Foodie Goddess - Lentil Soup

It is officially fall! I thought to mark the occasion I would share with you one of our family’s favourite chilly weather meals. It is actually a vegetarian meal, but my husband who is a meat eater from way back, loves this meal, too. My Dad also makes requests for this every year when the air gets cool – yup, it’s that good!

This is our version of lentil soup with a side of yummy cheesy biscuits. You know the soup is very healthy, so you can enjoy these fantastic biscuits with no guilt…at least that is what we can tell ourselves! I was watching Rachael Ray yesterday and she calls this “girl math”. I subscribe to this train of thought myself.


Now this recipe makes a GIGANTIC pot of this stuff. Which is great because it also freezes most excellently {is that even a word?!}. I made this last weekend and I then froze two smaller batches for meals in the future and one lunch sized bowl for me to take to work one day. A great idea for work lunches on those cold winter days.

Here are the recipes ... Enjoy!

Foodie’s Favourite Lentil Soup


1 – 2 teaspoons of oil {canola, olive or heck even some good old butter}
1 cup of chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 cartons of chicken or vegetable broth {'no salt' added varieties work really well}
1 big can of diced tomatoes {28 fl oz}
1 cup of tomato sauce or even a can of tomato soup will work
2 cups of lentils {any colour of your choice}
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups diced sweet potatoes {I have used regular potatoes in the past and it good too}
1 tsp of oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp of ground coriander
¼ - ½ tsp of ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of fresh chopped spinach

First you will need a giant pot! Now saute the onions, celery and garlic in the oil or butter for 3 or 4 minutes, until they start getting soft. Now you will add everything else into the pot, except for the spinach. Bring your soup to a nice boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce to a simmer. Let it simmer for 30 minutes. Then add in the spinach and let it cook for another 15 minutes. We love to sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top – yum!


Now for the delicious side…



Ever so Yummy Biscuits

2 cups of flour {any kind works well}
4 tsp of baking powder
2 tbsp of sugar
1 ½ cups of grated cheddar {strong flavour works the best}
2 – 3 chopped green onions
1/3 of oil or melted butter
¾ cup of milk

Preheat the oven to 400 F

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the cheese and onions and stir. Add oil/butter and milk, stir to mix. You will need to get your hands in here at this point. Gently kneed until you have your dough formed. Now, most civilized recipes will tell you at this point to roll out your dough and cut it with pretty round cutters. But I like the shortcut version myself. I just take the dough, form it with my hands and place it on the cookie sheet. Works great! I have also in the past used the wooden spoon and just dropped the dough onto the cookie sheet – this too makes fabulous biscuits. What an easy recipe you say! Yes I know!

Bake for 15 minutes until just starting to become golden.

Enjoy!

 
The way to any man or woman's heart or any other part of their anatomy, is through their stomach
~Rachael Ray