Vegetable Lentil Soup

Now that we’re really in the cold winter months and the first snow has fallen here where I live, I wanted to share one of my favorite soup recipes. I found this vegetable lentil soup recipe through Pinterest 2 years ago during the first quarantine. Isn’t that weird to say? Anyway, it takes a bit of prep work because you have to chop the vegetables and garlic and all that, but it’s not a difficult recipe and it’s delicous!

For the recipe you’ll need:

• olive oil
• carrots
• onion
• zucchini
• kale (you can substitute with spinach, which I sometimes do)
• garlic
• broth (the original recipe uses vegetable broth, but I use chicken)
• canned diced tomatoes
• dried lentils
• dried basil
• dried oregano
• dried thyme
• salt and pepper
• lemon juice
• parmesan cheese (optional)

I pretty much follow the recipe, but I cut down on the ingredients to make it for less servings.

First, chop your onion, carrots, and zucchini. Then, heat olive oil in a pot. Add in the carrots and onion. Wait a couple of minutes and then add in the garlic. After a couple more minutes pour in the broth (I use chicken broth). Then, pour in the canned diced tomatoes, lentils, all the dried herbs, and salt and pepper.

Bring the soup to a boil and then lower the fire to medium-low. Cover and simmer for about 35 minutes. Stir the soup occasionally. After 35 minutes, add in the zucchini and kale. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Then, add in the lemon juice and some water if you need to add liquid. Serve with parmesan if you would like! If you’re using spinach instead of kale, then wait until the last two minutes to add it in because as well all know, spinach cooks/wilts very quickly.

This soup is so good! Depending on what kind of pot I use and how much vegetable I have in the soup sometimes there may be less broth, but it’s easy to just add some more broth or water to the soup. I usually add some more broth when I heat up the leftovers. If you have any favorite soups for winter, let me know! I’m always looking for more soup recipes.