This recipe is the perfect thing to eat in the winter and fall. Heck, it's yummy in the spring and summer too! Eat this whenever you want! It's packed full of healthy things like...er...lentils! And tomatoes and garlic! It's all incredibly easy to make! And I'm all about easy! As everyone around me knows--I'm terrible at math. Fifth graders could outsmart me on any math quiz ever. So this recipe is filled with a lot of easy numbers so that you don't have to think about how much you need. Because really, who has time for that!?
This soup (if you're a super fast chopper like me) takes about 10 minutes to prep. 15 if you're a slow chopper. Or if you're one of those lucky people who has a fancy-shmancy food processor that chops things easily for you, it'll probably only take 3 minutes. Lucky, lucky people. So! Now that you know how easy this is, lets get started!
First, our cast of characters!
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| Here we have lentils, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, can of crushed tomatoes, olive oil, water, salt and pepper |
These are all healthy things eh!? And the fun part is, the kids will never know! Now come's the hardest part in this entire thing! First chop up one onion and 9 cloves of garlic (you heard me! Don't fear the garlic, you'll need it, trust me!) like this:
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| chop chop chop! |
Then dice up your carrots and celery. 1 cup each. See? easy numbers. I cut the larger chunks of carrot up again, because I like smaller prices. Makes it easier to hide it from people who hate carrots.
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| I love celery. I'd eat it morning, noon, and night |
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| Chopped up carrots. I swear they actually improved my eye sight as a kid! |
Now that you've don that, its time to get started! Easy right!? Now heat up two tablespoons of olive oil! I added butter because...well...butter is what makes cooking wonderful! I added 2 tablespoons. Personally, I also use butter like this so that the onions don't get browned. I swear that's my reason. Totally true. Totally. Soften your onions and garlic!
Next, you're going to add in 1 to 2 tablespoons of Herbs de Provence (if you don't have that, just add in thyme and oregano, 1/2 a tablespoon each to equal 1 tablespoon). You do this so that they flavor comes out stronger than just throwing it into water and hoping for the best.
After a couple of minutes throw in the carrots and celery for a couple of minutes. I say throw. I mean gently add them. No need to miss carrots or celery. You want to get the most nutrition for your chopping!
After this, you're going to add in your lentils. You do this so that the nutty flavor of the red lentils can come out before you douse them in water. (trust me, use red. ONLY RED. I tried yellow AND green, both with less than 'yummy'. The flavors are surprisingly different.)
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| THESE ARE RED LENTILS. SEE THEM. LEARN THEM. LOVE THEM. |
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| Look at how good that looks! I bet you can smell it through your screen! |
You're going to now add water! LOTS of water. Like..to the point that you're looking at me like I'm a crazy lady. I thought I was crazy too. But don't worry, I'm not! Lentil absorb a lot of water. I used 7 in total. But start with four. You will notice almost immediately that the lentils will soak up that water and you'll be scrambling for more within three minutes. Then you're going to add in pretty much the whole can of crushed tomatoes. You can use only half if you want. But who wants to measure!? That's too much math!
Next add in a little salt and pepper (the rest can be to taste after you put them in bowls. But this is mainly my own problem. I like things on the salty side. My family? Not so much. But for sure don't undersalt. That's the WORST taste in the world.) and let it cook for half an hour! When half an hour is almost up, take a bunch of spinach and mince it!
The soup should be done by now! So salt and pepper to taste, then put into bowls. Add in minced spinach as desired. Then add in a spoonful of Balsamic Vinegar.This brings the dish together sooooo perfectly!That's it! You're done!
Other than to eat it and fend off people to horde the rest for yourself when they beg you for more! Also, as a note, this soup can be frozen and used months later! It thaws wonderfully! Enjoy!
Red Lentil Soup
1 onion
1 cup lentils
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
9 cloves of garlic
2 tables olive oil
1 can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons butter (optional)
2 Tablespoons Herbs de Provence
Salt/Pepper to taste
Balsamic Vinegar
Spinach
directions:
Chop up the onion, carrots, and celery. Mince the garlic. In a large (and I mean large!) pot heat up the olive oil and butter. Throw in onion and garlics and soften slightly. Add in carrots and celery for a few minutes, then add in the cup of lentils to toast them a little. let them toast (but stir frequently) for about two minutes. Then add in four cups of water. This will absorb quickly, so you'll keep adding water. I used 7 and a half by the end!
Add in the can of crushed tomatoes, a few dashes of salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and let simmer for half an hour. Once the half an hour is up mince (or chop) baby spinach. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Put into soup bowls and toss in spinach. Then add in a spoonful (or a little more if you want) of balsamic vinegar. Freeze if you have leftovers (this recipe makes a LOT. But its so good, don't be surprised if you don't have enough to freeze!).
