Mom’s Lentil Soup

I wanted to start this post with “ten things to do with your leftover halloween candy”, but numbers 1-10 were just recommendations to eat it all and repeat. I’m following my own advice right now.

Anyways, I cannot believe I am ten posts or so into this blog and I haven’t paid homage to my mom yet! My mom is the best cook and best hostess around! Her Hannukkah latke parties are legendary, as are the dishes that she brings to the gatherings of our family and friends. Every day growing up she made me breakfast (usually toast with PB in the car as I rushed to put makeup on the way to school), a packed lunch (always so healthy – no one wanted to trade with me) and then dinner on the table every night. My dad and I used to joke that she needed to start a food truck called Caroline’s Kitchen. Everyone in our family has a favorite – my brother loves my mom’s chicken pesto pasta, I love her roasted salmon with cherry tomatoes, among others. So this brings me to this lentil soup – this is a Caroline’s Kitchen classic.

The base recipe is actually inspired from the Moosewood Cookbook! My mom’s generation “swears by” this classic from the 80s. It looks so old school to me! But I guess sometimes if a good thing ain’t broke, don’t fix it. My mom takes this recipe to the next level with lots and lots of extra vegetables and the secret ingredient from her German Jewish background – Hebrew National Hotdogs. Yup. You can certainly leave them out to keep this recipe vegetarian, but I recommend keeping them in for those who are not :).

The best thing about this recipe is that you make a huge amount, and it tastes even better the next day. Get your lentils a-boiling, sautee your veggies (my mom hates the word veggies – sorry mom!) and let your soup simmer for however long you please. Put it in the fridge when you’re done, and heat up the next day for even-better-leftovers. Your house will smell wonderful. On Halloween, we ate this for dinner and I can’t tell you how many trick or treaters who came by were like “what smells so good?!” One little ninja told us that he, too, had lentil soup for dinner. Lentils for everyone!

I hope you can enjoy this family classic as much as we do. It’s perfect as the weather gets colder – it even RAINED this weekend in LA! Guess this warming and hearty soup came just in time. Major thanks to Mom for the cooking inspiration and for always teaching trick or treaters (and me!)  to say “thank you”.

Mom’s Lentil Soup

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• Author: ArcadeThemeAdmin
• Yield: 8 servings 1x

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Description

This warming lentil soup is filled with vegetables and wonderful flavor. Make it today and have even better leftovers tomorrow!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 cups (one bag) green lentils
• 1 box of vegetable stock
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups celery, minced
• 2 cups carrots, chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic
• 4 tomatoes, cut into eighths
• 4 hot dogs, sliced (Hebrew National recommended of course)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Black pepper

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Instructions

1. In a large pot, bring the lentils and he stock to a boil
2. Lower heat to simmer and allow lentils to soften (about 45 mins)
3. In a separate pan, heat the oil and sautee the onions, garlic, celery and carrots on medium heat for about ten minutes – salt and pepper to taste
4. Transfer vegetables to the lentils in the large pot
5. Add in tomatoes, hot dogs, lemon juice and brown sugar
6. Let simmer for at least an hour (longer preferably!) before serving
7. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Feel free to drizzle red wine vinegar on top of each serving bowl, or serve soup with additional lemon slices