It may not look good, but it was great :-)! I saw this recipe (from For the Love of Cooking) on Sarah's blog and thought it sounded great. I haven't used lentils in awhile and was excited for a warm soup on these chilly days. The soup was SOOO good! Ella even asked for seconds and Mike said that he liked it too. Addie ate hers, which is a feat in itself right now. It made tons too...two meals worth.
Ingredients:
1-2 tsp olive oil
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes (I used roasted garlic tomatoes)
4 chicken and herb sausages, quartered and diced
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
Pinch of crushed red pepper
1 bay leaf
8 cups of chicken broth
3 cups of prepared lentils
Fresh parsley, chopped
Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. (I just used a regular pot and made it on the stove)
Add the onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
Add the carrots, celery, sausage, garlic, tomatoes, sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, basil, oregano, and crushed red pepper; stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken broth, lentils and bay leaf, stir then cover and simmer for 1-2 hours.
Remove the bay leaf then blend the soup for 30 seconds with an immersion blender, to make the soup a bit thicker; make sure you don't blend too long. (I just put half of it in my regular blender)
Add the fresh chopped parsley to the soup and serve.
Lentil and Sausage Soup
Rice and Lentil Pilaf
Yum! I have definitely been converted into a lentil eater (remember the Lentil Curry)! I found this recipe through Swanson's website and it easy, healthy and tasty (I did add a little garlic salt and lots of pepper to ours)!
INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 3/4 cups Vegetable Broth (1 can)
1/2 cup dried lentils, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
2 medium Italian plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
DIRECTIONS:
HEAT oil in skillet. Add carrots, celery, onion and garlic and cook until tender.
ADD broth, lentils and rice. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 20 min. or until done. Stir in tomatoes and parsley
Lentil Curry
So, as my first attempt using lentils in a meal I would consider this a complete success! I LOVED the flavors of this dish and it was simple and healthy too (not to mention Mike even gave it his approval)! I got the recipe from an old ward cookbook my visiting teaching partner just gave me - gotta love ward cookbooks! I definitely see lentils again in our near future!
Ingredients:
- 2 t. olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped finely
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 c. chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken)
- 1 c. lentils, rinsed and drained (I just realized I didn't do that)
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 3-4 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 peeled apple, cored and chopped (I used a Granny Smith)
- 1 t. curry powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1/2 t. celery seed
- 1/8 t. anise seed (I have no idea what that is and didn't include...still yummy)
Directions:
- Heat olive oil in a large pot and saute onion and garlic until tender.
- Add remaining ingredients and simmer about 60 min. or until lentils are tender.
- Serve over brown rice.
