Lentil Soup

As I mentioned yesterday, it’s been raining for a month straight and a chill is in the air.  I’ve been cold from the inside out so I knew I wanted to make a big ol’ pot of soup.  I had some lentils that have been sitting in my pantry for…um…years.  Is that dangerous, or just gross?  Whatever, they’re dried and there wasn’t anything funky about them.  So I made a pot of soup with them.

I could have used my cast iron dutch oven to make this soup, but I just wanted something I could throw together and not babysit so I decided to use my crockpot.  Once my veggies were sliced, it was as easy and literally throwing everything in the crockpot and turning it on.  I didn’t even stir it!  Such a rebel, I am.

What goes perfectly with a hearty soup?  Crusty fresh-baked bread of course!  My husband had the car, and my son was sleeping, so I couldn’t run to a bakery or grocery store.  Homemade it would have to be.  I started one recipe that I found online but, as I tend to do, I didn’t read the whole recipe before starting. It needed to proof in the refrigerator overnight!  That wasn’t going to work.

I wound up using this recipe but had to sort of eyeball the additional ingredients.  For instance, the first recipe had a weight amount for the flour, but the second one called for however many CUPS of flour (with no weight listed).  I just had to add flour until it looked right.  Same goes for the yeast.  The first recipe had a teaspoon of yeast, but this one had much more.  I measured it out and then just took one teaspoon out of there.  That seemed to work okay because the dough rose beautifully and it was nice and elastic.

The rolls were a little more dense then I would have preferred but I was still pretty happy with how they turned out.  I’m always impressed with myself when I can make real bread.

So, back to the soup.  So easy.  Here’s how you do it.  Make sure you pay close attention to the directions…it’s pretty complicated.

Crockpot Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups carrot rounds (about 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick)
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 cups dried lentils, rinsed and picked to make sure there are no stones or other yuckies
  • 32-oz container chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 Tbsp poultry seasoning (or to taste)
  • Salt and pepper (be generous…there’s a lot of soup to season)

Directions:

  1. Put all ingredients in the crockpot.
  2. Turn it on High for 4-6 hours.

Serves 6

This post is linked up to Cast Party Wednesday, Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, It’s a Keeper, Somewhat Simple, Momnivore’s Dilemma, Fireflies and Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Jane Deere, Mangoes and Chutney, EKat’s Kitchen, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms.

Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by KitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset.

Like this post? Please click on over and leave a comment. It would make my day!

24 comments

  9. tiffany

    Hey lady! Tell me your thoughts on if this is good for a nursing Mama – spiciness, etc… I’m looking for a good chilli that doesn’t give X a sad tummy

    Reply
  12. Renee @ MyKitchenAdventures

    lol…yup…wicked complicated directions there…lol The soup looks so warm and comforting! :) I LOVE homemade bread with soup. Last batch of soup I made, I did a beer bread, because, like your soup…the steps are so complicated…measure out the ingredients in the bowl, dump in beer, mix, bake…lol I will need to post the beer bread recipe sometime!

    Reply
  16. Nicole Rivera

    I am SOOO excited about this recipe. I love lentils and lentil soup. I actually just bought a prepared lentil soup last week because I haven’t been brave enough to try to learn how to make it myself.

    Now – TODAY – I stumble upon this post that shows me how to do it in my crockpot?! You are my hero!

    There’s another reason you are my hero, too. Tomorrow morning a Trader Joe’s is opening UP THE BLOCK FROM ME and I NEED an excuse to go there – you just gave it to me :) I am taking my ingredient list right here up the block so I can go LEGITIMATELY check the place out!!

    YOU ROCK1!! :D

    Reply
  20. Miz Helen

    Hi Amy,
    Your Lentil Soup looks delicious, I would really love a bowl of this soup. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipe with Full Plate Thursday. Hope you are having a great week end and come back soon!
    Miz Helen

    Reply

Post a comment

You may use the following HTML:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>