The inaugural D-Feast Friday is just beginning, and, after reading Lorraine’s recipe for fried rice, Scott’s hilarious grilled cheese cautionary tale and Karen’s twist on macaroni and cheese, I’m truly inspired — and starving.

Throughout the last several years, I’ve come to really enjoy cooking. I love looking up recipes and trying to figure out what I can pull off, what tastes better with what, and how to avoid the pitfalls of my husband’s debilitating egg and poultry allergies — along with my aversion to mushrooms and crustaceans.

Sometimes, though, fatigue wins out. Say it’s Thursday, it’s the first night I’ve been home all week, I don’t feel like going to the grocery store — but I don’t want to eat anything gross or unhealthy. That’s when I turn to Soup Kitchen Surprise. It’s a recipe so easy and simple that it’s barely even a recipe, but it’s so satisfying and blood sugar-friendly that I can’t help but share it.

The name comes from a friend of mine, who, listening to me talk excitedly about this “recipe,” asked: “What, do you live in a soup kitchen or something now?”

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked Texmati brown rice

2 1/4 cups water

1 can Progresso Vegetable Classics Lentil Soup

Salt (to taste)

Texas Pete hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

Combine rice and water in a 3 qt. saucepan. Bring to a boil; stir once. Cover with a tight fitting lid or foil; reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes.

Watch TV, fold laundry, walk dog, screw around on Facebook, eat a salad, organize bookshelf, make phone calls, or otherwise distract yourself while rice cooks.

Remove rice from heat and let stand (covered) 5-10 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, dump contents of lentil soup can into a small saucepan and heat over low to medium heat until warm. Or, throw it in the mircowave for a few minutes to achieve the same result.

Once rice is fully cooked and soup is thoroughly heated, spoon rice into shallow bowls, and sprinkle with salt. Pour 3/4 – 1 cup soup onto rice.

Add more salt or hot sauce to taste.

Shovel into your face and enjoy.

I guarantee this will be the best combination of ease, deliciousness, and nutrition you’ve ever feasted on. And if you want your Soup Kitchen Surprise ready a little more quickly, you can always use quick-cooking rice — or heck, even those weird little microwave-y rice packets that are ready in a minute and a half.

Eat it!