already cooked whole grain rice that I added after the lentils were cooked)
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped zucchini (didn't have any so added 1 cup chopped left-over cooked spinach and beet greens along with the rice at the end)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (used 1 Tbsp chopped fresh from the garden)
  (also added 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves from the garden)
• pinch cayenne

Directions:

Heat large soup pot to medium high. Add olive oil and heat garlic and onions until they are soft (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered on low heat for ~ 20 minutes until lentils are tender. (Here is the point where I then added the already cooked rice and spinach.) Add a bit more water if you would like it more like a soup rather than a thick stew.

Variation: add about 1/3 cup of dried fruit like golden raisins or cherries.

I served this with a large salad made of fresh greens, tomatoes, and avocados, whole grain bread, and fresh fruit for a complete meal.