Lentil Soup Recipe

In our house New Year's Day is the day where we get back to better eating after all our holiday indulgences. As I may have mentioned in the past for the most part our family is gluten and casein (dairy) free. However for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations I make exceptions. Well today I feel like crap and every aspect of my being reflects this: my energy, my mood and I feel like I am on the verge of a cold. It's a firm reminder of why we practice gluten and casein free eating. And for all you sceptics, no I did not drink alcohol at all this season, since I have a baby it just puts me to sleep.

You would think year after year of going through this I would remember and use better restraint. Since I am so stubborn I think I need to put together a new year's week long family friendly detox menu to use every year. Since I have not done my research yet I am going to start out with sharing my lentil soup recipe. It may not be detoxifying but it is pretty healthy so I will start there.

This recipe contains Worcestershire sauce which can contain gluten if the wrong brand is used. As with all gluten and casein free eating, read your labels to ensure they contain safe ingredients.

Lentil Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups/16oz of dried brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
8 cups beef stock (vegetable or chicken stock work well too)
1 14.5 oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Saute onion, celery, carrots and salt till translucent. Add black pepper and garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add lentils, stock, tomatoes, bay leaf, oregano, parsley and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a bubble then reduce to low. Covered and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in vinegar and serve.

Sausage variation (pictured above)
If you are not looking for an overly healthy but yummy lentil soup recipe I like to brown a pound of a good smoked sausage or kielbasa, diced, in the pot first. Then I remove it from the pot and drain off all but 1 tbsp of the fat to cook the vegetables in instead of the olive oil. Then continue with the rest of the above cooking instructions. Add sausage to the soup with the vinegar. Simmer for a few extra minutes to warm through the sausage again.

I hope your family is having a wonderful Christmas Season and a Happy New Year!

Thanks for stopping by the nest and God bless!
Darla