A great recipe for those chilly evenings of early Spring! This delicious, hearty soup makes a great light dinner with its meaty sausage meatballs, lentils, tomatoes, onions, greens, and Italian spices!
Early Spring Lentil Soup
Directions
- Place rinsed lentils, water, and chicken broth in a large pan. Stir in chopped onion or shallot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Stir often. Cooking for about 30 minutes until lentil are softened, but not falling apart. Add more water if needed to keep mixture brothy.
- While lentils are cooking put bread crumbs, garlic powder, parsley flakes, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl.
- Add in ½ lb sausage & egg. Using hands combine the ingredients until well mixed. Form into 16-18 small sausage meatballs.
- Brown meatballs in olive oil over medium heat until well browned. Set aside.
- Add chopped tomatoes to lentils and stir well. Add in chopped greens, stirring to combine as you add to the pan.
- Add meatballs to the lentils and cook for few minutes until soup is hot and bubbly. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Notes
This is a wonderful soup for a light dinner when the evenings are still a bit cool but the days are warming. It is cozy and fresh and has lots of healthy ingredients.
Shredded cheddar or Swiss cheese is also a good topping along with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream.
To Serve
Serve soup in bowls topped with crumbled feta cheese if desired.
4 - 6
servings
20 min
prep time
35 min
cook time
ingredients
½ lb Swaggerty's Farm roll sausage
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 tbsp dried Italian Seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
Olive oil
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed, and drained
3 cups water
1 can (14.5 oz) low fat chicken broth
1 small onion or shallot chopped
1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, drained, and chopped (save the juice for another recipe)
2 cups chopped fresh greens such as collard greens, chard, bok choy, spinach, kale
Garnish with crumbled feta cheese if desired, or any of your favorite cheeses
Level of complexity:
Easy
Number of ingredients:
11
Pairs well with:
A baguette, corn muffins, cheese toast
Special Kitchen Tools:
N/A