PLOs

We ate and drank way too much last week, a result of a couple of special dinners with family and friends. Too much wine and champagne, pasta and cheese, cookies and ice cream, and there are lots of small amounts of ingredients left in the fridge. So it's PLO night. PLO stands for Pieces Left Over and was my mom's name for a scrounged meal like what we had for our Monday Beans dinner.

Here's what I managed to assemble: half a package of sliced baby bella mushrooms, 1/2 carton of Pacific brand French onion soup, 2 stem tomatoes, 1/2 red onion, some fresh chives and 3 green onions. On the bean shelf I had 3/4 cup of French green lentils and a new package of quinoa, which I've never eaten or cooked before.

 

Cook the lentils in onion soup to cover until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, saving liquid. In the same pot, put 3/4 cup quinoa and 1-1/2 cup onion soup, or if there isn't enough, add water to make 1-1/2 cup. Cook the quinoa like rice: bring it to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

Meawhile saute the chopped onion and mushrooms in a little olive oil. Add chopped tomatoes and chopped chives. When the quinoa is ready, add it along with the lentils to the onion-mushroom mixture. Stir to combine, season to taste with salt and black pepper. Garnish with green onions. Mmmmmm. Tasty and healthy. My guilt is gone.