Lentil and Sausage Soup

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.