sausage lentil soup

today happened to be a rainy cold day. it's saturday and we had a million and one things to do. the first thing we had, was my daughter kenadie's gymnastics rehearsal. afterwards, we had to make a run to our local super walmart. while we were there shopping, we went down the bean isle. i glanced over at the lentils and i thought to myself, oooohhh that would be so good for dinner today! a big pot of lentil soup with some crusty bread on this cold rainy day.
my mom would make lentil soup for us all the time when i was little and i loved it! so, i couldn't get home fast enough to make this soup. it was super easy, delicious and full of flavor. the best idea ever!
ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil -
- 1 package turkey sausage - diced
- 1 onion - chopped
- 3 celery stalks - chopped
- 2 carrots - diced
- 3 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste -
- 1 teaspoon italian seasoning -
- 1 teaspoon chili powder -
- 1 teaspoon cumin -
- 2 cups lentils -
- 1 bay leaf -
- 8 cups beef stock - *i used bouillon based
instructions:
full tutorial video found here:
- heat the tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large stock pot. add the diced turkey sausage. allow to sit for a minute to brown and get some good color.
- add in the veggies. toss them around, allowing them to soften a bit.
- stir in the tomato paste, allowing to brown and cook off the raw tomato taste.
- sprinkle in the seasonings and toss to coat.
- add in the lentils, allowing them to coat everything in the pot.
- pour in the beef stock, and stir all the ingredients together.
- bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. cook on low for 30 minutes or until the lentils are simmer.