This isn't your mom's Progresso Lentil Soup!

This isn't your mom's Progresso Lentil Soup!

I've e always loved Lentil Soup. It’s always been a favorite of mine. There’s something so comforting about it… It started out during my childhood years when I’d come home from school and my mom would have a can of Progresso Lentil Soup piping hot and ready for me and my sister.

I like the sultry crisp bite of the lentils, the hearty bite of the potatoes, the smooth tangy bite of the spinach and finally the hot warm broth with the underlying taste of the smoky cumin….. wow! I kinda sound real profesh writing like that! I’m even surprising myself!

Although my beloved Progresso soup did not have the taste or depth that the one I make now does… it did open my eyes to what this marvelous soup could be.

Now my son asks me for this delicious soup when he comes home from school!

It’s good, it’s hearty, it’s inexpensive to make and is almost a meal in itself! Make a little mixed green salad on the side and you have a fantastic dinner any night!

Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion finely chopped

2 large carrots finely chopped

3 stalks of celery finely chopped

2 potatoes cut into small cubes

½ red bell pepper finely chopped

2 cups fresh spinach or 1 cup frozen chopped spinach

2 cups brown lentils, rinsed and picked thru

1 tomato chopped

¼ cup plain tomato sauce

2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock

½ teaspoon cumin

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add onion, carrot, celery and pepper. Allow to sweat or cook on the stovetop until the onions are translucent or you can see thru them. About 5 minutes. Add the lentils, potatoes, tomatoes, tomato sauce and seasonings and allow to cook on a med-low simmer for about one hour. Add spinach and cook for 10 more minutes.

Drizzle with a little more olive oil on top… mmmmm!!!!

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS:

½ cup uncooked small pasta shells

½ cup diced smoked ham (that will be added when the vegetables are sweating in the oil)

1 sausage diced or sliced – spicy chicken sausage is excellent!

½ cup canolini beans

½ cup croutons – add upon serving