Easy main course soup recipe

Last night was my turn to cook. Time got away from me and left me in a last minute rush to create a culinary masterpiece. I found this recipe and pulled out of the dinnertime nose dive!

This will take less than an hour to prepare, from beginning to dishing it out. Most of that is cooking time, so you can do other things. Just check on it from time to time.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large or 2 small onions
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
4 large or a couple of handfuls of baby carrots
1 pound of chicken, turkey or sausage (optional)
1 pound bag of lentils
4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth or bouillon
sage and thyme, salt and pepper
1 pound fresh or frozen kale or spinach

STEP ONE: (Takes about 10 minutes)

In a soup pot, saute the onion (about 2 cups chopped) and about one and 1/2 cups sliced carrots in olive oil. When it begins to soften, add the cloves of minced garlic. And cook for several more minutes.

STEP TWO: (About 20 minutes, until lentils are tender.)

Add 4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth or boullion. If you want to add chicken, turkey or sausage, this is the time to do it. One pound is enough.

Also add one teaspoon each of dried sage and thyme. (The thyme gives it an incredible flavor.)

If these aren’t handy, you could substitute bay leaves (remove these after cooking!), oregano or basil.

Use salt and black pepper to taste.

STEP THREE: (10 to 15 minutes, until greens are softened)

Stir in fresh spinach or kale. That will look like a lot, but it will cook down.

If you use baby spinach, no chopping is necessary. Kale should be chopped into bite size pieces. The spinach will cook quickly, while kale is tougher and will probably take the full 15 minutes.

Frozen greens are good and take a lot less work! Just soften in the microwave before adding to the soup.

Once the greens are cooked to your liking, your soup is ready!

I like to add a few more optional flavors at the end: