Y’all know what today is….
It’s National Homemade Soup Day!
{Que roaring crowd}
Soup makes my toes curl. It is so versatile. Light broth-based, hearty bean-based, hearty stewy-like or spicy chili-ish… I like. I like. I like.
Today I celebrated the Super Bowl day with a bowl of lentil deliciousness made earlier this week.
Lentils are one of my favorite foods. Often miscategorized as a bean, lentils are seeds providing protein, essential and non-essential amino acids, fiber, prebiotics, potassium, iron, minerals (zinc, copper, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and boron) and vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, folate, and phylloquinone). According to the National Institutes of Health, lentils are one of the best health-promoting foods with documented connections to the reduction of diabetes, obesity, cancers and cardiovascular diseases (Ganesan, & Xu, 2017). Lentils provide all this health help at pennies per serving, they cook quickly and take on flavors well making them easy on a food budget, busy schedule, or picky palette.
Vegan chili is my go-to lentil preparation made using the from-scratch recipe posted here or my shortcut method of hooking up a store-bought lentil soup with spices, corn, and soy chorizo. But this week, I was inspired by Zoes Kitchen Lentil Soup.
Zoes Kitchen’s lentil soup is so good; I pulled staples from the pantry and fridge and decided to knock it off.
Here’s the blueprint of my version:
- Sauté chopped onion, celery, carrots, and diced Yukon gold potato in a touch of olive oil for a few minutes til softened. Zoes Kitchen’s lentil soup doesn’t have potatoes. I added buttery Yukon golds for texture and creaminess.
- While this is cooking, wash, rinse and pick through lentils two times to remove residue and small stones.
- Back to the soup pot, stir in Himalayan salt, cracked pepper, and a few cloves of minced garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes to allow the garlic to become fragrant without burning. Add a spring of fresh rosemary and a sprig of fresh thyme.
- Stir in the lentils and enough vegetable stock to cover by 1-2 inches. Lentils will nearly double in size when cooked.
- Bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, cover and cook until lentils are tender adding additional stock if needed. {This pot of soup took about 20 minutes to cook}.
- Taste and adjust seasoning {I added a bit of Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning}.
That’s it.
I served this soup to the family Thursday night with a side of fresh carrots and crescent roll knots for the kids – crackers for me. Will and the kids loved it {SCORE!}
I enjoyed leftovers Friday afternoon and the remaining serving for National Homemade Soup Day tonight. Like most soups, it got better as the flavors melded over time in the fridge.
This super yummy, super simple soup will be a regular in our household.
Are you a soup fan? If so, what is your favorite homemade soup?
If you decide to give this lentil soup method a try – I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Happy, healthy eating!
Nettye
References
Ganesan, K., & Xu, B. (2017). Polyphenol-Rich Lentils and Their Health Promoting Effects. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 18(11), 2390. http://doi.org/10.3390/ijms18112390