Winter Lentil Soup

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!