My mom sends packages. It doesn’t have to be a birthday, Christmas or Easter---she just loves to fill up boxes and send them to us. Of course, we love to receive them but sometimes we just have to laugh at what is inside. Last time, the package contained a cute skirt for me, a couple packs of gummy candy, an assortment of hair ties, a T-shirt for the Bean and two cans of refried beans. The previous package was a bit smaller and contained a couple of recipes clipped from various sources, more gummy candy and a tube of toothpaste. Thanks Mom!
One of the recipes that she sent was from a magazine called, “Delicious Living” for Red Lentil Soup. It sounded perfect for a cool fall day—so using their recipe as a base and making a bunch of modifications---I came up with this recipe for Lentil Spinach Soup. The soup was warm, hearty and healthy—just what I needed. (I was so excited to eat it for lunch today until I realized that I had packed the Bean’s lunch (homemade pizza) in my bag and sent him to school with my green soup…..he is not going to be happy.)
Lentil Spinach Soup
Loosely Adapted from Delicious Living magazine
Ingredients:
1 cup red lentils
2 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups of water
2 bay leaves
1 heaping teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, diced tiny (My first from my garden!)
2 cloves of garlic (I didn’t have any but I know it would only make the soup better.)
2 cups baby spinach
1 teaspoon salt
3T heavy cream
1) In a medium pot, combine water, broth, lentils, bay leaves and smoked paprika to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Once the lentils start to break apart remove from heat.
2) Sautee in 1 T olive oil the chopped onion and diced jalapeño. (I was out of garlic but would suggest using it here as well.)
3) Add the onion and jalapeno mixture to the lentil mixture.
4) Using an immersion blender, blend the soup together. Not too much though—you still want it a bit chunky. Add the spinach and 2 T of heavy cream and blend some more. Salt to taste.
5) I tried to be fancy and put a drizzle of heavy cream on top—just a tiny bit—to give it that little bit of needed fat.
6) Serve with homemade croutons or delicious Chanterelle Shallot Flatbread.
Enjoy!
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