Sausage and Lentil Soup

Turns out, I am a terrible wife. For example, I have used the vacuum exactly twice and have a stack of unopened mail from July topped with FedEx ‘signature required’ Post It notes that I keep forgetting to sign. Wes has been keeping us alive on takeout, but finally cracked and had an intervention with me that began with “Tostitos do not count as dinner (even though they do, obviously) and ended with me making a trip to the grocery store to make the most fool-proof recipe I have ever encountered (and it makes enough for at least three dinners-for-two).

One of Wes’s main contributions to my greater life happiness has been his steadfast stance on the value of chain restaurants – that “they have a great concept, otherwise they wouldn’t be a chain” and the whole people-vote-with-dollars argument. Anyway, he got me to Carrabba’s where I fell in love with this soup, scouted out the recipe, and have been stunning friends and family ever since with my ability to throw carrots into a pot and come out with this delicious feast. Below is my winter food staple, Carrabba’s Sausage and Lentil Soup.

Ingredients:

• An onion
• A zucchini
• Three large carrots
• A few stalks of celery
• A can of tomatoes
• Three cloves of garlic
• A tablespoon each of parsley, oregano, thyme and basil
• Salt and pepper
• A package of spicy Italian sausage
• 6 cups of chicken broth (I use water to keep it healthier)
• 2 cups of dry lentils
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Chop up all of the vegetables into bite size pieces, mince the garlic, and combine into a large stock pot with the lentils, spices, tomatoes, chicken broth or water, and add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, and then simmer until the lentils become tender.

Meanwhile, cut the sausages out of their skins (ew, I know) and break them apart into bite size pieces, then sauté until they are light brown. Add to the pot with the rest of the ingredients (and if you used water instead of broth, add the oil too).

Top with Parmesan cheese, and enjoy the compliments. Tastes even better the next day.

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