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| Source: Real Simple |
Last night I had the house to myself and that's when I'm most comfortable trying new recipes. If I mess up I can always have a bowl of cereal when I'm home alone. If Stephen is home and I mess something up I feel awful, so trying new things becomes much more stressful. (However, I do enjoy having him there with me when I'm cooking for reassurance when I try something new. I sound crazy.)
This soup is called the Winter Lentil Soup from RealSimple.com. When I read the recipe I was a little nervous because I've never cooked with lentil, leeks or kale. Typically that alone would immediately make me skip the soup, but I love a good veggie soup and I wanted to try to find one that could become a staple in our house during the colder months.
I followed the directions with a few minor adjustments after reading a few of the comments.
- I added some extra lentils, probably 3/4 of a cup instead of 1/2 a cup
- I added the kale 15 minutes into cooking the lentil. My publix also doesn't sell kale in bunches, it is already chopped up in a bag - I used about 5 handfuls. I have no idea how close that is to what I should have used.
- I didn't drain the tomatoes before adding them, I wanted to keep some of that tomato juice in the broth after I added the water
- I didn't top with cheese
Overall, the soup was a huge success. I even got seconds. I had two servings last night and we have 4 servings for leftovers, so I'd say it serves 6, maybe 7 depending on any side dishes. Each serving is 226 calories, and that is including the cheese. I don't feel bad at all for having 2 servings!
Give it a try. Now that I've cooked with lentils, kale and leeks I can say that there was never anything to be afraid of in the first place. This is such a good vegetarian soup!
