Italian Sausage & Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 1 Package (uncooked) Spicy Italian Sauce Links
• 1 Large Onion Chopped
• 5 Carrots Chopped
• 3 Stalks Celery Chopped
• 1 LB Bag Dried Pardina Lentils (Brown Lentils) (roughly 2 1/3 cup)
• 1 TBS Salt
• 1 TBS Better than Bouillon Beef Stock (Or Chicken)
• 1 TBS Garlic Powder
• 1 Tsp Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp Dried Thyme
• 1 Tsp Dried Rosemary
• 1 Tsp Dried Oregano
• 14 cups Water

Directions

Lentils and Sausage. Bet you didn’t know they were a match made in heaven. I didn’t.  My husband and I have a fondness for Lentils.. I make several different variations of Lentil Soup often and am always trying to think of new flavors for it. This morning before work I decided to throw together a soup for us to eat throughout the day. Making soup is mindless for me- its just one of those things that I can always make taste good.. throw in enough spices and any pot of simmering anything can taste wonderful.  SO anyways this morning I was looking through the freezer- saw the package of Italian Sausage and went with it. The awesome flavor the lentils and Sausage created was exciting for me- one you will most likley see me use again in a different format.

So here it is.. Another Soup Recipe. Its inexpensive, fast and easy to make.. and will work really well in a crock-pot if you choose that route. This morning I actually cooked the soup on the stove so that I could bring some with me for lunch and then transferred it to my crock-pot  turned it on low and left it on all day- so my husband could come home from work to hot soup ready for him.  If you cook it in a crock pot- the only thing you will want to do different is to pre-cook the meat and then throw the cooked meat into the crock pot with all the other ingredients.

1. Cut Sausage links into bite sized pieces (Tip: Do this while the meat is still partially frozen for a cleaner cut)
2. In a Large Heavy Bottomed Soup Pot Cook the Sausage with a little bit of oil. Once the sausage is fully cooked- drain the excess oil.
3. In the pot- add to the meat the Onions and Saute briefly. Add the remaining ingredients and spices (in whatever order suites your fancy
4. Bring the soup to a gently boil- cover and cook for 1 hour. Stir the soup every so often. Give it a taste test towards the end of its cooking time and adjust spices according to your preference.
5. Serve !

Try adding A few handfuls of spinach to the soup before serving- and remove the soup from heat once the spinach wilts. You could also throw other root vegetables – I almost added Jerusalem artichokes- but left them out as I was running too short on time to peel and chop them this morning.